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.

Meralco Bill Deposit

I just paid my Meralco bill a few days ago when I received another notice from them.. not a disconnection notice but a Bill Deposit due.. Meralco Bill Deposit?!? what the?!?

Another shocking thing about this bill is, I need to pay PhP4000+ in a month’s time or else my service will be disconnected, yes even though I am paying my bill monthly.. it’s just plain unbelievable!

Meralco Bill Deposit

According to my notice, this is an annual updating of bill deposits as required by ERC Rules and Regulation. Here’s what the bill has to say about my Meralco Bill Deposit 4000 Php due:

Based on the comparison made between your bill deposit and average monthly bills for the past 12 months, your bill deposit has been determined insufficient. You will be required to pay an additional deposit.

Based on the notice, my average monthly bill is Php 7000+, which is also my required bill deposit amount but because I have 3000+ credits from existing bill deposits and net bill deposit interests, my due is only 4000 PhP.

After calming down, I read and re read the notice and learned that this annual updating has two implications:

First, the bill deposit annual updating where in it will have to be equal to the monthly average bill. If your average monthly bill exceeds your bill deposit, you will have to pay the excess or if your average monthly bill is less than your bill deposits, you are entitled to a refund.

Second, the deposits interest will be credited yearly to the bill.

Sample computation of Meralco Bill Deposit

Insufficient Deposit:
Average monthly bill (for one year) 800
Bill Deposit + Interest 650
Average monthly bill- Bill deposits (+interest) = 150 < additional bill deposit to be paid by the costumer
Excess Deposit:
Average monthly bill (for one year) 500
Bill Deposit + Interest 650
Average monthly bill- Bill deposits (+interest) = -150 < refund (credited to the bill)

Meralco website offered a more detailed FAQ’s on Meralco Bill Deposit and some explanations:

Meralco said that only 90,000 of its customers got letters this October notifying them of the need to pay additional bill deposit. It added that a majority of its customers are not expected to be covered by the update of bill deposits. The utility company clarified that only customers who have received at least three (3) disconnection notices or whose electric service has actually been disconnected in the past 12 months prior to their contract anniversary date have received these notification letters.
Customers who have been diligent in paying their electricity bills on or before due date, meanwhile, did not receive letters.
For all customers from whom additional bill deposit is required, Meralco will implement a collection scheme to make the payment easier for them. From the original period of 30 days to settle their deposit insufficiency, Meralco has manifested before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that it will instead stagger the collection over a period of 12 months starting January 2013. This collection period will also apply to customers who will receive notification letters in November and December.
The bill deposit is an amount required from customers of all distribution utilities as a guarantee for payment of electric bills. The bill deposit and its annual update are based on the provisions of the Magna Carta for Residential Consumers and the Distribution Services and Open Access Rules (DSOAR) for Residential and Non-residential Consumers, which Meralco is implementing.

So that’s what we got for my procrastination..every month, I pay our Meralco bills only after receiving our disconnection notice.. never thought it would have a bad effect on our bill.. maybe I should apply for online payment to prevent this thing from happening again.

Annual Update of Bill Deposit Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.

The Pros and Cons of Renting Out

We have been renting since time immemorial OK I was just kidding. We have been renting for about 8 years now. Of course, we do have a plan of building our own house (next year perhaps haha) but renting as just easy when we were starting out. Our first apartment was a 2 bedroom unit (one big bedroom and one small bedroom) with no railings on the staircase. The second one is almost the same, first and second apartment is located on the same compound. Third apartment is the one we’re renting now. It’s bigger than the first and second one but it’s a two bedroom unit still.

I can say I am quite happy with this place but you know there are times that I wish we already have our own house. So what is the pros and cons of renting out?

The pros, it’s cheaper to shell out the rent than monthly amortization. Of course in the long run, it turns to be a con. Renting out will give you a feel of how it is to have a house. Think of it as a learning experience You would know what part of the house that needs more investment than the other parts. You will know if a certain material for a kitchen cabinet is durable or not. You can even ask around for discount kitchen cabinets, in case you will start building your own house.

Renting out is like having a house that you can experiment with. A house that will teach you what’s the best option in case you start building your house.

Taking Care Of Your Rug

If I have a choice, I would like to have rugs on my living room. Carpet makes any living room look cozy and comfy. But with four kids, a carpet on the living room is not very ideal. I know there companies that specializes on rug cleaning and repair like abc oriental rug cleaning nyc, but rug cleaning is not an ordinary thing here in my country.

I did ask around what I can do if a carpet was stained or damaged and I get a hundred or so advice on what to do. Basically rugs can be clean in different ways. Most of the cleaning methods should be done professional as it needs proper handling of chemicals and equipment. Take for example Hot Water Extraction cleaning method. A hot water is sprayed on the rug with chemicals on it, then it is vacuumed out together with the dirt. There’s also dry cleaning in rugs and specialized cleaning method for oriental rugs and precious rugs.

Aside from cleaning, a rug can also be repaired. It can be done by color overhaul where the rug will look like it was new again. Fringes and Tassels can be repaired too and rugs can also undergo re-weaving if needed. With the many options of rug repairs and rug cleaning, now I am thinking of buying a rug for our living room!