By Sheryl Smolkin

On Retire Happy, Jim Yih explains why the best retirement plan is to be debt free. Yet according to a new report from Equifax Canada, traditional “golden years” could be becoming rarer for older Canadian consumers as their debt loads rise.

Canadian consumers of all ages continued to increase their debt burden. Total debt rose by nearly $77 billion, or 6.1 per cent, compared with the same time last year. But consumers 65 and older had the greatest year-over-year increase, at 6.5 per cent, according to the credit-monitoring company.

Therefore, in this week’s Best from the Blogosphere, we focus on both how to avoid going into debt and ways to pay off your debt as you approach retirement.

In the blog A Disease Called Debt, an British couple write about how to stop wanting stuff you can’t afford.

Guest bloggers on Becoming Minimalist Gina and Josh Masters recently paid off $60,000 in debt. They offer 33 proven ways to reduce personal debt.  Another guest post from Vincent Nguyen of Self Stairway counters 10 common objections to minimalism.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to eliminate debt. Determining how fast we can and should eliminate debt starts with a few simple steps discussed on mint.com.

Lee Anne Davies, a leading expert on demographic change shows businesses the value of understanding aging, retirement and money issues. She partners with Globe and Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick in the video Seniors in debt.

And on GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca, Laurie Campbell, Executive Director at the Credit Counselling Service of Toronto and Rob Carrick discuss how a credit counsellor can help you get out of serious debt.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere. Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.