St. Louis Mommy remains mostly a mystery. We know she’s a mom and she’s from St. Louis. To learn more about St. Louis Mommy we asked her 5 wide ranging questions, here’s what she had to say.
If you could have a super power what would it be?
I would choose the ability to fly.

What advice do you have for bloggers?
Stick to it and don’t give up.

If you could be an animal or a tree which would you be and why?
I would be a dolphin because I love the water and warm weather.. plus everyone loves dolphins!

If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite?
My Grandma Rose, Grandpa Bob, Dave Ramsey, Rosa Parks, and Wentworth Miller (I’m a single mom and he’s nice to look at)!

What is on your bucket list?
Falling in love, skydiving, visiting Rome

Thankfully Thrifty is Ashleigh. She and her husband have been married four years and had their first child in February 2011. She stays home with their baby, making saving money essential. Still when she began this blog a couple years ago, it was purely because of her naturally frugal mindset! For most of her life, she has constantly been coming up with ways to save money. So finally, a couple friends approached her and told her she should share her thrifty tips with the world, hence she created Thankfully Thrifty.

We asked Thankfully Thrifty 5 wide ranging questions, here’s what she had to say.

If you could have a super power what would it be?
To speak and understand “baby” language. It’d be great to be able to reason with a 10 month old and know why she’s fussy.

What advice do you have for bloggers?
Write about what you love and blog for you

If you could be an animal or a tree which would you be and why?
Tree – so not that I really want to be a tree, but I suppose an oak. A verse that’s been on my heart is Isaiah 61:3 that describes our trials as making us stronger (as an oak) to glorify the Lord.

If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite?
I would invite Mary Kate and Ashley (I’m a fan. Sh don’t tell), Money Saving Mom, Martha Stewart, and Kelly Rippa.

What is on your bucket list?
I’d love to start a business venture for fun. Maybe a pottery painting or canvas a wine painting studio. Or a fun restaurant. I’m still working on ideas.

Consume Queen is Melissa, a mom of 2 and savings specialist who enjoys getting a good deal. She uses her site as a ministry to help moms fight the rising costs of the economy by showing them ways to cut costs through couponing, shopping for sales and frugal tips.

We asked Consumer Queen 5 wide ranging questions, here’s what she had to say.

If you could have a super power what would it be?
That’s easy. The power of healing. I would love to cure my husbands disease.

What advice do you have for bloggers?
Don’t listen to anyone else but your heart. You know exactly what you want and how much your family can stand.Take your passion and run with it and don’t look back. Don’t be afraid to take that giant leap forward!

If you could be an animal or a tree which would you be and why?
Honestly I don’t know. Maybe a pampered dog that is always dressed to the nine and carried around lol. Or maybe a tree that has really good roots!

If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite?

• George Clooney – because well he just seems like a nice guy, down to earth,fun to converse with and he is pretty cute for an old guy.
• Robert Patterson –  because dinner wouldn’t be complete w/o some eye candy LOL
• Oprah – because well she is just interesting and I want  her to sprinkle her magic potion on me and make me famous.
• Tom Cruise – because I want to get inside that head of his and find out why he is so weird?
• Sandra Bullock because I can totally see myself treating her like one my girlfriends and if the above crowd gets too rowdy I’ll need someone to help me take them out LOL!

We would have to order out or cater though as I would be to scared to serve them my cooking !!!!

What is on your bucket list?

• Take my husband to Hawaii
• Star in my own commercial
• Pay off my cars and house and be totally debt free
• Dance on Broadway!
• Find a Cure for Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Travel to Europe
• Travel the U.S. and teach people the skills to help them get back on their feet such as couponing, frugal living, finances etc. Teach a coupon class in all 50 states.

We asked Frugal in Fort Worth 5 wide ranging questions, here’s what she had to say.

If you could have a super power what would it be?
I’d love to be able to be two (or three) places at once ~ oh how that would resolve so many time challenges!

What advice do you have for bloggers?
Four pieces of advice:

1. Write about a subject you love, and you’ll never run out of things to talk about.
2. If you aren’t already, seek to become an expert in your blog subject.
3. Be consistent in regularly posting to your blog.
4. And above all else, treasure your readers.  While you might have pearls of wisdom to share, they are the true pearls.

If you could be an animal or a tree which would you be and why?
This question made me laugh ~ I can’t imagine either option.  Though, if I must choose, I would have to say an animal, as I would not do well stuck in one place, with one set of scenery as a tree.

If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite?
Just 5  ?  I had a hard time narrowing it down.  My initial list included several people few would have heard of including, of course, my family.  Here’s my edited down list:

• Tim Tebow ~ What an amazing life story. I’m sorry we aren’t going to see him in the Superbowl (so that should mean he’s free for dinner, eh?)
• Josh Hamilton ~ Another fantastic person and my favorite Texas Ranger player!
• Paula Dean ~ While I try to cook healthy most of the time, you have to love a fun southern gal who starts just about every dish with a stick of butter.
• Ty Pennington ~ I don’t think I have watched a single Extreme Home Makeover show without tears.
• Beth Moore ~ She is one of my favorite authors and from Texas!

What is on your bucket list? 

• Riding a Segway ~ It’s soooo modern day “Jetsons”
• Travel to just about anywhere.  On the top of the list includes, Bermuda, a Mediterranean cruise, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia

We asked Family eGuide 5 wide ranging questions, here’s what they had to say.

If you could have a super power what would it be?
 SuperSpeed… Kinda like the mom on “No Ordinary Family,” where I could zip around, taking care of cleaning, cooking, and work in just a few minutes, then slow down to enjoy what really matters: spending time with family and friends.

What advice do you have for bloggers?
Pace yourself and don’t expect overnight success. It takes a while to build up a following and monetize your blog, so you’ve really got to enjoy what you’re doing.

If you could be an animal or a tree which would you be and why?
 An animal… Trees are nice, but it would be boring to be one, just watching the world pass you by:)

If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite?
My dad (In heaven 11yrs.  I would have liked my daughters to know him), Jesus, Benjamin Franklin, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Katherine Hepburn

What is on your bucket list?
Watch my kids become happy, healthy adults.  Travel the world (Zip-line tour in the canopies of Costa Rica, African Safari, Greek Islands, etc.)

I have been a stay-at-home mom for nearly 12 years, but have never been very good at the staying at home part.  With four kids (and mountains of laundry) I will take any excuse to venture out of the house in search of a new adventure… and thankfully, daily deal sites offer me plenty to choose from. Whenever an activity is offered that my kids have never tried before, I snatch up the deal and off we go.

Here are just a few of the new things my family has tried in the past year, thanks to half-price voucher scores:

• We bounced our way across wall-to-wall trampolines, while wild-eyed kids threw balls at our heads.
• We chased crafty escapee guinea pigs around a zoo, trying to get them back to their enclosure.
• At a different zoo, we were “sprayed” by a tiger. Nice.
• My eleven-year-old went to horse camp, and now asks daily if we can move to the country and buy a horse.
• I went on a ghost tour with a friend, where we mostly learned a lot of Boston history… and didn’t see any ghosts.
• My five-year-old learned to ice skate.
• I got chunky highlights in my hair that made me look a bit skunky, but I like to think I rocked them.
• Maids came to clean our house, freeing up more hours for adventures!
• I took my daughter to see Owl City at ACL Live at the Moody Theatre– her first concert.
• We discovered a new children’s museum with a super cool outdoor water play table.
• My little boys burned some energy at gymnastics class.
• I bought 40 half-price movie tickets to give away on my website, but my husband talked me into keeping them all and having a movie marathon over winter break.
• My three-year-old wore his dinosaur costume to a retro kiddie amusement park.
• My husband and I had some pretty fancy date nights where we ordered both soda (not water!) and dessert.
• My 9-year-old tried Tae Kwon Do… and decided he’s more of a LEGO kid.
• I took all four kids to The Melting Pot for chocolate fondue.  Twice!
• We had a family photo shoot with a professional photographer.
• My husband and I took an anniversary trip and stayed in a cottage where President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird had frequently visited.
• We spent the weekend at a dude ranch.
• My competitive spirit came out, racing the kids in Go Karts. (I won.)
• My daughter got feathers in her hair.
• We drove through a spooky Halloween car wash.
• My husband and I went to see a great musical.
• I took the kids on a shopping spree at a toy store.
• I got a voucher for two people to be strapped into an inflatable ball and rolled down a hill, but chickened out and gave it away at a white elephant gift exchange (where the recipient did not do a convincing job of being excited about her present).
• I booked a girls’ weekend with my sister at a hotel in New York City.

That last one is coming up in a just a few weeks… so the fun continues in 2012!

Have you purchased a deal voucher that led you to try something new?  I’d love to hear about it!

Mommy’s Mantra…
Never run out of toilet paper again. And by golly, don’t pay for it anymore either. And finally, teach your toddler to chant “stick it to the man” at check-out as you don’t pay for that toilet paper.

So, you’ve been reading this blog and others like it for awhile. And you think not paying for groceries, or restaurant food, or whatever is really keen. Or you just started reading and some of this stuff is confusing or overwhelming, but you also think not paying for stuff is really keen. Don’t worry! Mommy is here to help. If you are not an avid couponer who regularly gets alot of their groceries for free or almost free, BUT YOU WANNA BE, let’s start here. We’ll just break it all up into tiny pieces which will make it easier to do. This is how I started, just last year. And, gosh, look at me now.

Identify your Benefactors.
1. The very first thing you want to do is set yourself up a free email account. Of course, I recommend Google Mail (someone @ gmail.com), or you can use that other Y brand. Free mail accounts have fewer little people sitting there blacklisting email newsletters that you have signed up for. Mostly, it all comes thru. This account will JUST be for couponing use.

2. Next, make a list of ALL the items BY BRAND that you buy to use: kitchen, bathroom, for the baby, kids, personal items, pantry, refrigerator, freezer, cabinets, etc. Don’t forget items you use in your yard, for your car, or for your pets.

3. Each day, make the effort to take 3 minutes to Google one of the companies on your list. Find their official company website and do this…

• If they have an eNewsletter or Fanclub or any kind of club, sign up for it. GET ON THEIR SNAIL MAIL LIST AND MAKE SURE THEY HAVE YOUR NEW COUPON EMAIL ADDRESS that you just set up. Click yes to getting “special offers” and “news”. Do this because eNewsletters and Clubs send you coupons in snail mail, links to coupons on eNewsletters, and even free samples of new products.
• Then go to the “Contact Us” page, or “Consumer Relations” or something that reads like that. Send them an email telling them how much you LOVE their product and ask if they have any coupons they could send you. If you REALLY like that product send them a snail mail thank you card. Do this because EVERY COMPANY I’ve ever contacted has sent me something when I asked for it. You don’t ask you don’t get. This is a great way to start stocking your coupon pile. And these will be the really good coupons.

4. Sit back and watch the loot start rolling in to your mailbox, and your email box.

Do this once a day, until you feel you have contacted just about every brand you use and love. Now you’ve laid your groundwork for being an efficient, organized coupon mommy (or dude) by letting all your brands know that you are paying attention to them and what they have to say.

My South Central Texas Mommy ”was” a stay-at-home mom of two looking in every direction to save a buck.  With being caught up with two house payments and a decrease in income she learned ways to be able to continue her obsession at the grocery store. She founded My Memphis Mommy in May of 09 and with continuing success she put together My South Central Texas Mommy.   She hopes she is able to truly save your family a significant amount of money and can improve your lifestyle as she did for hers.

The top excuse I hear for why women do not exercise is that they just do not have time. Have you ever used any of these excuses?

• …but my kids have homework
• …but I don’t want to redo my makeup
• …but I hate to have to take another shower
• …but I have to cook dinner
• …but I can’t miss the game!

Let me offer a little tough love: get over yourself! The amazing thing about time is that we all have 24 hours in any given day. It is what you choose to do during that 24 hours that determines your destiny.

Priorities

I, for example, have set my priorities and they include raising three young kids with all the homework, doctors appointments,  homeroom parties, and extracurricular activities that comes along with it. My priorities also include maintaining a blissful marriage and keeping my career rolling. But I still fit in a 45 to 90 minute workout every day.

It is a priority, and we always make time for priorities.

Time is only an excuse as long as we allow it to be. When you set your life up for success by keeping exercise a priority and scheduling for it, you will make it happen. If your hair needs cut, you make time and make an appointment. If your grass needs mowed, if the air filter needs changed, or if a birthday party needs to be organized… you make it happen. You may have to juggling some things around, but this is your health we are talking about. Make it a priority. Schedule for it.

My time excuse

My time excuse was always associated with feeling separated from my family while I worked out. If I joined a gym, I would have the travel time to and from, the cleanup afterwards, plus the workout itself. Having a home gym eliminated the travel, but I was still locked in a back room.

My solution

To eliminate the problem, I moved the treadmill to the living room. I could then watch the same movie or football game the family was watching while also getting my workout done. On days I preferred a different exercise, I would pop in a Walk Away the Pounds DVD and walk with one to three kids hanging off my limbs.

The truth

The truth is that no matter what your schedule looks like, there is always time for a workout. You just have to figure out how to make it happen. It has to be a priority.

What is your time excuse? Can we help you find a solution? Comment below.

1. Domestic and International Airfare

2. New Digital Camera Models

3. Hard Drives

4. Desktop Computers

5. Food for Home Preparation

6. Mobile Device Data Plans

7. City-Enforced Fees

8. Water

9. Gas

10. Gold

11. Shipping

Do you agree or disagree with this list? Let us know with a comment below.