November 2015 - Page 3 of 4

It’s Time for Fall Maintenance and Cleaning

We’re now firmly into fall here in New England, and it’s time for some annual fall cleaning and maintenance on homes everywhere.

Let’s start with the easy stuff first — cleaning! One of the most important cleaning things that you should do in the fall is to take all of your family’s winter comforters to the dry cleaners or dry clean them yourself with a home kit. That way they are fresh and clean when the temperature starts dropping later on in the month.

Another thing that is great to do now is to go through all of the summer clothing in the house and figure out what you would like to with them, either pack them away for next year or donate them to the thrift store. Once you have figured that out, it’s time to bring out the winter clothes! Make sure that you have shopped for laundry detergent and fabric softener on DealDash, because the next step is to wash and dry all of your winter clothing before you put them into your closets and dressers. Even if you washed them directly before you packed them away they are still going to be a little stale and wrinkly, it’s best to give them a good washing.

Tide Pods Ocean Mist Detergent, 72ct Downy Ultra April Fresh Liquid Fabric Softener

Now on to the maintenance. If you’re a homeowner or a tenant that’s in charge of the maintenance on your home then read on, because these are important things that you should do every fall to keep things running smoothly.

Clean the gutters. I know, it’s not everyone (or anyone’s!) favorite thing to do, but it’s important that after leaves have fallen, clean out your gutters and downspouts, flush them with water, inspect the joints, and tighten your brackets if they need it. Clogged gutters are one of the major causes of ice dams. If any of your gutters are getting old be sure to replace them before the snow falls.
Caulk your windows. This job is a little more fun than the previous one, be sure to caulk around windows and door frames to prevent heat from escaping. Caulk around the outside, and then get a helper to turn on a hairdryer to heat around the edges – if you feel a stream of hot air it means that you should re-caulk that area, you might have missed a spot.
Inspect your roof. Make sure the roof is in good shape with no missing or loose shingles. Ice, rain, snow, and wind combined with rapidly changing temperatures and humidity wreak havoc on roofs.
Have your boiler and fireplace inspected. Heating systems in good shape will use fuel more efficiently, last longer, and have fewer problems if properly serviced.

Hopefully we will have a mild winter this year, but even if we don’t, rest assured that you are prepared for the weather ahead. Go rake your lawn, then get yourself a hot cider or tea, and check out the auctions and see what you would really like to bid on and WIN! See you on DealDash everyone! Good luck and happy bidding.

Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for Newbies

If you usually go to a relative’s home for Thanksgiving but have decided to cook your own this year you probably need some handy tips to get you started.

The first thing that you will want to think about is how you will cook your turkey. Up until a few years ago your only choice was to bake it, but recently people have started frying their turkey instead. If you’re interested in frying your turkey this year you can cut your bird into manageable pieces and fry them in just about any of the small fryers that DealDash has on their site, or you can get a specialized fryer that is made for turkeys – which DealDash also carries.

Butterball Digital Electric Extra-Large Turkey Fryer Butterball Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer

If frying a turkey isn’t really your idea of an ideal Thanksgiving dinner, and you don’t have a large enough oven to accommodate the turkey as well as the sides, how about getting a turkey roaster from DealDash instead?

Nesco 22-Pound Turkey Roaster Oven, 18-Quart Capacity, Stainless Steel Have you thought about what kind of sides that you will be serving with your Thanksgiving meal? Some of my favorites are mashed potatoes, corn, and stuffing. You’re going to need of a selection of casserole dishes to put your sides in to bake and serve. Happily, DealDash has a great selection of kitchen items.

Rachael Ray 3.5-Quart Cast Iron Covered Oval Casserole, Orange CorningWare French White 17 Piece Bake and Serve Set

Other than all of the cooking, if you’re inviting people over to enjoy Thanksgiving with you, you are probably going to want to clean your house as well as put up some decorations, or at the very least a table cloth! DealDash has all of your cleaning supplies covered, of course – they carry everything from the biggest items like vacuums and steam cleaners all the way down to the most humble of the cleaning supplies – paper towels, dish soap, and spray cleaners.

If you’re having a lot of people over you also might want to consider getting a card table and chairs so you will be able to accommodate everyone that you’ve invited to your Thanksgiving feast. DealDash has a great table and chair set that would be perfect for the task.

Mainstays 5 Piece Card Table and Chair Set, Black

If you are going to be hosting your family’s Thanksgiving this year be sure to check out DealDash. There are so many things there that you will be able to use for Thanksgiving dinner, but also be able to incorporate into your everyday use as well. Some examples of things you might want to look for in the kitchen section are: knife sets, pot & pan sets, cutlery, baking items, and much more. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

How to Take Great Pics to Score FREE Bids

If you’ve been paying attention to the blogs lately you know how to get FREE bids from posting your wins on social media. If you need a little help making your pics look great, read on.

Taking a photo of yourself and your DealDash winnings is really simple – you’re basically just taking a selfie of yourself and an item. There are a few tricks to have you and your item looking at your best, and the number one important thing to consider when you’re taking your pic is lighting. There is nothing worse than having a huge shadow cast over your face, it can amplify your worst features and make you look like you have huge bags under your eyes. The best two times to take your pictures is during either sunrise or sunset, when the light is low and the most beautiful. If you’re inside you should try and take your picture close to the window, because having natural light is best. If it’s possible try to take your DealDash win outside and take a picture out in the sunlight, it will make you look great and will show off your wins to their best advantage.

After you have taken your photo of you and your big (or little!) win head on over to the DealDash Facebook page which is here, and “Like” it. Then you can post your picture to get free bids. Here are the instructions from DealDash describing how to get free bids from Facebook:

1. Select an item you have won on DealDash to feature in the photo.

2. Take a high quality photo clearly showing yourself and the item you won.

3. Post photo to DealDash’s Facebook page and add a description which should include the following information: the item name, retail price, how much you paid for the item and a personal comment about the win as well. For example: “I got this $688 Garmin GPS on @DealDash. I paid just $6.08 and used 62 bids! Thanks DealDash, I will never get lost again!”

4. In the end of the caption, please include the following sentence and the link (See the picture below):
See how much you can save at: www.dealdash.com/join.php?utm_source=customer%20testimonials&utm_medium=pictures&utm_campaign=facebook

You can see all of these instructions and guidelines on the DealDash Facebook page here.

Other than great lighting, here are a few other tips to help you take great photos of yourself and your DealDash wins:

Smile! Don’t looks so serious. One of my favorite tricks to get a natural smile is to think of someone or something that I really love, like my daughter…Or a huge DealDash win!!
Try and keep your background simple. You’re trying to highlight your DealDash win, so keep your background as plain as possible if you can.
Make sure that you’re holding or posing with your win in the most flattering way. If it’s a small item hold it up close to your face, and if it’s a larger item such as a bike try to get someone else to take the picture for you so you can either sit on the bike or crouch down so you and the bike are on the same level.
Make sure that your pics are CLEAR! There’s nothing worse than a blurry out of focus dark picture where you can barely even tell what the item is that you are trying to display.
If all else fails, get a selfie stick!

I hope this helped some of you selfie-challenged DealDashers! If you’re interested in reading even more tips and tricks on how to win, check out the “Tactics & Tips” section on DealDash. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

1000 Free Bids go to…

The best photo of the week goes to Dan Woods. Congratulations! You just won 1000 free DealDash bids for posting this great photo of the Kulana Lua Tandem Bike (valued at $307.47) that you won for only $27.99 and 80 bids. Great bidding!

We won this bike built for two for $27.99 on Deal Dash. It was valued at over $300.00 and I only used about 80 bids and it shipped Free. We will enjoy riding it in Destin Fl.

Have you collected your free bids for your posting your winning photos to Facebook? If not, you’re missing out on hundreds of free bids and a chance to win 1000 bids awarded weekly for the best photo. Learn about how you can claim your free bids here.

Looking forward to seeing your photos!

Using the Tactics & Tips to Help You Win on DealDash

Sometimes starting a new hobby can be hard. Why not use the free Tactics and Tips section that DealDash offers to help you win?

Hello fellow DealDashers! This blog is mainly aimed at the newbies, but some more seasoned DealDash players might even learn a thing or two. Can we all really say that we read all of the instructions when we started? Here’s a refresher course.

DealDash offers a Tactics & Tips section available here for anyone who would like to read the original text. In this blog I am going to go through all of the tips and try to give a little insight on how they can help you.

Tip 1 – Conserve your bids. Bidding rapidly will only waste your bids and inflate the auction price. Bid strategically, or book a BidBuddy to do it for you. It makes absolutely no sense to hit your bid button rapidly and without thought when you are in an auction. Most people have their bids booked through the BidBuddy anyway, so it’s very unlikely you will win this way.
Tip 2 – Book a BidBuddy. The majority of auctions on DealDash are won by using the BidBuddy. The BidBuddy strategically places bids for you. It waits until the last second to bid. You can put a limit on how many bids will be used. And you can cancel it at any time. Basically, you put the number of bids that you are willing to spend into your BidBuddy and it will bid for you against other people’s BidBuddies that have been set. They take turns with each other, and this way you don’t waste any bids by accidentally (or on purpose!) stomping on people’s bids.
Tip 3- Earn FREE bids. When you are the Highest Bidder, you will earn time towards your next level. When you reach a new level, you receive free bids. There is a meter at the bottom of your bidding screen that will show you how far you are from getting free bids. Once the meter is filled up you just click the “claim bids” button and they are automatically credited to your account and you can use them immediately.
Tip 4- Study the competition. Who else is bidding on the item? Watch and learn. Some people keep a notepad to track bidders and what type of bidding strategies they are using. I personally keep an Excel spreadsheet on bidders that I frequently run into on the particular auctions that I enjoy. If you find yourself bidding on the same genre of item often, such as video game systems, you will probably run into the same bidders pretty often. If you keep track of their names and at what auction price they stop bidding then you have a pretty good idea of how they might bid the next time you run into them.
Tip 5- Buy It Now (BIN) and get your bids back. If you do not win an auction, you can get your bids back, by taking advantage of the Buy It Now option. If you bid 100 times on a $50 Walmart Gift Card and don’t win, you can just buy the item for $50 and get all your bids back for free. You can now re-use your bids to try to win another auction! The bids are automatically credited to your account and you can use them immediately.
Tip 6- Check out the winners. The winners page reveals recently won items and the final auction prices. I love to look at the “Winner’s Page”. You can see the link to it up at the top of the DealDash screen. It shows all of the recently won auctions, who won them, where they are from, and what the final auction price was. I love to see who got an awesome deal like a video game for .10, and I also admit that I have to chuckle a little when I see someone WAY overpay such as “winning” a $25 gift card for $27. When you see someone overbid like that you know that either they weren’t paying attention or that their competitive “gotta win” attitude cost them money.
Tip 7- Try different times. Auctions might be easier to win at different times of the day. Auctions are only open to the US. I agree that this can sometimes be helpful, however in my experience it seems that the “ultimate prime time” to bid can vary from week to week. Study the auctions and see if you can find yourself a sweet spot to bid in.
Tip 8- Mind your budget. Try bidding on less-expensive, less-popular items. There will likely be less competition. If you stick with items that are $20 or less it’s easy to just BIN them (see tip 5) and get all of your bids back to try again.
Tip 9- Buy bids on sale. Make sure to visit DealDash regularly so you can keep up to date on promotions and save on bids! Bid prices change every single day, but generally fluctuate between .12-.18 per bid. If you go “Like” the DealDash Secrets page on Facebook here you can check back daily and it will tell you the price the bids will be the following day. And if that’s not an awesome tip I don’t know what is!

So my fellow DealDashers, those are just a few helpful tactics & tips for playing on DealDash. Remember to pay attention to the tips, check out the auctions and see what you would really like to bid on, and try your luck! See you on DealDash everyone! Good luck and happy bidding.