How to survive in makati : Professional Cleaners! :)

As a young professional in Makati, my schedule is swamped. Working in the office from 8-8 or even longer, exercising (yoga, running, or whatever's the next craze) then partying til 12 or even longer...

There's no way I can thoroughly maintain a household like my mom used to without changing my lifestyle. Since I'm only 24, I have no plans of becoming a manang anytime soon =)

After the New Year I decided to finally give up the notion of becoming a supergirl - someone who checks off all the things on her bucket list in a year and STILL maintains a pristine 3bedroom-condo by herself. Although my home is always (most of the time) orderly, it is by no means stepford-wife level.

I didn't want a stay-at-home household helper because I wasn't even at home all the time. My electricity bill could shoot up in a matter of days. My only choice was a weekend maid, but you had to have connections to get those (parang mafia lang). I remembered wanting to put up a professional (on-call) cleaners business for condos. I thought it was a novel idea but after googling, I realized that someone already thought of it. So last week I hired professional cleaners:

ROMA ! "The Professional Cleaning Services"

Intimidating huh? they told me that they could clean my whole house from the walls to the floors, sterilize my bathroom and kitchen, dust, vacuum, sweep and mop, all for the low low price of Php 1,610 for a 70sqm space for 4hours. I think I exclaimed a shocked "woahhh" after they told me that. Really pricey. They said that 2 people would work on it and eventually sales-talked me into it.

It was the new year and I wanted to start the year right. They came down from a white Fortuner carrying loads of complicated cleaning paraphernalia.

In the end I was quite pleased with the job. But I didn't exactly get my goal of finding someone to maintain the place. 1,610 a week was not exactly a bargain.

Being the master-googler that I am, I searched for a part-time maid. Lo and behold, I found the ONLY employment agency that provides part-time maids.

AMARIAH EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

# 1108-A J.P. RIZAL ST. GUADALUPE VIEJO, MAKATI CITY

TEL. No.: 899-8106; 775-4112 CELL No.: 09309158753

For 150 office fee (like the flag down fee for a taxi) and 75 pesos an hour, I can call them up and request them to provide me a helper within an hour or so.

As I write this entry, a friendly 40something lady is in my house teaching me cooking tips on how to make a good ampalaya gisado while folding my clothes =)

Yay!