PROFESSIONAL CLEANING, DE-CLUTERRING HOME SPACES, AND REFURBISHINGAN OLD DESK ON MLTV
On the ninth episode of the Season 9 of Modern Living TV, hosts Stephanie Zubiri-Crespi and Bianca Gonzalez-Intal brightens the week with stories of lifestyle improvements — from the professional cleaning services offered by Happy Helpers, expert’s pieces of advice on decluttering homes, and an architect’s refurbishing of Steph’s childhood desk.
CAUSE-DRIVEN HAPPY HELPERS
Happy Helpers can be considered as an enterprise that is hitting two birds with one stone. Aside from the satisfaction they give to their customers who are availing cleaning services, its employees — who are mostly working mothers — are also able to “augment their income with work that suits their schedule.” This social enterprise recruits mothers from the Gawad Kalinga villages, and is driven by the platform known as the Gkonomics.
Maan Sicam, founder of Happy Helpers, explains that Happy Helpers is targeting to have about 100 women to give more opportunities to the community that they are helping.
“The primary women that we recruit are mothers because they are the ones who really can’t have a fulltime job. They have to take care of their family; they have to take care of their children,” Maan says. “[Happy Helpers] gives them enough time to go home early and still have enough energy and time to take care of their family.”
Happy Helpers offers deep cleaning as its basic package that includes the general cleaning of the entire house. Among their packages are subscription, post-construction, move in and move out, and the Hyla vacuum package that intensely cleans mattresses, sofas, and other furniture.
DE-CLUTTERING HOME WITH NEAT OBSESSIONS
Blogger Issa Reyes’s obsession for being organized unlocks her opportunity to inspire and help others organize their homes. Having a certification and membership from the International Association of Professional Organization in the US, Issa is able to reach out to mothers and give them tips on how to become effective homemakers through her Instagram and blog named Neat Obsessions.
For Issa, the first thing to keep in mind when organizing your home is to sort out your things. “It (sorting) actually depends on you and how you use your things. In the kitchen, if you are going to sort, you can also start by putting food together or plates go together. It’s a general sorting and then that’s the time you subcategorize,” she says.
Issa also suggests to be engaged with creativity when organizing and de-cluttering, especially to labeling children’s toy bins. One good activity that a mother can do is letting their children match the toys to their corresponding bins. This will encourage the children to clean up after their playtime.
When it comes to getting rid of things at home, here is Issa’s advice: ask yourself if it still serves its purpose.
“One thing that you need to keep in mind is: does that thing still make you happy? If it still serves a purpose in your life, then definitely keep it,” Issa shares. “But if you think other people will be happy for it, maybe you can donate or you can sell it or if you need to throw it away, then throw it away.”
REFURBISHING STEPH’S CHILDHOOD DESKS
Being an architect and furniture maker, Allen Oblena builds a personal relationship with his clients by collaborating with them. For this episode, Allen lends his hand to Steph as she asks him to refurbish and distress her childhood desk.
“Well usually when I, when a client comes to me and leaves his or her item, I’ll do some quick sketches, take measurements, and look for references. I’ll also prepare mood boards, sample of paints, and if there is reupholster, a sample of fabrics,” Allen shares.
Allen admirably gives life to Steph’s old desk by sanding it down thoroughly to prevent the bleeding of the previous color. Steph’s desk needs to be painted white first, then green, and finally blue, which gives it a good transition of colors. “The easiest way to do-it-yourself something is to paint it over. Of course for beginners, water-based paints is the first choice and when you advance eventually, you can work with the lacquer,” Allen says.