Laundry Practical Tips

Over the past few weeks I was thinking of new ways to make my laundry routine the natural way using stuffs that are found in my kitchen. I had to face new ways to treat faded clothing and yellowish whites.So I began experimenting because I don't want to use chemicals on a regular basis. I still prefer using biodegradable materials and alternative solution that has proven results. I've collected empty jars filled it up and labelled each.Below are the tips you can try for yourself.

1. Keep Your Whites Their Whitest

Do your white T-shirts tend to go grey? White socks look dirty no matter how many times they're washed? Try one of these tried and trusted methods for making whites stay white.

Soak in a solution of 4 liters water and 180g bicarbonate of soda.

Soak in hot water in which you've dissolved 5 aspirin tablets (325mg each). Add 240ml white vinegar to the washing machine's rinse cycle.

2. Get Blacker Blacks, Darker Darks

While faded and distressed-looking garments are the rage for some age groups, you may prefer not to look as if the last time you went clothes-shopping was 1998. Here are some tips for keeping black and dark-coloured wardrobe items looking like new.

• For blacks, add 2 cups brewed coffee or tea to the rinse cycle.

• For dark colors like navy blue or plum, add 1 cup table salt to the rinse cycle.

• For denim that will be slow to fade, soak jeans in salt water or a 50/50 solution of water and white vinegar before the first wash. Turn the jeans inside out before putting them in the machine and turn the temperature setting to cold.

3. Get Rid of Odours

Know that "new" smell of dye or chemicals that comes with just-bought sheets or shirts? Have a teenager who thinks nothing of leaving sweaty clothes in a locker or gym bag for weeks on end? Worse, ever have a run-in with a skunk? Grab two old deodorizer standbys. First, add ½ cup baking soda to 1 gallon (3.78 litres) water and presoak any smelly washable items for about 2 hours. Then, as you machine-wash them, add ½ cup white vinegar to the rinse cycle.

4. Get Rid of Yellow Stains

With time, white cotton and linen tend to turn yellow — hardly the fresh, crisp look for which cotton is famous. Let sodium come to the rescue by mixing ¼ cup salt and ¼ cup baking soda with 1 gallon water in a large cooking pot. Add the yellowed items and boil for 1 hour.

5. Freshen a Laundry Hamper

Hampers are handy for keeping dirty laundry in one place, but they can get a little ripe when packed with soiled clothes. Two ways to prevent hamper smells:

• Cut the foot off a pair of old panty hose, fill it with baking soda, knot it, and toss this makeshift odour eater into the hamper. Replace the baking soda every month or so.

• Keep a box of baking soda next to the hamper and sprinkle some on soiled clothes as you throw them in the washer, where the soda will freshen and soften the load.

DIY Stain Removal

Today I want to share with you some tips on how to treat stains using stuffs found in your home.

Below are the formula for each type of stains.

Keep in mind that you should treat each stain super fast before loading it into the washer or you will be having a tough time treating them. Untreated stains shouldn't be dried in your drier unless you want those stains permanently on your clothes.

Laundry Guide Procedures

I would like to show you the wash care tips. Follow this symbols and you won't go wrong.
Managing a laundry business is as easy as doing your own laundry if you follow the rules. I've been doing the laundry for almost eight years yet I still learned a lot each day. They say that experience is a great teacher, Well said and very true for me. I have experienced a lot when it comes to laundry such as shrinking, fading, yellowing, things left on your pockets and more.

So before tragedy happens to your new shirt please keep this guide. You can even use this as a wall art decoration in your laundry area. 

4 Laundry Tips

Why Branding is Important

Branding is just as important for small businesses as it is for big names. Indeed, many corporate brands are trying to look more like small firms in order to appeal to consumers that prefer to support independent brands. I would share my knowledge to help you develop your own brand identity.

Many small business owners I talk to already understand that branding is essential to their business, but a surprisingly high number of them don't really know why.

They recognize the link between successful businesses and strong branding and aspire to build a brand that emulates similar success for themselves. And they understand that branding is not just a logo or how their business is perceived externally. But few realize that successful brands have this branding at the heart of the business. So much so that in many ways you could almost substitute the word brand for business.

Branding is a way of defining your business, both to yourself and your team and also to your external audiences. It could be called the business’s “identity”, but only on the understanding that the identity embodies the core of what the business is and its values, not just what it looks and sounds like. Customers of all sorts of businesses are so savvy today that they can see through most attempts by companies to gloss, spin or charm their way to sales.

The benefits that a strategically defined brand can bring are the same as when people fall in love with each other. When customers connect emotively — because they share the same values and beliefs of a brand — it obviously leads to higher sales and better brand differentiation. It also leads to loyalty, advocacy and can even protect your price in times when competitors rely on promotional discounts to drive sales.

Just like with people when the relationship is strong, they often decide to start a family. Once customers are emotively connected with your brand it gives you the ideal platform from which to extend your offering or range.

Here are the ten tips on how to successfully implement branding for your business.

1.   Start by defining your brand. Review the product or service your business offers, pinpoint the space in the market it occupies and research the emotive and rational needs and concerns of your customers. Your brand character should promote your business, connect with your customer base and differentiate you in the market.

2.   When building your brand, think of it as a person. Every one of us is an individual whose character is made up of stories, beliefs, values and purposes that define who we are and who we connect with. Our personality determines how we behave in different situations, how we dress and what we say. Of course for people it's intuitive and it's rare that you even consider what your own character is, but when you're building a brand it's vital to have that understanding.

3.   Consider what is driving your business.

What does it believe in, what is its purpose and who are its brand heroes. These things can help establish your emotive brand positioning and inform the identity and character for brand communications.

4.   One of your branding goals should be to build long-term relationships with your customers. Don’t dress up your offering and raise expectations that result in broken promises, create trust with honest branding — be clear who your company is and be true to the values that drive it every day.

5.   Your brand should always speak to your customers with a consistent tone of voice.It will help reinforce the business’s character and clarify its offering so customers are aware exactly what to expect from the product or service.

6.   However, don't be obsessed with consistency, repeating the same message in the same way over and over again. Alternatively, aim to make your key messages work together to build a coherent identity.

7.   If you are a small business, don’t try to mimic the look of chains or big brands. Try and carve out your own distinctive identity. There is a big consumer trend towards independent establishments, and several chains are in fact trying to mimic an independent feel to capture some of that market. Truly independent operators can leverage their status to attract customers who are looking for something more original and authentic, that aligns with how feel about themselves.

8.   Be innovative, bold and daring – stand for something you believe in. Big brands are encumbered by large layers of bureaucracy, preventing them from being flexible and reacting to the ever-changing needs of their customers. Those layers of decision-makers can make it hard for them to be daring with their branding.

9.   Always consider your branding when communicating to your customer base, especially when doing offers. Don't lose your pride or dilute your brand positioning with indiscriminate discounting. Try offering more, rather than slashing prices. Promotions are an opportunity to reinforce your brand mission.

10.The old way of doing things was to simply stamp your logo on everything that sits still long enough.

The future of branding is fluid and engaging — respect your customers' intelligence by not giving everything away up front. Generate some intrigue and allow them to unearth more about your brand for themselves. This is the way to foster ambassadors who revel in telling other people what they have discovered.

Sales Invoice VS Official Receipts

Today's article is about the difference between invoice and official receipt (OR). Probably most of us are still confused between the two receipts. With the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) implementing a new ruling on the receipts, it signals that they are becoming strict with their collection and taxation.

So, what is the difference between an invoice and an official receipt? Invoices, more specifically, Sales Invoices, are used for sales of goods while OR’s are used for sales of services. Sounds easy enough, right?

Here are some examples to show the difference.

Example 1: Food

• When you dine in a restaurant. They will give you an OR, because they sell the whole experience. It is not the food that you are paying for. Official Receipts are for services.
• When you buy your groceries and you ask for a receipt, they will give you a sales invoice.

Example 2: Construction

• When you buy at your local hardware. They will give you a sales invoice.
• But, if you have your house built by a construction firm, upon payment, you will receive an OR.

In both examples, there are different scenarios given but you receive different kinds of receipts. To reiterate, ORs are for sales of services, while Sales Invoices are for sales of goods.

There are also other types of receipts, called supplementary receipts as what the Tax Law says. Examples of these supplementary receipts are billing invoices, delivery receipts, etc. These are what we were accustomed to referring as “invoice”. So when we want our clients to pay us, we ought to give them billing invoice or service invoice – not an invoice or a sales invoice.

Holiday Season Business Ideas

Do you smell Christmas in the air? The “ber” months begins! The Philippines must be the only country that starts the holiday season once September kicks in. It is also my favorite time of the year since this season is the busiest time in any business. Today I want to share with you some business ideas for the holiday season.

Here are some great holiday business ideas that you might try this season:

1. Party Planner

The Holiday season is the season for parties. However, many people are simply too busy or otherwise not inclined to plan their own affairs. The Holiday season is the perfect time for starting a party planning business. You may need to enlist the assistance of a few friends and family members, or even hire contract wait staff, but you will likely find many people who would be glad to pay for the convenience of a party planner this season. Remember, most businesses have some type of holiday party for employees and even customers. Market your new venture to local businesses, too.

2. Outdoor Lighting and Decoration Service

Many people would love to see the outside of their home festively decorated for the Holidays, but the task is just too much effort for most. Start a business that will decorate yards and homes with lights and outdoor decor. Don’t forget to offer tacking down the decorations for an additional fee!

3. Holiday Interior Decorator

Most families are tasked to the limit during the Holiday season. One service most households could use is a seasonal interior decorator to make their home a winter wonderland without the hours and hours of effort. Offer to set up and decorate the Christmas tree, apply all decorations and make each home a Holiday fantasy. If you create your own decorations and crafts, you could incorporate these into your decor, too.

4. Personal Shopper

So many people consider holiday shopping a chore that the season is a great time for starting a Personal Shopper service. Consider charging an hourly rate for your service and you may find that you have more business than you can manage. You may even need to hire a helper or two.

5. Gift Wrapper

Each year, we suddenly remember just how time consuming the task of gift wrapping really can be, especially if you like for your gifts to have a special touch. This Holiday season, try starting a gift wrapping business. This is another business that may just take off so much that you need assistance from a helper or two. You can offer to come to the homes of clients to wrap their gifts. Charge an hourly fee with an extra charge if you supply the wrapping materials. You may even ask local retail outlets if you could set up a table in an area of high traffic to offer your services.

6. Hand-Made Crafter

During the Holiday season, everyone wants those special, little hand-made items, such as cute wreaths, baskets and little Christmas towns. If you have a penchant for creating hand-made crafts, consider selling your crafts. Offer your wares at craft shows, flea markets and community centers.

7. Holi-Daycare

A great time to open a daycare or babysitting service is around the Holidays. As parents need to shop for their children, they need a safe place where the children will be well cared for during the shopping excursion. Offer holi-daycare for parents who need some time to shop or even those who just need to get out for a while or attend that Holiday party. 

8. Personalized Gift Basket Service

Gift baskets are a popular gift idea for just about anyone. You can offer to create personalized gift baskets based on the recipient hobbies, profession and personal preferences. A personalized gift basket is simple to create once you have an idea of what the recipient likes. Start a business creating personalized gift baskets for your customers to give those on their lists. You can express your creativity and make some holiday cash at the same time.

9. Personalized Holiday Cards

If you have any graphic design skills this one may be for you. Imagine meeting with a family that wants to send our unique cards to their family and friends. You can discover exactly what they want and offer three separate design concepts. Your customer chooses the one they want and you have the cards printed by your local printer.  People will pay for a service like this because it’s one less thing they need to be concerned about. If you implement this idea don’t forget to triple check for typos and have your customer sign off on the design before you send it to the printer. You don’t want to be stuck with cost of a reprint!

10. Sweets and Baked Goods

If you have the passion for baking cookies and pastries you can turn that passion into a profitable business this holiday season. I love to cook a lot and whenever I have extra time during the holidays I make puto, brownies, cup cakes and leche plan and had them posted online for sale.

11. Christmas Decors

You can sell christmas tree and decors online like what i did every holiday season. I posted them online and I offer delivery service right at their door steps. 

This sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I hope these ideas inspire you get started on your holiday business today. I wish you and yours a wonderful and prosperous holiday season.