DealDash Blog

Great Christmas Gift Series: Gift Cards

Welcome to DealDash’s “Great Christmas Gifts.” series – If you’re a person who struggles every year trying to think of gifts to get your family and friends, this series is for YOU!

Well, if you still haven’t figured out what to get for the absolute hardest people to shop for on your list, I guess it’s come down to gift cards! Some people think that gift cards are a little too impersonal, kind of like giving cash, but if you are able to tailor the specific gift card to the person’s interests and tastes then it becomes less impersonal, and more like a great idea!

The first thing that you should think about when choosing a gift card for someone is what their specific interests are. It wouldn’t make any sense to get a couch potato a gift card to a sporting goods store, now would it? DealDash has tons of gift cards for just about every type of interest that a person could have. I have prepared a handy list of people that you might be shopping for and gift card choices that might work for them (each of the options are clickable to take you directly to the DealDash page):

Mom/Grandma: Barnes & Noble, Kohl’s

Dad/Grandpa: Advance Auto Parts, Lowe’s

Brother/Uncle: Gamestop, Cabela Sports

Sister/Aunt: American Eagle, Bath & Body Works

Of course, there are probably tons of people on your list that you really don’t know all that well but you would like to get them a little something anyway – such as a teacher, co-worker, mailman, neighbor, or friend of a friend. For these types of people I suggest $10 gift cards from places such as:

As I said before, though, gift cards can be thought of as a little impersonal for a close family member, so I would suggest that if you are going to go with a gift card then you might want to pair it with something small that you know they like such as a favorite candy bar or some lottery tickets. However, for a person that you don’t see too often or don’t know that well personally they are a great gift to let them know that you thought about them during the holidays

If you are interested in seeing even more gift cards from many different places and in many different denominations, check out DealDash’s Gift Card section. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

Surviving the Holidays With Help from DealDash

As fun as the holidays are, some people just can’t get into the spirit. Here are some tips to help get through the next few weeks.

No matter what the reason, be it Seasonal Effective Disorder, baby blues, or just a dislike of the holidays in general you have a right to your feelings, and you’re going to need to find ways to keep yourself busy during the next few weeks. Here are some ideas to start off your thought process.

How about learning a new skill, such as cooking a specific meal or food item? Everyone else is baking Christmas cookies or planning on roasting a turkey, but how about you learn how to make home made pasta? It’s much more delicious than store bought pasta, and you can make it as healthy (or not!) as you choose. If you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer you can make pasta really quickly and easily. Here is a simple recipe you can follow:

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour, sifted (plus extra flour for preparing)

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs, beaten

2 Tablespoons water

KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer, Cobalt Blue KitchenAid Pasta Roller Attachment

Directions:

Place eggs, water, flour and salt in mixer bowl. Attached bowl and flat beater. Turn to speed 2 and mix for 30 to 60 seconds. Add more water if the dough is too dry, in 1/2 Tablespoon increments.

Change out the flat beater for the dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes. Remove the dough and knead by hand for 2 minutes. Let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

Cut dough into four pieces before processing with pasta sheet attachment. Take one piece and flatten into a rectangular shape. Adding flour to both sides. Be sure to cover the other pieces. Attach the pasta sheet roller to your stand mixer and set it to #1. Turn on the stand mixer to speed 2 and run the pasta dough through the pasta sheet roller. While on #1, fold the dough in half and run it through again. Do this several times.

Adding a little bit of flour on each side of the dough again, change setting to #2 and pass the pasta dough through the sheet roller. Do this twice and then twice each on #3 and then #4. If you want thicker dough, don’t do the #4 setting.

Once again, add flour to each side of your long pasta sheet. Change the attachment to your spaghetti or fettuccine cutter and turn on to speed 2. Run the pasta sheet through and with your left hand, hold on to the pasta as it comes through the cutter. Allow pasta to dry for a few minutes before boiling.

When boiling your pasta, it only needs 3 to 7 minutes to boil.

You can get a Kitchenaid mixer and all of it’s various attachments on DealDash. Just click this link here and it will take you to the auctions. If pasta making sounds fun but maybe a little too ambitious check out DealDash’s Kitchen & Appliances section and perhaps you can find a fun new kitchen gadget that’s more your speed.

Rachael Ray Hard Enamel Cookware 10pc set (2-tone Red) Oceanstar 6 Piece Bamboo Cooking Utensil Set Rubbermaid 40-Piece Food Storage Set

If cooking really isn’t your thing, how about using your extra time off from work (assuming you get holiday time off!) and do some of those extra projects around the house that you have been putting off for a while now? I can think of a few projects off the top of my head that need doing around my house, and I bet you can, too. If you’re really not much of a handy sort, how about getting a basic tool set from DealDash? You could get something like the Essentials 34 piece tool kit and have just about everything you need for a small project. You can find that auction, and other tool kit auctions at this link here.

Essentials 34-Piece Around the House Tool Kit with Screwdriver

If you’re more advanced in your handiness you could pick up something a little trickier to use such as a rotary tool set or even a hammer drill. Check out the Home, Garden, & Tools section here on DealDash and see what you can discover.

Of course, there’s nothing more fun than sitting down at your computer and just browsing all of the different areas on DealDash. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

Great Christmas Gift Series: Let’s Talk Legos

Welcome to DealDash’s “Great Christmas Gifts.” series – If you’re a person who struggles every year trying to think of gifts to get your family and friends, this series is for YOU!

Up until now we have mostly been talking about great Christmas gift ideas for older teens and adults. However, as everyone knows, the people who tend to get the most enjoyment out of Christmas is kids! Especially younger kids. In face, there are some grouchy people out there (Looking at you, Hubby!!) that think that Christmas gifts are JUST for kids!! Well, I don’t believe that, but I do think that shopping for kids can really be the most fun experience of the year, along with watching them open their presents on Christmas morning.

1988

The first gift that I would like to highlight is really good for most ages of kids, as long as they are past the “putting things in their mouth” toddler stage – Legos! Every single kid that I have ever had the fun of interacting with loves Legos. When I was a kid back in the dark ages of the 1980s there really wasn’t a lot of Lego variety. They were mostly primary colors, and while they were unisex they were mostly marketed at little boys., though there were definitely some cool space sets that both genders could enjoy. Well, times have changed! Now there are Legos of every color, and so many different sets that encompass so many different interests of boys, girls, and both!

LEGO Disney Princess Cinderella's Dream Carriage Building Set

For example, above there is a picture of a great Lego set that was specifically targeted at girls that’s subject is Cinderella. It’s great for girls 6+, however my daughter has similar Lego sets that she absolutely loves and she’s only 4. Like I said, as long as kids are past the “chokables” stage of life, Lego is good for all ages. This Cinderella set is available for bidding at DealDash, check this link here.

There are also Lego sets for super hero fans, such as this Hulk or Spiderman set, both available on DealDash at this link here.

LEGO Super Heroes Hulk Lab Smash Play Set LEGO Super Heroes Spider-Helicopter Rescue Play Set

There are also many other Lego sets that come up on DealDash, just click this link here and you will be taken to all of the current and upcoming Lego products that DealDash offers, including video games as well as character sets.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about Lego sets, and if you’re interested in bidding on anything Lego, or if you have another type of toy in mind check out the Hobbies, Toys, Outdoors, and Games section on DealDash. Good luck and happy bidding everyone!

1000 Free Bids go to…

The best photo of the week goes to Kim Grace Manor. Congratulations! You just won 1000 free DealDash bids for posting this great photo of the OTC 1545 Motorcycle Lift (valued at $333) that you won for only $0.42. Fantastic deal!

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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 Features of the DealDash App for Android

If you’ve been following along with my DealDash app for Android blog series you are probably getting used to bidding on the go!

However, if you missed my first two blogs on the subject I will provide a quick refresher on the basics. If you already know how to download and open the app on your Android phone, please skip down to the bottom and I will explain a few of the features that are available on the DealDash app.

If you haven’t yet downloaded the DealDash app for Android, please start off by going to Google Play. You can do this on your computer or phone browser if you like by going to this link. Or you can just go to Google Play and type DealDash into the search box. However, the even easier way to get the app is to go to the Google Play app on your phone and type DealDash into the search box.

Verify that the publisher is indeed DealDash, and go ahead and find the green rectangle that says “install.” Just go ahead and click that button and wait for it to install on your Google Play app.

Once you have finished installing the DealDash app for Android you can click on it to open it up, and you should see a sign-in screen where you can put your regular DealDash sign-in name and password. You can choose to save this information so DealDash will automatically connect for you when you open up the app.

Now that everyone has installed the DealDash app let’s get down to the features that I haven’t explained yet. They are the exact same features that are found on the regular DealDash website, but they are shown a little differently with the app.

First off, You’ll want to find the current open auctions. Just look at the top of your screen after you have signed in, and you will see the words All, Upcoming, Open, and Bookmarked. To find the current open auctions just click on the word “Open” at the top. This will bring up all of the items that are currently running for auction. Some of these items have already reached the $5 No Jumper limit and therefore are not eligible for bidding. Just check where it says “current bid”, and if it’s less than $5 then feel free to click on the picture to open up the bidding screen.

Next, you might want to see what auctions are coming up soon. Just look at the top of your phone screen, and you should see the word “Upcoming”. Just click on it, and you will be able to scroll through and see all of the items that are not only just about to start, but if you scroll long enough you should be able to see about 15 hours into the future.

Another handy feature that you should make use of is the “Bookmarked” tab. It’s up at the top of your phone screen, also. When you have been browsing around the Open and Upcoming sections you might have noticed an outline of a star at the top right corner of each auction. If you click the star it will put it into the Bookmarked section of your app for you. That way, if you find something that doesn’t start for a few more hours into the future you can still keep track of it. Just click on the Bookmarked tab, and they will be there for you.

The last feature that I am going to explain is the “Winners” tab. It’s very similar to the Winners tab on the desktop site – just click it and you will be able to scroll through hours and hours of awesome DealDash wins!

I hope this helped some of you Android-loving DealDashers! If you’re interested in reading even more tips and tricks check out the “Tactics & Tips” section on DealDash. The DealDash app has saved me a ton of time and money. I hope you enjoy it! Good luck and happy bidding everyone!