That meant sealing off the upstairs completely to prevent dust and fumes from wafting downstairs. “We basically blocked the upstairs off completely with plastic,” says Zupancic. “And we moved out for the weekend when they were sanding.”

She and her husband also chose to do the bulk of the work in the summer months, when windows can be opened and messy jobs can be done outdoors.

“I made sure [the contractors] cut all the wood outdoors,” says Zupancic. “When you’re doing a reno, it helps to do as much as possible outside.”

Take steps to be safe

Home renovation projects can open up a can of worms when it comes to health hazards. First there is the dust from sanding, drywall, insulation and plaster – which can irritate the airways of people with lung conditions such as asthma. Flooring, too, raises health issues. According to Connie Wong, Air Quality Co-ordinator at the Ontario Lung Association in Toronto, “removing carpet can release large amounts of particles that can be breathed into the lungs, while installing flooring may include the use of strong glues and adhesives that may off-gas – creating fumes that may cause dizziness, fatigue and nausea.”

House paints also contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), organic chemicals that are emitted as gases and cause fatigue, headaches, nausea and skin and lung irritation. And paint thinners, strippers and varnishes all contain solvents that can lead to lung and skin irritation, headaches and dizziness.

Needless to say, avoiding these types of irritants is a good idea, especially if you have children at home.

Here’s how to have a safe reno:

1. Obtain the necessary permits and ensure your contractors are licensed by safety authorities in your province, says the B.C. Safety Authority.

2. Protect yourself. “A properly fitted mask, gloves and eye protection can shield you from irritants during home projects,” says Wong.

3. Let in some fresh air. Ensure work is done in a well-ventilated area by opening windows and turning on fans to limit irritants or fumes. Working in the summer makes this a lot easier.

4. Go green. Choose paints, thinners, varnishes and cleaners that are as eco-friendly as possible. That means selecting VOC-free paints, products that are labelled “green” and water-based thinners over those containing solvents. Find more examples in the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s fact sheets.

5. Do messy jobs outside when possible – on a driveway, in the backyard or on a balcony – and provide a mat for wiping feet. That cuts back on the toxic substances that can be tracked into the home.

6. Move out during the certain projects. If you’re sanding, stripping, painting or varnishing, get the family out as much as possible to avoid breathing in fumes, suggests Zupancic.

7. Get professional help with certain materials. If you come across a substance you suspect is dangerous, such as asbestos or mould, call in a remediation team with expertise in removing dangerous substances.

Zupancic also recommends watching closely over any contractors you hire. If you’re keen on containing a mess, be explicit in your requests to seal off the work area, install fans or put down tarps. And then pay attention, even if that means taking off a few hours of work at the beginning of a project.

“You have to babysit people – even the most experienced,” says Zupancic, adding she had the benefit of being home to observe her contractors. “If I hadn’t been home to say: ‘Put the plastic down,’ there wouldn’t have been any.”

Make sure your family is financially protected. Learn about mortgage protection insurance options.

Coates unpacks the hard science with a story about traders navigating a market bubble and crash. This is behavioural finance taken to the next level. The book isn’t just about the investor’s brain. It’s about mind and body and how they respond to financial risk, something Coates experienced during a successful career trading fixed-income derivatives at Goldman Sachs and then Deutsche Bank.

“Trading is just a thrill,” he told me. “You become addicted to it … There’s a chemical in the brain called dopamine that’s released along the pleasure pathways of the brain. It’s released under situations of uncertainty or mild stress. It increases even more when risk-taking activities lead to unexpected rewards. You get a high from it that can become something very close to addiction.”

Coates watched this happen on Wall Street. “I observed it, but I have to tell you I also experienced it,” he said. “When I was on a winning streak, making above-average profits and expecting an above-average bonus, I felt that narcotic high. You carry yourself differently. You think you’re a master of the universe. Tom Wolfe really nailed it when he came up with that term. You think that you can do no wrong. So you put on trades of a much larger size than you had before, with ever-worsening risk-reward tradeoffs, until you blow up.”

Coates shared five insights when we spoke:

• You really are of two minds. “It’s useful to look at your body and brain as composed of three components: the body, pre-conscious parts of the brain and conscious parts of the brain,” Coates explained. “By far, the majority of the activity is taking place between the body and pre-conscious parts of the brain. Consciousness is brought in very rarely, almost like an override mechanism. Like a supervisor looking over your shoulder. For the most part, we’re unaware of what is causing us to take risk, what is leading to our success when we take risk or what’s leading to our failures.” That’s part of the reason investing in a volatile market can be so difficult. New research is showing that our body reacts to the volatility – to the market information coming in – even before our conscious brain does.

• Not all bubbles are created equal. Coates sees the 1920s and 1990s in a similar light. They were “crazy, fun periods,” he said. I don’t think anyone regrets living through them. I’ve even heard people interviewed who lost a lot of money in the dot-com bubble, and they look back and they just laugh because the whole period was just so crazy.” The housing bubble was a different animal, Coates told me. It was more rational in the sense that all involved acted in their own self-interest, even if those decisions ultimately put the financial system at risk. “During the dot-com era, people really thought they were buying into the future. They really believed this was a new dispensation. And when that happens, people are just wild-eyed and exuberant. There was sort of an innocence to the Roaring ‘20s and the dot-com bubble that you didn’t get during the housing bubble.”

• This can all be quite infectious. It’s called endocrine contagion. “Surges in hormones can be communicated to other people,” said Coates. “A leader on a team – a Wayne Gretzky – can spread his effect throughout the team and then that in turn can be passed onto the fans. There have been a couple of studies showing that the hormone surges in a team will be mimicked by their fans.”

• Policymakers can only do so much. “It’s possible now to understand why monetary policy can be so ineffective at controlling a bubble or pulling us out of a crash,” said Coates. When markets get really high or low, investors can lose their ability to make rational valuation calls. “Lowering interest rates is not going to change that.”

• Here’s what all of this means to you. Coates believes understanding this biology is key. “Every time you feel something, you’re being sent a message,” he said. “But we don’t know how to interpret that. It’s weird. It’s like our body speaks a language and we haven’t learned how to translate it yet.” So Coates discusses his investments with his wife before he makes a call. She can tell how sure he is by how he describes his thought process. Hearing that feedback often makes a big difference.

In light of all this, I asked Coates his view of the economy. He didn’t sugarcoat it.

“I think we’re in trouble,” he said. “I think we’re just lucky that the rest of the world has been growing.” His worry now is that the emerging economies – China especially – will suffer a sharp slowdown. Given the state of government finances now, central banks can’t afford to do much more. “We’ve shot all our bullets,” said Coates.

	How to be your own mortgage lender On Wheredoesallmymoneygo.com, Preet Banerjee explains how you can borrow mortgage money from your own RRSP. Being your own bank may sound appealing, but the strategy is not as simple as it sounds. Holding a mortgage inside an RRSP redux
	Welcome to one of the happiest countries in the world According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada is the ninth-happiest country in the developed world. Yahoo! Finance explains why, and lists which countries are (and aren’t) in the top 10. The happiest countries in the world
	Outdoor toy picks for spring From a play tent to a water cannon to a next-generation sandbox/wading pool, Savvy Mom picks 25 new toys for outdoor fun. Some are for kids as young as 18 months, and prices start at $7.95. (Be nice to your kids and they might let you have a turn.) The list: 25 ways to have fun outside
	Are you ready to toss your alarm clock? Darren Sproat of Then life happens did it in 2011. He says hitting the snooze button just puts off living your life (and if you need an alarm clock to wake up, you’re not getting enough sleep). Are we hitting the snooze button on life?
	Never mind your own retirement; have you planned your parents’? Along with making your own plans, says Ted Rechtshaffen in the Financial Post, check out your parents’ money picture and talk to them about things like insurance – because their situation could have a major effect on yours. Planning your parent’s retirement

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1. Pay more than the minimum.

Let’s say your mortgage is $1,000 a month but you can comfortably afford to spend another $200. Doing so will reduce the amount of interest you pay and save you years of mortgage payments, notes Vince Gaetano, principal broker and owner of Monstermortgage.ca. “We advise clients to pay what they are comfortable paying and not just make minimum payments,” he says. “Doing so will allow you to be debt-free more quickly.”

He notes that with interest rates at low levels today, any increased mortgage payment will have a larger portion of the payment go towards the principal.

Renewing your mortgage at a lower interest rate? Don’t lower your mortgage payments. As Gaetano says, keeping your payment the same amount or even raising it contributes significantly to the acceleration of your mortgage. “You initially qualified at that amount so you can afford it,” he says.

2. Make a lump-sum payment every year.

This could be your tax refund, your annual bonus or any windfall that falls into your lap. “Even an increase to your mortgage payment of $25 to $30 will result in significant time taken off your mortgage repayments,” says Gaetano.

Most mortgages provide privileges that allow you to make additional payments per year, usually between 10% and 25%. Gaetano advises that you confirm these particulars before signing a new mortgage agreement. “These prepayment options are important if you are committed to paying off your mortgage quickly,” he says.

He suggests making lump-sum payments to the nearest thousand. Let’s say you have $195,320 left on your mortgage: You’d make a payment of $320 to bring it down to an even $195,000 which over the long term can reduce your amount of mortgage payments and interest.

3. Make accelerated biweekly payments.

What’s better: paying $1,000 a month or $500 every two weeks? The latter strategy comes out ahead. For a truly accelerated program, divide your monthly mortgage payment in half and make that payment every two weeks. This means you’re ultimately making 26 half-payments in a year, the equivalent of one full additional monthly payment. “The 13^th payment is what we call the accelerant. It allows you to get that mortgage paid down faster,” says Gaetano.

Paying frequency may not seem like a big deal but check out this example: The Smiths have a $200,000 mortgage at 6% and are paying $1,280 in monthly payments. If the interest rate and their payments remain the same, their mortgage will be paid off in 25 years.

Compare this to the Browns, who have the same $200,000 mortgage and 6% interest rate. They chose to pay $640 in accelerated biweekly payments. If they keep this up, it will only take them 21 years (four years less than the Smiths) to pay off their mortgage. In the process, they will also save $35,000 in interest payments.

Whether you’re taking out your first mortgage or renewing an existing one, these strategies can help you kick your mortgage to the curb years sooner.

Learn more about mortgage protection insurance options.

It was Lindsay’s MS diagnosis back in 2008 that started Engen down this hectic path. Their focus before that was on career and travel plans. Engen was working in the hotel industry, putting in 60- to 80-hour weeks. His goal was promotion; probably in a bigger hotel, probably in a bigger city. That all changed when Lindsay began complaining about a severe pain behind her right eye. It was optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve that can be triggered by MS. “She was in so much pain, and she couldn’t see out of that eye,” he told me. “She thought it was a brain tumour.”

Overnight, the couple’s priorities shifted. The travel plans were shelved. Plans for two children were moved up so that Lindsay could nurse before going on her MS medication. At the same time, Engen decided to leave the hospitality industry for something steadier (and less time consuming) that would allow the couple to stay close to family in Lethbridge. He joined the local university as a marketer and fundraiser, and took advantage of his newfound 40-hour week by earning extra money writing in his spare time. That meant Lindsay could stay home and care for their first daughter.

Fast forward to today, and the family is expecting their second daughter next month. “I’m about to be severely outnumbered,” said Engen.

Engen is a real pleasure to speak with. He and I talked about his family’s experiences in the last couple of years and about his views on personal finance. Four highlights:

• The echo generation has to be entrepreneurial. For a lot of young Canadians, this is a matter of financial survival. Few can earn enough from one employer to achieve a level of financial security, so income needs to come from multiple sources. It’s a lot of work, but it can spread your risk of unemployment. In other words, no single boss can make you unemployed. “I really think that people my age would be wise to have an entrepreneurial focus,” said Engen. “Or at least do something on the side in addition to your day job.”

• Health events can be costly. The medication Lindsay expects to take when she stops nursing their second daughter costs $2,000 to $3,000 per month. The family is covered for about 60% of that. There’s more to the story though. They moved house because their old home had too many stairs. And the decision to become a one-income family was based in part on Lindsay’s health.

• Retirement is for couch potatoes. Engen said he’s looking forward to “financial independence” instead. And that won’t mean sitting in front of a big screen. He’s targeting age 55. “I love my job and I love what I’ve been doing on the side with the writing,” he said. “I want to be active. I want to be on community boards. I just want to do what I want to do.”

• Mortgage debt is “the” story right now. Engen is writing a lot about Canada’s housing market. “I worry about people who took out giant mortgages, especially in cities like Vancouver and Toronto,” he told me. “Something’s got to give there. Nationally, our housing prices aren’t bad if you take away those two markets. But those are huge markets. If you had a 20% to 25% correction there, it would put a lot of people in trouble.”

I asked Engen to list his favourite Canadian personal finance blogs. His top three won’t surprise you: Million Dollar Journey, Money Smarts Blog and Canadian Finance Blog.

Looking for health insurance protection for you and your family?
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Connect before you go

Seek out connections even before you leave home. Chat with women who’ve traveled before you. Make a note of their tips, advice and contacts. Talk to neighbours who’ve come from the country you are about to visit. They may be able to connect you with an aunt or a grandmother back home. Some of your best adventures can begin that way.

Join and stay in a local’s home

Become a member of an organization that fosters the exchange of homestays. Women Welcome Women, promoting visits between females in over 80 countries, is a perfect example and a practical way of getting to meet the locals.

Book walking tours

A walking tour of a new city offers three wonderful opportunities. The first is that it helps you to orient yourself at the destination. Secondly, it gives you the chance to question your guide about the places you’ll want to explore on your own. And thirdly, the other people who have chosen this walk are just like you. They’re new to the city and looking for company as well. Odds are you’ll make some interesting pals before the walk is over.

Mix sightseeing with learning

Travelling solo is a golden opportunity to pursue interests that you love. Are you a bridge player? There are many cruises designed around bridge tournaments, as well as clubs worldwide that welcome outsiders. Love cooking? An Internet search will lead you to an array of classes abroad. Not only will you learn to prepare new dishes but at the close of the session you and your new classmates can sit down to enjoy interesting conversation, a glass of fine wine and that excellent ethnic meal you all cooked together.

Introduce yourself without speaking

Eating in a café? Keep an English book or newspaper on your table. Inevitably someone will recognize either the book title or the newspaper and will strike up a conversation. Likewise, you can be the first to comment if you notice someone reading a book that you’ve already enjoyed.

Seek out professional organizations

Are you a teacher, lawyer or doctor that belongs to a professional organization at home? Through them you can connect with professional women’s groups around the world. If you’re in town on the right date, try attending one of their monthly meetings or excursions.

Look for communal restaurant seating

Look for restaurants that offer communal seating at large dining room tables. You can try this at the warm and welcoming Pain Quotidian, bar and café all rolled into one, as well as Wagamama, a chain that serves tasty noodle dishes worldwide. The fun part of these restaurants is you never know who will sit down beside you and what the conversation will yield.

Put some of these ideas to use and it’s guaranteed that when you look back on your holiday, it won’t be the loneliness that you remember most. Probably it will be the bridge tournament you won in Brussels or the teacher who shared your table at a café in Paris or the look-alike sisters you met walking in Morocco who invited you home for tea. That is the wonderful pleasure of solo travel.

Evelyn Hannon is editor of Journeywoman.com, the largest online travel resource for women.

Learn how you can protect yourself and your family both at home and on the road with health insurance solutions designed to meet your needs.

	Think your debt is no big deal? Think again Golden Girl Finance points out that many of us have no idea how deeply we are in debt or how much debt we have compared to others. Are you in credit card denial?
	A good reason to start the day with protein Find yourself always grabbing a mid-morning snack? Could be you need to eat a better breakfast. Fit Family says eating a protein-rich breakfast can help you feel full longer. Tweak your breakfast to lose weight
	The legacy all parents should pass on Jana of Daily Money Shot, in a guest blog for Careful cents, shares how she plans to ensure her daughter won’t become the fourth generation of women in her family who haven’t taken charge of their finances. The importance of leaving a financial legacy
	Why kids need to make their own career choices Barbara Moses, best-selling author of Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth About Work, Relationships, and the Rest of Life, reminds mothers, “As Bob Dylan once observed, your sons and daughters are beyond your command,” (and why that’s how it should be.) Mothers – Step back and let your children forge their own career paths
	Will your retirement income align with your spending needs? Investment Executive reports that a new poll indicates only half of those within a year of retirement have a detailed budget. Majority of boomers can’t wait for retirement, but only half have a budget

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But at age 30, encouraged by her husband to check out some unusual bumps on her chest, she ended up in a dermatologist’s office. The bumps were just skin tags, but at the doctor’s suggestion, she had a mole scan, a full-body examination of skin irregularities. That’s when the dermatologist found a dark mole on the inner thigh, which she biopsied. “I would have never noticed it,” says Baron.

The shocking diagnosis came back several days later: early-stage melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Baron was terrified – and then relieved to hear there was a happy ending. “It’s the worst possible cancer you can get if you don’t catch it early. But at that stage, once you remove it – it’s all gone.”

Within days, Baron had surgery to remove the mole. She knows she’s lucky she caught it early: “The surgeon said that if I had waited a year or two it would have killed me.”

Melanoma increasing among young

Dr. Barry Lycka sees cases like this all of the time. Melanoma is increasing in younger age groups, says the Edmonton-based dermatologist and founder of the Canadian Skin Cancer Foundation, though less-dangerous basal and squamous-cell cancers are more common. He says increased sun exposure without sunscreen and the popularity of tanning beds, “which increase the risk of skin cancer 1,000-fold,” are to blame for the surge in cases.

So is an active lifestyle in which lots of time is spent outdoors without adequate sun protection, says Dr. Cheryl Rosen, the national director of the Canadian Dermatology Association’s sun awareness program in Toronto. “Sunscreen lets you stay out a lot longer in the sun, but you still get exposure,” she says.

Outdoor sports, gardening, relaxing around the pool and other summer activities are common occasions for unprotected sun exposure. Winter vacations at sunny destinations are also treacherous when it comes to increasing your skin cancer risk, says Lycka. “People don’t protect themselves enough,” he says. Plus, in the quest for the perfect tan, they take chances they wouldn’t take ordinarily, exposing skin that hasn’t seen sunlight in months to very intense rays.

“Unfortunately, a tan is still looked upon as something positive,” says Rosen. “Be happy with the colour of skin you have.”

How to protect your skin

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in seven Canadians will get skin cancer in their lifetimes. Don’t become one of them – take steps to protect yourself this summer and particularly when heading south at any time of the year.

1. Skip the tanning salon. Sure, a base tan might seem like a good idea. But Lycka cautions the exposure to UV rays just raises your skin cancer risk.
2. Use plenty of sunscreen, with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 30. And use it generously – spreading it too thin will not create a barrier that provides the SPF you think you’re getting, says Rosen, who advises using a shot glass-amount for the whole body. To help prevent skin cancer, Health Canada suggests you apply sunscreen to exposed skin 15 to 30 minutes before you go out in the sun, and again after 15 to 30 minutes. Make sure you re-apply sunscreen after working up a sweat or swimming.
3. Cover up. Wear a wide-brimmed hat and a shirt with sleeves, advises Lycka.
4. Stay in the shade. Hide out under a tree between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. to avoid the period of highest sun intensity.
5. Take additional precaution when on medication. If you’re on certain medications such as heart drugs or acne treatments, you may be extra-sensitive to the sun and burn more easily.

After you return from a vacation in the sun, it’s also wise to get yourself checked out by a dermatologist. Lycka tells his patients they should have an annual mole check with a doctor. “On your birthday, get your birthday suit examined. That way you remember to do it once a year.”

And always watch for any changes in your skin. Be on the lookout for:

• Moles with irregular borders, asymmetry, a size greater than 6mm or very dark or black in colour.
• Patches of skin that bleed and crust over repeatedly or change in any way, becoming larger, itchy, a different colour, a different shape or raised or textured.

If you’re in any doubt about a skin lesion, check it out with a doctor. The vast majority of skin cancers are completely curable if caught early.

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Come September, that question will be asked in classrooms and workplaces throughout the country. And while a few lucky souls will be able to say they spent their vacation on safari photographing wildebeests as they swept across the African plains, or sampling wines in Tuscan vineyards, most of us will be staying much closer to home.

Or even right at home. Rocketing gas prices and a tight economy have prompted many Canadian families to forego a traditional summer vacation and choose leisure activities in their own towns and cities.

But is a staycation really a vacation? I posed this question to a handful of Canadian moms. Opinions differ.

Pros and cons of staycations

“We love them,” says Erika David. “We go to museums and amusement parks, ride our bikes along the water, picnic on the beach, attend shows and festivals, and explore new neighbourhoods.”

David explains that at first, staycations were a necessity. “The kids were young, we needed renovations on the house and there was little money in the budget for travel.” But now, she says, they continue the tradition because they enjoy it so much. Each family member picks out his or her own special activity, and they make it a point to try something new each year.

“We’ve discovered so much about our city on our excursions, and it’s less stressful.”

Sheryl Walsh, who also frequently staycations with her three boys, can relate to the reduced stress.

“I’ve been on vacations where we spent way too much money on cramped accommodation and mediocre food, and let’s face it – all you need is one sick child and a vacation you’ve spent thousands of dollars on is ruined,” she says.

She feels more in control of her money and time when her family vacations close to home.

But not everybody agrees.

“A staycation is not a vacation,” says Lori Poon. “You have to escape. When I stay at home, I see all the work that needs to be done and it’s just not relaxing.”

“That’s a danger,” agrees Matt Wixon, author of the “The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!).” But having interviewed countless families and taken numerous staycations himself, he believes that with the right planning and attitude everyone can save money, reduce stress and create lasting memories by staying local.

“You have to get it into your mind that it’s not just time off,” says Wixon, “and treat it like a real vacation.”

Here are some tips for a successful and memorable staycation:

Just say “no” to work

It takes discipline to do this. Write “vacation” on the calendar for a set number of days and be vigilant about protecting them. Set up an out-of-office reply for your emails; clean your house and get chores out of the way before the vacation starts. As tempted as you may be to check in at the office, organize the garage or rearrange the living room – resist.

Seek out new experiences

Yes, you probably have local faves when it comes to restaurants, swimming holes and attractions, but to have a memorable break, it’s essential to get out of your comfort zone.

Research guidebooks and websites such as canadacool.com to find out what tourists do when they visit your region. Check local papers for concerts, events and summer festivals, and ask friends and colleagues what they like to do.

Whether it’s attending a symphony, wakeboarding, hiking in the moonlight, catching a fish, touring a gallery or stargazing, unique experiences will ensure that a staycation is truly a fun escape from the everyday.

Be frugal – but not cheap

You’re saving big money on transportation and accommodation costs, so don’t nickel and dime other indulgences. Enjoy a dinner or two at a restaurant, book a local hotel room for a night, or splurge on a cool tour or a spa treatment.

By all means, save money on these types of treats by using loyalty reward points, coupons for attraction passes and group deals, but don’t give them up. You can find deals on sites such as dealfind.com, attractionsontario.ca and dailydealzone.com

Cherish your memories

Take lots of photos. Create a scrapbook, a home movie or a digital photo album. Record how you spent your vacation days the same way you would if you went to Disney World.

And when people ask you what you did on your summer vacation, tell them with pride all the places you discovered and the fun you had in your own backyard.