Category: Strategies and Tips

Have you ever enjoyed the convenience of having prepared meals delivered to your front door?

Ever since the COVID-19 virus spread throughout the world, most restaurants were closed for a long time. To stay in business many restaurants started offering home delivery meals for the first time.

Did you notice a popular item on DealDash.com that includes dinnertime staples? I think this has been around for a while but it appears it now includes more items.

I don’t know about you, but I really do not enjoy cooking for myself since my family members have all grown up and left. It’s much easier and faster for me to simply grab a snack or fruit that does not require cooking. Of course, that is not a very healthy or sustainable diet habit.

Many DealDash shoppers are simply too busy to spend much time in our kitchens slaving over our stoves to do much cooking. I already did that for many years when I was raising my two sons.

That’s why I was so happy to see that DealDash offers an auction of dinnertime staples. It would only require a minimal amount of time and preparation on my part.

The dinnertime staples include a variety of meats, steaks, proteins, seafood and even a desert that we might like to serve to dinner guests or enjoy eating ourselves. It consists of:

• Four cut fillets (6 oz.)
• Four chicken friend steaks (4.5 oz.)
• Four New York strip burgers (5.33 oz.)
• Four split lobster tail skewers (7 oz. pkg.)
• Four caramel apple Tartlets (4 oz.)

This auction tends to run for a long time but it usually sells at a bargain price compared to the retail value.

Home Delivery Meals

I often ordered pizzas to be delivered when my two sons were young because they were pizza lovers. However, I’m not really a pizza lover, so I like the idea of having a variety of other dinnertime staples delivered instead.

More people have become open to the idea of having prepared meals delivered. Even our local organic farmers have started a food box home delivery service, which I have been participating in since I strongly support organic food with no chemicals and pesticides sprayed on the crops.

I’m not really a steak lover, but I am a chicken and seafood lover. Therefore, I now have my eyes on the DealDash dinnertime staples auction.

 I will see you in the auctions.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

Did you see the 12 x 12 x 9 foot round outdoor trampoline on DealDash.com?

I don’t know about your family but most children love to jump. When my two sons were young as soon as they could stand, they started jumping – first by holding onto the crib railing and later by jumping on the sofa and bed mattresses.

Jumping is not all bad because it helps children to build strong leg muscles and good balance, but I worried that they would wear out and ruin our sofa and bed mattresses. I needed a solution and I knew I found one when I saw an outdoor trampoline at our state fair – just like the one on DealDash, except I believe our trampoline was even bigger. That was about 43 years ago and back then these huge round trampolines were a lot more expensive. We paid $1,000.00 for our trampoline but it was well worth it. Having something for my sons to jump on outside prevented our furniture from being destroyed on the inside.

My sons enjoyed jumping on our outdoor trampoline for more than 20 years. In fact, I jumped on it, too, from the time I was 32 to 52 years old and even learned how to do a front flip. It became part of my exercise routine and it was great fun. I feel certain that jumping on my trampoline for so many years might be why I have excellent balance at age 74 and can still run up and down stair cases with no problem.

Safety

Like everything else, safety features and rules are important—especially when it comes to trampolines.

Unfortunately, trampolines could pose a risk for getting head and neck injuries or the possibility for sprains, dislocations or fractures in the arms and legs. About 95 percent of all trampoline injuries occur from falling off the trampoline, landing incorrectly on the frame or springs or colliding with another trampoline user. With proper safety features and common sense safety rules in place, however, trampoline accidents can be prevented.

The trampoline now auctioned on DealDash comes with two of the most important safety features, which greatly reduces the risk of injuries. In addition to having a safety net enclosure to prevent jumpers from falling off, this trampoline also comes with the spring pad that covers the springs to prevent users from accidentally getting a foot stuck in the springs if the jumper lands in the wrong area. That is unlikely because this trampoline also has plenty of jumping surface–88 square feet of it.

My sons and I never got injured on our trampoline in spite of the fact that 43 years ago our trampoline did not come with a protective net around it. Instead, we used “spotters” who stood around the outside of the trampoline to help catch or stop a jumper from falling off. We did have the protective mat to prevent our feet from getting stuck in the springs, and we always followed other common sense safety rules as well. We had rules like only one person jumped at a time to prevent the possibility of colliding with another user, and we never used our trampoline when the mat was wet and slippery. By following these safety rules jumping on our trampoline was fun and safe.

Another one of our safety measures was ensuring that our trampoline was well maintained. When some of the springs got rusty, I replaced them, and when the double-thick trampoline mat got torn I took it to a local tent and awning shop where they had heavy-duty sewing machines and I got it repaired.

Altogether the 12 x 12 x 9-foot round trampoline on DealDash has 72 springs and also comes with hardware assembly tools, spring hook and manual. The frame is made up of rust-resistant steel tubing. This trampoline is intended for children ages 6 and up and has a 200 pound weight capacity. For a more detailed description do a search on the DealDash home page and read the listing.

Benefits

In spite of safety concerns, trampolines can provide many health benefits.

Motor skills are important to many classroom activities. When children jump on a trampoline they work their muscles and cardiovascular systems, so it’s a great way to enhance their muscle development, strengthen their bones, improve bone density and reinforce their joints.

According to my online research, trampoline jumping can also help kids calm down, improve their concentration and improve their engagement in learning. Bouncing on a trampoline is great for making the mind more alert and focused, and increases concentration and memory. It helps to increase the circulation of blood and oxygen to the brain.

Bottom Line

Do the health benefits and enjoyment of rebounding on a trampoline out-weight the risk factors of possible injuries? The answer to this question must be answered by each individual family based on your situation. For me and my sons it turned out to be a wonderful health benefit and fun with no injuries. However, if a bunch of neighborhood kids could get access to your trampoline when you are not at home to supervise and enforce safety rules, it might be a good idea to first check out your home-owners insurance and possible liability.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

Christmas season is not far away so it’s not a bit too early to start shopping for the perfect gift for our family members and friends.

If someone asked me to name the perfect gift that would be sure to be appreciated regardless of age or gender I would say a gift card. We simply cannot go wrong by giving a gift card to our special someone because that gives the receiver the freedom to choose whatever he or she needs or wants most.

I would also say you are shopping in the right place because DealDash.com auctions include a wide variety of gift cards in various amounts – usually for $25.00 or $50.00 but sometimes they run all the way up to $800.00. As an extra special bonus many of the gift cards come as a package deal with a specific number of bids attached.

I counted 41 different gift cards that DealDash will put up for auction.

History of Gift Cards

The gift card was invented by Blockbuster Entertainment in late 1994 and it was the first company to launch gift cards on a wide scale, test-marketing them in 1995 and launching them around the country the next year. There is some debate, however, over who actually invented the first gift card. Neiman Marcus might have introduced the first gift card in 1994 using a payments infrastructure. It is believed that Mobil Oil Company came out with gift cards shortly after.

Gift cards are a convenient and useful substitute for cash when we want to give a gift to someone else. Physical gift cards can be used in stores or online, while digital gift cards are designed to be used online or over the phone.

I always thought that gift cards would never expire. But according to my research, a gift card should be used sooner rather than later. Under federal law, a gift card cannot expire in less than five years after the date of purchase. But if it’s not used within 12 months, fees for inactivity, dormancy or service can be charged to the card each month, diminishing its value. That’s a good thing to know.

Most of the time I used my gift cards within the first year or gave them away as gifts, but I still have a $100 gift card for a motel that I did not yet use because I’ve been pretty much locked down the last few years because of the COVID virus. I’m afraid I might have had that gift card for more than five years now, but when I checked I learned it’s still good for the full amount. However, it’s a good idea to pay close attention to how long we hold on to our gift cards.

Another thing I did not know anything about is the general etiquette concerning the value amount of gift cards we should or should not give. The etiquette for casual acquaintances (like co-workers) suggests we keep it to $20 or less. For friends and/or family, we should give from $30.00 to $75.00 but for a spouse or wedding gift, we can go much higher. Regardless, we must always ensure that the dollar amount is visible on the card or written down.

Seeing all of the gift cards DealDash now offers for auction, it surprised me to know the first gift card only came out 27 years ago. Regardless, gift cards do make wonderful ways to remember loved ones on special occasions.

Happy bidding and I’ll see you in the auctions everyone! 

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.