My Favorite DealDash Win

South Shore - Step One Collection 6-Drawer Chest

I do most of my bidding during 1/2 off or Free Sales at DealDash and my most favorite win would be the South Shore Step One Collection 6 Drawer Chest that I won with 59 bids for $0.01 during a Free Sale.

Winning Bid on DealDash.com
My bedroom has built in closets and 6 built in drawers between them but that was not enough room for all of my clothes. The South Shore Step One Collection 6 Drawer Chest I won fits perfectly in my room and the drawers are deep and I am able to put all of my clothes away and keep them organized with each drawer accommodating all of my boxers, socks, shorts, T-shirts and sweaters. Plus I still have one drawer left.
It was fairly easy to assemble and is made of fine wood material, not pressure board, or at least I don’t believe it’s pressure board, and the drawers slide very easily. This is one item that I use every day and I must say the quality is superb!
I have to say that all of my experiences with the staff of DealDash.com have been very friendly and with the utmost professionalism. Comment below and share what you won!
About Me
I live in Michigan, I have 2 grown up kids and 2 animal kids; one being Chloe the Beagle/Shepard and Milo the Fearless Feline. I also am a Registered Nurse but currently retired. My favorite activity is when the wind is up enough for me I love to go and fly my 8 foot kite. I usually get it to go up at least 500 feet and my record was 1250 feet when I lived in Florida. My daughter graduates from College next week and my son lives in Indiana with his fiancé. I have become somewhat of a DealDash addict but limited on how much I can spend do to the limited income but I do enjoy watching other people bid. 

DealDash Bidding Tip: Stay Focused

DealDash Tip Stay Focused

I must admit, the biggest problem I have is patience. Waiting it out is not my forte. One of the best DealDash tips I can give you is to stay focused.

I have lost more auctions by putting a few bids on my Bid Buddy and either walking away to do something or getting involved in my Mahjongg game only to come back a find out I lost the auction. And to add insult to injury, I was the second to last bidder. If only I had stayed focused, I could have at least had a chance. It just happened to me very recently. I was bidding on a Monarch Specialties White Juvenile Chair and Ottoman for my grandson and I plugged in a few bids, walked away, came back to find several other bidders had dropped out and then my bids ran out, making me the next to the last bidder, or the loser!!
Previously I was lucky enough to win a Manual Series 92-inch Projector Screen by Elite Screens for $1.78. I then needed to try for the projector to go with it. Once again I was just 2 away from winning and the projector which sold for $0.91. 
DealDash Deals
Thus I have to try very hard to change how I bid in the future. I need to remain focused and not lose site of what I want in the end – the win! I hope maybe DealDash will add a feature for us “drifters” in the future and add a verbal or noise alert when our bids are about to run out. I know it would help me! Until then I will be more diligent when bidding in the future.

I have been shopping as a DealDash bidder since 9-2012. I have won over 150 auctions. I live in Ohio with my family. Written by Kim Finnegan

ALSO SEE: Patience, Patience, Patience

Bid Wiser: Track Your Spending and DealDash.com Wins & Losses

dealdashdashwinsDo you find yourself losing more money than you are winning items? It’s time to get smart. Money smart. If you aren’t keeping track of your expenses it’s about time you start. A great app to manage your financial transactions and always know what is in your bank account is the Mint smartphone app from Mint.com for Windows 8, iPad, iPhone and Android devices.

Here are some great tips to help you keep track of your spending on DealDash.com and any other penny auction site.

 1. Set limits

 Don’t spend more money on bids than you can afford to lose, because if you don’t win the only way to not lose the money you spent on bids is to use buy it now on the item you lost. If you say you are only going to spend $50 to try and win that new dresser set or Nespresso espresso machine, stay true to your word. Maybe even put a post-it note on your computer screen, buy a bid pack with the determined amount of bids you can afford to lose if you lose and don’t buy more bids after that until you’ve either won or can feel ok about losing what you lost if you don’t win.

2. Set Up a Dedicated Bidding Account

You don’t have to set up an entirely new bank account for your bidding activities, but what you could do is get a pre-paid Visa credit card and fill it with the amount each month that you can use just for your penny auction bidding. Believe me, if you don’t do this and use your regular credit or debit card your spending could get out of control and you will be more shocked when you see your statements than you should be.

3. Track your wins 

There’s a new app, like Mint, but ctually keep track of your “worth” in goods such as cars or merchandise, this could be something to try to keep a database of everything you have won and what the items are worth. The app is called Trov (Trov.com) and it will let you store the things you own, get current market values of your things, organize them and when and if it comes time to sell them, Trov even has a sharing option.

. Or you could just view your won auctions from the DealDash user dashboard to see what all you have won and what you paid for each item.

5. Track time, and money. Compare wins with bid pack purchases

This is a great way to pinpoint and keep track of what you really paid for your won items. Set up a Quicken Spreadsheet with specific columns one for the item – one for the value, one for the amount of time you spent to win (or lose) remember time= money. Lastly, create a column for how much you spent in bids to equal how much money you really saved on each item.

6. Take a look at the data you collected.

Are you ahead or are you at a negative as far as saving money goes? If you’re the latter you may just want to take a step back, re-evaluate and take our simple tips to heart and start limiting and tracking your activity on DealDash.com

Be an informed penny auction bidder.

If you have any questions about DealDash, wondering what type of items they have be sure to check out our previous posts here filled with tips, strategies and item guides.

Do you have tips for mana ging and keeping track of your spending on DealDash.com? Let us know about it here!

Top 10 Must Go To Summer Music Festivals of 2014 & Packing List

music festivals summer 2014If you love music summer isn’t summer without going to at least one music festival! Here are the top 10 festivals this summer and a packing list of items that you must bring to make the trip even more fun!
Summer Music Festival Packing List (and links to where you can find some of these items on DealDash.com!) Note: DealDash is an online entertainment shopping auction site where you can win popular items for the cost of the bids it takes you to win! If you don’t win an item you can buy it and get your bids back.

Beale Street Music Festival

  • When: May 2-4
  • Where: Memphis, TN
  • 2014 Lineup Highlights: Kid Rock, Alabama Shakes, Foster the People, Snoop Lion, Juicy J, Motorhead, Avenged Sevenfold and more!

Sasquatch! Festival

  • When: May 23-25
  • Where: Gorge, WA

2014 Lineup Highlights: Outkast, The National, Queens of the Stone Age, MIA, Foster The People, Kid Cudi, HAIM and more!
Electric Daisy Carnival

  • When: May 24-25 (NYC), June 20-22 (Las Vegas)
  • Where: New York City and the big party in Las Vegas

For more info check out http://electricdaisycarnival.com.
Governors Ball

  • When: June 6-8
  • Where: New York, NY

2014 Lineup Highlights: Skrillex, Vampire Weekend, J Cole, Jack White, OutKast, Interpol, The Strokes and more!
Bonnaroo

  • When: June 12-15
  • Where: Manchester, TN

2014 Lineup Highlights: Kanye, Lauryn Hill, Skrillex, Frank Ocean, The Avett Brothers, Jack White, Elton John, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Lionel Richie, The Flaming Lips, Kaskade, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Arctic Monkeys and more!
Firefly Music Festival 

  • When: June 19-22
  • Where: Dover, DE 

2014 Lineup Highlights: Foo Fighters, OutKast, Jack Johnson, Imagine Dragons, Pretty Lights, the Lumineers, Arctic Monkeys, Weezer and more!
Summerfest

  • When: July 26–30 – July 2–7
  • Where: Milwaukee

2014 Lineup Highlights:  Dubbed “The World’s Largest Music Festival”. Ray LaMontagne, Kip Moore, Tegan & Sara, The Fray dubbed the “largest music festival” Ben Harper, Lady Gaga, Atmosphere and more!
Electric Forest

  • When: June 27–30
  • Where: Rothbury, Michigan

2014 Lineup Highlights: Passion Pit, Pretty Lights, Empire of the Sun and more!
Pitchfork Music Festival

  • When: July 19–21
  • Where: Chicago

2014 Lineup Highlights:  Mutual Benefit, Isaiah Rashad, Jon Hopkins, DJ Spin, Schoolboy, Real Estate and more!
Lollapalooza

  • When: August 1-3
  • Where: Chicago, IL

2014 Lineup Highlights: Eminem, OutKast, Kings of Leon, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Lorde, Nas, Childish Gambino, Arctic Monkeys and way more!
Riot Fest

  • When: September 6-7, 12-14, 19-21
  • Where: Toronto, Chicago, IL, Denver, CO

2014 Lineup TBA. riotfest.org
What’s your favorite summer music festival? Would you add to our packing list? Let us know!