"Me Time" with Pine-Sol

There's something therapeutic about cleaning up, so when I get into the groove of cleaning, I can be like a madwoman sometimes. I turn all the furniture upside down and make sure every nook and cranny is spotless.

I wish I had all the time to clean and organize though. But it's either I have a clean home and the kids are locked up in a room, or I spend more time with the kids and let the house go a little. You know, an ultra messy desk there, toys scattered all over, cute little piles of clutter popping up in some corners. 

Between managing a home and taking care of a family, there is hardly time for "Me Time". In some twisted way, being able to sort out a pile of clutter without the kids bothering me is pretty much the equivalent of Me Time.

So when Mish Aventajado invite me to savor some "Me Time" with Pine-Sol, I was like, hell yeah, I need that!

She had a yoga session with yoga instructor Joanne Santos at SoFit Studio in Le Spa at Sofitel scheduled for us moms,

but since I had to pick up my visa at the embassy that morning, I had to skip this part.

Luckily, even if I missed yoga, I still got to bring home this yoga themed loot bag, heehee. Love the insulated Klean Kanteen, Aquazorb towel, personalized tote bag, note pad, and bottles of Pine-Sol of course.

Better yet, I still made it on time to have lunch with the moms.

And listen to Sofitel Manila's in-house nutritionist and aesthetic doctor on how we can eat and live healthy.

Nutritionist Agnes Tumaneng, RND taught us weight management and how to do calorie counting. Basically, she says we really need to watch what we eat and exercise in order to make sure we reach if not maintain our desired weight.

My my most favorite part of the program was the Detox Talk by Dr. Jade Cada, Aesthetic doctor at Vietura in Sofitel Manila.

I made sure to copy her tips, to share with you:

1. Eat pectin-rich organic apples. Pectin binds to toxins in the intestines to escort them out of the body.

2. Drink freshly-made vegetable juice daily.

3. Drink a large glass of purified water with the juice of one fresh lemon in the morning. Lemons have over 20 proven anti-cancer compounds.

4. Eat at least half a cup of fiber daily.

5. Eat more raw fruits and vegetables. They contain enzymes that aid digestion and improve nutrient absorption.

6. Eat at least three of the best detoxifying foods daily: broccoli, garlic, spinach, cabbage, sprouts, blueberries and ginger.

7. Drink plenty of pure water to help flush toxins from your body. Almost every process in your body depends on proper hydration to function smoothly.

8. Take a probiotic supplement with live cultures on an empty stomach daily (morning or evening works well). The beneficial bacteria kills harmful bacteria and yeasts and helps to heal the intestines.

9. Get at least 30 minutes of vigorous physical activity daily. Sweating is one of the best ways or removing harmful toxins including heavy metals.

10. Colonic cleansing

11. Taking in vitamins and minerals

Print this out so you remember ;)

Oh and remember to check out the new Pine-Sol scents as well!

Apart from the Original Pine, there's now Orange Energy, Lavender Clean, Lemon Fresh, and Sparkling Wave. All are formulated to disinfect and kill 99.9% of germs, deodorize, cut grease, and remove grime.

My friend Kath says she uses Pine-Sol for everything, from cleaning floors, bathrooms, counter tops, the stove to even the interiors of their cars. It's a great surface cleaner that you can use from floor to ceiling, for everything really, even your smelly garbage cans and pet stink too.

Researching on the uses of Pine-Sol, I've actually discovered some pretty valuable cleaning hacks from their site! Click HERE!

Thanks so much Mish and Patty, and Tisha de Veyra and Renelle de los Santos of Pine-Sol for a morning of Me Time well-spent. Happy Disinfecting, Deodorizing, De-greasing and De-griming when we got home too! ;)

Mish Aventajado with Brand Manager for Pine-Sol: Renelle Revilla de los Santos, Director of Marketing for Clorox International Philippines Inc. Tisha De Veyra and Pat Cuyugan

For more on Pine-Sol Philippines, Like their Facebook Page Pine-Sol Philippines. 

No Scrubs with Suds

I was trying to think of a witty caption for this blog post and guess what popped into my head? 

No Scrubs. Only by the coolest R&B girl group of all time, TLC.

Because when it comes to doing laundry, I don't want no scrub. 

Grabe, I am laughing all by myself here. Am I the only one getting the reference?

Anyway, I was kind of getting asar with our neighborhood dry cleaning place because they didn't want to take in my embroidered Isabel Marant dress and my beaded Filip+Inna. They were scared to touch them daw, that I ended up taking my dresses to the dry cleaner in Rockwell Power Plant.

My friend Michelle aka My Mom Friday told us she'd brought her laundry to Suds a few weeks back, which had a shop near our place, and so I decided to try them out. 

I figured, if Suds could clean these stuffed blocks that belonged to Berry when she was a baby, my Madewell silk shirt, Uniqlo cashmere cardigan and Marc Jacobs winter coat that was never dry cleaned ever since we left the States, then they get the thumbs up.

Well, I got to hand it to them. I was pretty impressed with the pre-wash service from the get go. 

Their guy really took the time to count the items I bought in, measure the soft blocks, and even inspect each garment for holes, tears, stains and what not.

Unlike my regular dry cleaner who takes note of what I bring in using a checklist pad, everything was inputted into a system. Which was a relief, because soon enough I lost my copy of their service order receipt.

"May picture ako, gusto mo makita?", I asked the guy at the counter as I was about to pick up my dry cleaning.

He answered, "Wag na ma'am, pangalan nyo na lang po?". Naks.

And because I was happy with their service, I have since come back to have our towels washed and disinfected (their washing service includes anti-bacterial treatment), and our duvet covers laundered because it was impossible to get them dry fast enough with our wet season as of late. 

While most of my delicate clothes that don't require dry cleaning are still hand washed by our trusted yaya in charge of laundry, I wouldn't be afraid to bring them to Suds for their Special Wash service. They'd be happy take in delicate or expensive items for dry cleaning/hand washing.

My bill wasn't a shocker too. Total price for getting my top, cardigan, winter coat and soft blocks dry cleaned only cost me a little over Php800. Getting towels and sheets washed was only Php40 a kilo.

To give you a clearer picture on pricing, see here:

No scrubs na talaga with Suds.

Suds Laundry and Dry Cleaning Services is a full service, retail professional garment care and cleaning service company which caters to individuals and institutions. There are a total of 30 Suds stores all over Metro Manila, Cavite and Cebu.

For more on Suds services, click here. For franchising opportunities, click here. For up to date announcements, Like Suds Laundry on Facebook.

Messy Bessy: From H.O.U.S.E to Your House and Back

We all know Messy Bessy takes cleaning seriously. But did you know that at the heart of Messy Bessy is helping disadvantaged young adults get a second chance in life through Project H.OU.S.E? 

There really is plenty of good reason why we should Choose Messy Bessy. It's a No-Brainer!

Tonkita by Arix Giveaway

Well, hello there my little bunnies! Care to share your most sulit cleaning tip? Because we all love a good scrubbing up story here.

I'll start off. I have two!

1. When I saved a fortune from laundry and dry cleaning bills using Grandma's Secret Spot Remover.

2. When I saved a few thousand pesos by using Germ Killer to remove molds on my leather boots.

Now, it's your turn! Share a cleaning tip with us and you stand a chance to win a bucketful of cleaning supplies from Tonkita by Arix!

Join by using the Rafflecopter widget below!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

We'll announce the winner by September 14, 2013! 

Tonkita Tips

Now, a word from our sponsor. Tonkita by Arix shares tips on how to properly use push brooms:

For indoors, choose one with finer bristles to pick up smaller dirt particles.

• For outdoors, go for stronger, stiffer bristles, which work better to clear porous surfaces.

• To sweep, hold the broom like a canoe paddle, with one hand on top of the handle and other hand towards the middle. Push your hands in the opposite direction to get the most out of every stroke. 

via inflatable-canoe-kayak.com

• Sweep from the outside in so that you don’t miss any spots and move the dirt to the center of the room, where it will be easy to pick up.

sweep from the outside to the center of the room, Broomba photo via Gizmodo

• Store brooms with the handle down. It makes them easier to find and protects the bristles. 

 

bristle side up! via A Bushel Basket

• Pick the proper dustpan. Minimize that annoying line of dust by choosing a dustpan with a rubber edge. 

Hate that line of dust when you use those aluminum dust pans? Look for a dustpan with a rubber edge

Source: womansday.com

For more on Tonkita by Arix, like their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArixPhilippines  

Mold and Gold

What happens when your Golden Goose boots get covered in molds?

Turn on to panic mode and Google, "how to remove molds on leather boots". And pray. Hard.

Good thing I remembered about Germ Killer and how it is tough on molds and mildew.

I emailed Joni Ong of Germ Killer Philippines and asked her,

Hi Joni! Will Germ Killer work on removing molds from my leather boots? Eeeep!

Joni emailed back,

Yep, it should work. Use the GK Surface one. Spray it on a piece of cloth and wipe it on your boots. It should kill the molds. Test it out first in an inconspicuous area of the boots though. :)

I knew that Germ Killer was water based, so it should be safe on leather. But I did the ultimate test on my suede Minnetonkas. Also ridden with molds. But I wasn't as worried about them. I sprayed some Germ Killer Surface cleaner on a shallow bowl of water, dipped an old toothbrush into the mixture and brushed at the molds.

Side by side. Left part = still moldy. Right side = damp but mold free.

Tadaaaa! OMG. So clean! Like nothing happened! It still has hints of eau de molds so I plan to take this pair to Colorwash and have it deodorized professionally.

So I happily got a damp rag and sprayed Germ Killer on it. Wiped my boots in and out. Et voila!

With nary a hint of its sordid past...

The other day, I brought in a few pairs of shoes for repair at an established shoe/bag repair shop and asked them if they could take out molds. The guy manning the counter said they could, and he estimated that it would cost about Php1,800 to clean a pair of boots. Php1,800 hello! Too mahal. I would rather buy saddle soap and clean these boots myself regularly. Unlike the suede ones, they don't have that old mold-y smell.

These boots are now again made for walking. Must plan a trip somewhere cold so they don't feel neglected.

Germ Killer is on Facebook and available at Handyman, True Value, Ace Hardware and other select retailers.

UPDATE: Joni also wanted to share that they have just marked down their prices. This is great news for me, bad news for molds.

 

Prevention is always better than cure, so here are some tips to PREVENT molds from growing on leather:

- Keep leather clean

- Prevent moisture and keep them dry by stuffing shoes and bags with tissue and wrap them in the dust bag they come in. Put a silica gel pack or two inside to absorb moisture. Best to also use those disposable moisture absorbers/dehumidifiers and stuff inside your shoe closet and bag cabinet.

- If you like, place a dehumidifier in your closet or install an exhaust fan.

- So as not to dry out the leather, apply leather balms regularly

- Check your shoes every so often for molds & cracks

Hopefully these tips keep our precious leather bags and shoes in pristine condition, long enough to pass on as vintage to our daughters :)

ColorWash: Now in The Philippines!

If you've been unable to use your favorite bags and shoes (yes, even athletic shoes) because they've been, well, loved too much, then ColorWash is the place to take them to.

I first stumbled upon ColorWash in Singapore, at Mandarin Gallery, and was impressed seeing all these nylon Prada bags they've cleaned on display, looking good as new. So I bookmarked the store in my head, just in case I had bags that needed to be revived and resuscitated.

Thankfully, now that we've moved back to Manila, I don't need to go back to Singapore to have that done. ColorWash was brought here by sisters Kate & Jen Osmena and they opened recently at the 2nd floor of Serendra (right on top of Mamou), after having spent some time in Singapore being professionally trained to clean and color designer bags and shoes. 

I attended the media launch a few days ago, and Gemma Gil, the founder and managing director of ColorWash, was there to personally talk about her company and their services.

She was also there to personally give consultations on what steps were needed to be done to give our bags and shoes a new lease on life. Daryl Chang of Preview, my cousin Mano's girlfriend, brought along some bags for cleaning and we were super impressed to see with our very own eyes how ColorWash managed to clean her precious bags.

Gemma explaining to Daryl what needs to be done to her Celine Luggage tote

Gemma did a demo on Daryl's Balenciaga Twiggy, cleaning a portion of the bag so we could see the difference. Notice the leather on the left side and how much brighter it looks?

White and cream bags can easily turn to gray with use, and Gemma cleaned a portion of Daryl's vinyl Gucci envelope bag so we could see how dirty it has become. She also pointed out some yellow stains that were a result of color transfer from the leather straps. This usually happens when you store a bag for too long and the straps have been rubbing into the bag.

Impressive huh? We can't wait to see the finished products! ColorWash's cleaning service not only removes the dirt, bacteria, fungus and oil accumulated through daily use and from humid weather, it also includes a disinfecting and deodorizing process to reduce unpleasant odors in bags and shoes. 

Here are more samples of bags they have cleaned, it is quite easy to spot the before and after:

Apart from cleaning, they also do coloring services - to refresh the look of discolored, scratched, and stained leather bags and shoes.

ColorWash also sells cleaning products, so you can continue to care for your bags and shoes at home.

Now, for the service guide and price list, because I know you want to know ;)

ColorWash started in 2003 in Singapore as a shoe care service provider, then called Shoe Wash and Care, offering professional shoe cleaning services. ColorWash has grown beyond Singapore to become a successful international franchise, with outlets also in Jakarta, Hong Kong, and now the Philippines.

ColorWash

2C-17 Level 2 Serendra
Bonifacio Global City
Taguig, Metro Manila
Tel: +632 625 2165

For more on ColorWash:

Visit their Facebook page: facebook.com/ColorWashPH or email hello@colorwash.com.ph