Home Hacks Design

Home Hacks Design for the bathroom such as Simple Hacks To A Prettier Bathroom. Similarly, this also feature Toilet Shopping Tips.

Another Home Hacks Design are for kitchen like Cleaning Tips For Your Dirty Kitchen and cleaning products that is perfect for cleaning.

Kitchen Hacks You Wish You Should Have Known Before like the other great use of paper towels.

Creating an effective cleaning schedule; divide it into categories; daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.

Cleaning schedule that you also need to consider are those that is done every 4 months such as air conditioner cleaning, pest control, and deep cleaning of windows.

Cleaning of roof and rain gutter are done every year. Cleaning/draining of the septic tank should be done every 3 years or 5 years.

Cost of home make over and DIY for cheaper make over ideas.

Bedroom decorations ideas and where to buy the cheapest bed lines.

Kitchen make over ideas and DIYs for cheaper make over ideas.

Tropical living room themed and where to buy cheap tropical plants.

Home make over ideas in the Philippines. Home interior ideas in the Philippines

Mommy Blog with home hacks topic in the Philippines.

Where to buy cheap wood furniture in the Philippines.

Price of Aluminum Screen Door in the Philippines. Price of the brown aluminum and silver aluminum.

Furniture stores in the Philippines. Abad Santos furniture store address.

Uratex foam custom cut online. Uratex foam price online.

How Do You Tell Your Yaya That.. (#YayaProblems)

#YayaProblems on a Monday morning! Not a rant though.. just a reminder sa lahat ng amo on how to deal with Yaya with less stress on us!

OCD attack on a Monday morning is no good. Must unsee my kids’ closet! But it’s so haaaard! The hangers were hooked in different directions! #YayaProblems

I have told my helper, not just once, how my kids’ clothes should be hang. All clothes facing left, she did it right this time…uhhhm not that right actually. As I have said, hangers were hooked in different directions. WAIT! Before I turn into a boszilla.. have I told that her that all hangers should be hooked in one direction. I guess I didn’t! Oppps! My bad!

Now, how to tell the Yaya about this?!? Obviously, I must not say that it was her fault or that she’s wrong again this time. I guess I will just admit that I forgot to specify that all hangers should be hooked in the same directions.

Which leads me to ask you, how do you communicate with your Yaya/ helpers?

How do you tell your Yaya that she can’t use your utensils (specially the one used by kids)?

In my case, I tell them right away that I will buy their own utensils. Still awkward for me to that. I felt like I’m discriminating them but I realized, eh I have kids to protect no. But I don’t tell it that way. I just tell them na baka mahawa sila sa mga kids in case may sakit ang mga bata.

Next time, I know na what to do.. buy a set of utensils before hand and give it to the yaya as soon as she arrives.

How do you tell your Yaya to dress appropriately?

Buy her a uniform!

It didn’t work out for me that way. My stay out usually wears pambahay when working (pambahay like sando and shorts shorts). I told her not just once that she should change to something more decent.. she’d always complain about the weather (eh mainit daw). Finally, I told her that she can only continue to work for me if she will change the way she dress. And it worked!

I’d still go for uniform though..

How do you tell your Yaya that she can’t use your Pantene 3MinuteMiracle or anti acne soap?

This was a story told to me by a friend, her Yaya using her imported soaps! GASP!

My tactic is to ask the yaya what brands she uses and include it on our grocery list. Next time, I will also ask what’s her laundry soap brand and if she uses a fabric conditioner (#syalaproblems). The best thing to do is buy her a month’s supply and tell her it’s for one month na.

How do you tell your Yaya that the Joy you brought is for a month and not just a week of washing dishes.

My recent #YayaProblem (aside from the closet thingy LOL). I discovered that the 600ml Joy I bought one week ago is almost empty! Eh pang 1 month supply namin yun! I guess I need to re orient my helper about the supplies here in our house.

Lastly, how do you tell your Yaya that her day off is not an extended vacation?

Err I don’t have any advice on this one. I choose not to stress myself over the fact that my yaya usually go home on Saturday night and comes back Monday morning. Kaya ko naman ng wala sya kahit paano.. tambak na lang hugasin sa lababo hehehe

When it comes to helpers talaga, you really need to be very very specific no? Like you just don’t tell/ explain the step by steps of how things should be done. You need to elaaaaaboraaaate.. Step1.1.a and then go to Step 1.1.b tapos tsaka pa lang sa Step 1.2.a

How about you?!? Any #YayaProblems and #HowToTellYaya recently?

Food Storage Solutions From Glad

During the Holidays, my freezer suffered a lot from my mom’s hands! Waahahahaha

The mister is complaining! How can he buy me a new ref daw eh ang gulo gulo ng freezer ko. Ah magulo ba? Sige ayusin natin yan!

Oh what do you think?!? Malapit na ba ako magkaroon ng bagong ref?!?

Actually, my freezer is not that organized most of the times. I usually use rectangular plastic wares for storage and expected, madalas hindi kasya sa freezer ang two weeks supply namin.

TWO WEEKS talaga? Yup! Di ba nga according sa 5 Financial tips ko, limit your palengke trips, that’s why we have ulam na for 2 weeks. Less palengke trips less gastos. Eh how about the veggies? I have a solution for that! We buy veggies in bulk too, and we store it by blanching it.

A few weeks ago, I received a package from Glad that contains some of their products (gulay not included of course!)

I love using the cling wrap! I used it for fruits like Pakwan:

Later on I discovered how useful the Glad Storage Zipper Bags. It’s now my most favorite Glad products ever! The quart zipper bag is the perfect sized zipper bag for our daily meals.

I love putting green peas on almost any dish possible.. fried rice, caldereta, chicken curry.. kung pwede lang pati sa sinigang! Sobrang perfect nung zipper lock for my green peas. Kukuha lang ako ng kaunti and I can put it back on my fridge without worrying na baka magkalat sila.

My buffalo wings and katsu are all safe inside the zipper bag. Most of these are for my kids’ baon.

Di ba I told you about blanching vegetables? This time, aside from blanching, I mixed my veggies na. Now I can have chopsuey anytime!

And my most favorite part: BACON! One pack of bacon is too much naman sa amin.. I divided two packs into three and store it using the zipper bag. Isang bag, isang lutuan!

Other than food storage, the zipper bag can also be used for marinating (no mess!), for packing lunch or snack packs and for small items that needs to be stored (check how Mommy Levy used Glad Storage Zipper Bags for Ren’s lego). I think I’ll be using the bigger zipper bags for the arrival of Marius (will be placing his 1st clothes).

Aside from the zipper bag (that comes in 2 sizes) and cling wrap, here are the other Food Storage Solutions from Glad:

Glad Cling Wrap
Glad Press ‘n Seal
Glad Freezer Zipper
Gladware
Glad OvenWare

The zipper bag can be recycled too! It won’t hurt the budget that much. Initial worry ko yan eh, do I need to buy Glad Storage zipper bags every payday?!? Hindi naman pala since I can recycle it. Space saver pa! I never imagined na mapapagkasya ko ang 2 week supply sa ref! Now I don’t think I need a bigger ref! OPS!

5 Financial Tips To Help You Stay On Track With Your Budget

Two years ago, we started paying for a house. Before that year ends, our monthly amortization increased because we wanted a bigger house. Naturally when 2015 enters, we’re almost out of money and we need all the Financial Tips we can get! We’re living paycheck to paycheck then.. no extra funds, no savings, just the basics. Ummh or so I thought… After listing down our expenses, I realized we are not using our money properly. The miscellaneous area of my notebook is quickly filling up as the day goes by. MISCELLANEOUS?!? We’re spending so much on things that we should’t! After a few months of experimenting, I finally learned how to budget our money properly.

And you know I don’t write or recommend anything that is not tried and tested.. not turning into a financial expert ha, just sharing with you financial tips that can help you stay on track with your budget.

5 Financial Tips To Help You Stay On Track With Your Budget

#1 List down your spending

List down where you spend your money and learned from it. If you know there is something wrong with your budgeting, don’t you want to know what it is?!? By listing down where you spend your money, you’ll be able to track where most of your money are. You need to list down ALL. As in even that 8 pesos pamasahe sa tricycle, ilista mo yan.

#2 Cut down your expenses

When I tried listing down where we spend our money, I realized we have been spending too much on dinning out, specially breakfast. Tama na ang mga pasosyal na breakfast at Jollibee! I realized how cheap it would be to just cook tuyo, egg and fried rice rather than order breakfast. We’re a family of 6 and our usual fast food breakfast consumption is P500. If I cook breakfast, I would only be spending P100 (or even less). From breakfast alone, our expenses were sized down to 20%!

If yours naman is during lunch or dinner, try cutting down on that too. Cooking veggies paired with a liempo or fish is way cheaper than ordering in a restaurant. If you really can’t do that, try skipping dessert and just drink plain water. Also, taking out is cheaper. Buy the ulam at magsaing ka na lang sa bahay.

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I’ll be posting tipid ulam tips and ways to prepare your dishes in advance to save time. Stay tuned or better subscribe!

#3 Make a shopping list and STICK to it!

Emphasis on STICK!

I have to admit, whenever we do our grocery, we always end up with 2 full grocery carts 🙁 and we’re doing the grocery twice a month! There is always something in the grocery that we need! Since we cut down on our expenses, I started making a grocery list and we really try hard to stick with it. Hindi sya ganun kadali!

As I have said, there is always something in the grocery that we need that is not on the list. And the kids! My goodness! They always something more than the basic. Pabili ng stick-o, pabili ng chocolates, pabili ng notebook, ng pens etc etc.. never ending pabili! So that’s another tip, don’t bring your kids as much as possible! Or if you have to, don’t give in to their pabilis!

When you start giving in, you’ll realize, ay si Mommy din may kailangan pala.. ay si Daddy din! One time, the husband bought 2 pairs of socks (which was not on the list) and he ends up spending 3000 Pesos more.. Kase naman, the kids need briefs din pala.. and mommy needs some socks too (which actually can wait harhar). You get the idea? once you give in tuloy tuloy na yan!

Aside from the list, try to limit your trips down spending lanes! AKA shopping malls, groceries, supermarkets and yes even on palengkes and talipapa. The more you are exposed to this temptations, the more you’ll spend more. Let’s not talk about discipline muna ha.. that’s really hard to achieve. Kaya instead of trying to stop yourself from buying whenever you’re inside the grocery or the mall, limit your trips na lang.

#4 Plan your indulgence (do not deprive yourself)

This is something that we can’t let go easily. Most of you will agree naman di ba? It’s hard not to give yourself a reward after 1 week or two of working really hard right? Lalo na ngayon that the traffic is really baaad! Parang ang dami dami mong hirap sa mundo tapos magtitipid ka pa? Most financial advisers would tell you na it’s a matter of long term happiness (investment) or short term (no savings naman). Ako, I’d say go for both. You can still indulge and reward yourself pero plan it.

Set a budget for your reward, maybe like, once a week na kain sa restaurant or a short trip to your wasteland (National Bookstore for me!). Get back to Tip #3 to guide you with your spending.

#5 Sobre system

Last and I really saved this one.. kase saved the best for last!

Buy a plastic envelope or something to that effect. Segregate your money based on your budget list. Alam ko ito pinakamalaking problema ng mga nanay eh.. ung pambayad ng kuryente nagagamit sa iba. Ang pang grocery na dapat 3k lang, nagiging 5k na! Eh san mo naman huhugutin ang kulang or san ka kukuha ng pang abono sa nagastos mong pangbayad ng kuryente.

With the sobre system, you’ll know if you still have enough money for grocery and you lower down the risk of spending money allocated for your bills.

We’re still working out the savings part. They say the best way to budget your money is INCOME- SAVINGS = EXPENSES. They say you have to develop saving first before spending. Maybe a few more cutting down on our expenses and we can finally use that simple math of savings.

Now it’s your turn to make kwento! I know ang bulsa na burned out din from the Holiday spending, how do you plan to “recuperate”? Also, have you tried any of the of the financial tips I mentioned above? Care to share your experience? I want to hear from you!