Mommy Ginger
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Veráge Cleanser and Toner: Keep your Skin Moisturized and Nourished

The Veráge Skin Care line is created by doTERRA. These are essential oil-based products.

As a blogger, I have to try out a lot of products. Check this link for my past skin care reviews. And since I sincerely enjoy reviewing skin care products, it takes a toll on my skin. Testing different products on my face stresses out my skin. I would really love for it to “breathe” and just relax sometimes.

And having the ash fall recently really didn’t encourage me to go through my skin care routine at all this entire week. I just feel that if I place other stuff, it would feel icky (thinking that the product would attract ashes to stick on my face). But of course, haha, these are all thoughts.

But anyway, lucky for me, I met Jyl Johnson Pattee and she introduced to me to doTERRA. Just to give you a little information about doTERRA (I’ll tell you more in another post), it officially launched last November 2019 here in the Philippines. doTERRA produces essential oils and essential oil based products. It’s uses a direct selling approach to distribute its products everywhere in the world, and the distributors are called Wellness Advocates. It’s available in 19 countries all around the world.

So moving on, I got to try out the Veráge Skin Care products of doTERRA. The one on the left is the Veráge Cleanser and the one on the right is the Veráge Toner.

About Veráge

What encouraged me to try Veráge is that it is a natural skin care line. It uses natural ingredients. The advanced plant technology used in Veráge promotes the appearance of an optimal lipid balance—the same balance found in healthy, youthful-looking skin. These products nourish and hydrate skin and reduce the visible signs of aging.

What do the products contain?

The Verage line contains plant extracts, pure and potent CPTG® essential oils, and select natural ingredients. The doTERRA Veráge Skin Care Collection delivers results you can see and feel, naturally.

For the Verage Cleanser, the essential oils that they used are Wild Orange, Melaleuca and Basil.

The ingredients are:

As for the Verage Toner, the essential oils that they used for this are Ylang Ylang, Coriander, Palmarosa and Cypress.

The ingredients are: Water, Aloe, Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel), Water Propanediol, Heptyl Glucoside, Cananga Odorata Flower Oil, Cymbopogon Martini Oil, Cupressus Sempervirens Oil, Coriander Seed Oil, Copper PCA, Gluconic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Malachite Extract, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Hydroxide and Alcohol.

What I have to say about Verage Cleanser and Toner

I have been using the Veráge Cleanser and Toner for a week already. What I’ve noticed about the product is that the scent is not that strong — it was actually just right. I guess my fear was that since it’s an essential oil-based product, I thought it would be have a strong scent. I really didn’t want products that I would use for my face to have strong scents (just my own personal “feeling” that products with strong scents are harsh and should not be used for the face).

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was so light and gentle on the face. The consistency of the cleanser is not foamy, but just a small amount of the product can go a long way. How to apply the Verage Cleanser is to spread it on a damp face and neck in circular motions.

For the Veráge Toner, you can use a cotton pad and spread the product all over your face and neck. The product is very light on the skin (feels like water really more than alcohol).

I use both products in the morning and in the evening. So just to share, this is how my skin looked on the 7th morning of using the product.

This is my “woke up like this” look!

I usually have have little bumps all over my face, but in this picture (I hope you see), most of it are gone. I’ve also been very conscious about my sun spots on my cheeks. I loved going to the beach to have a tan during my twenties and yes, now, I see the repercussions of not wearing sunscreen. I noticed that some of the spots have lightened.

The most noticeable change that I have seen is that glow and the dark circles around my eyes have lessened.

So overall, it’s good to try out these two products at least once, and see if these work for you.

The Verage Cleanser is at Php 2150 and the Verage Toner is at Php 1950.

To purchase the product, just go to this link: https://www.mydoterra.com/gingerarboleda/#/

If you also want to know more about the other product of doTERRA, you can join Jyl’s (the lovely lady who introduced me to doTERRA) group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GROWSuccess.Today/ You can also check out her site here: http://growsuccess.today/learn-more

UEC Philippines: Help Build Better Future for Young Authors

UEC Philippines is a unique English program that helps young aspiring Filipino authors achieve their dreams of becoming a published writer. 

As a writer myself, I think it’s a great opportunity for kids to learn all about the writing process at a young age. And I love how creative and fun UEC is making it for them. 

Truth is, UEC Philippines is more than your ordinary English program. 

Their goal is to help more children find their love for creating stories of their own. 

What is UEC Philippines? 

Unique English Classroom (UEC Philippines) is a unique way for kids to learn all about the English language.

Their outside-the-box approach ensures highly-interactive and fun ways of teaching and learning reading, writing, and comprehension.

The program combines the best strategies and practices from traditional teaching methods and updated approaches. 

Each level of the program comes with its own workbook that kids can use as they progress except in Kids Can Read, where the creative educator (teacher) reads a book to everyone which inspires them to do art, interactive games, and more. It also assures your children’s mastery of the language in preparation for achieving their dreams of becoming a successful author.

The Four Levels of Language Mastery According to UEC Philippines 

Unique English Classroom is focused on nurturing your child’s interest in the English language, specifically in reading and writing.

Because of this, they have developed different levels in the program that will help nurture your child’s curiosity and match it with their current abilities. 

Learning through Stories with Kids Can Read 

This is the program’s basic level. It’s a fun-filled and engaging program where kids get to learn to love reading through phonics and storytelling. It is like a play group based on one book per month. Kindly rephrase.

This level highlights the creativity and sparks children’s imagination through drama and acting.

For the advanced level books in KCR, kids get to share their stories, play a role, and act it out. The participation required in the storytelling helps strengthen their vocabulary, expression, and comprehension as well.

Listening, Speaking, and Constructing Sentences through Alphabet Learners 

Alphabet Learners is the second level in the UEC program.

Creative Educators or UEC teachers help kids improve their vocabulary and strengthen reading comprehension and learn how to identify things around them through various stories and the Alpha Learners Workbook.

Through the program, children develop cognitive abilities through understanding letters, numbers and stories.

They also get to improve their comprehension of the functions of daily activities. This helps them get better at constructing sentences and writing them in the proper order.

It also helps children talk and express themselves better and improve their language concepts.

Learning to love English Rules and Grammar with Alpha Authors 

This level helps children visualize and create their own stories by listening to others.

The stories featured in this level were penned by young authors aged 10 to 16. It also includes poetry, drama, and writing and encourages kids to write their own. It encourages kids to create stories, develop characters and imagine scenarios. It’s basically writing and storytelling 101 for young authors.

Alpha Authors also enable students to focus on imagery,  describing people, places, and events.

Imagery helps readers get a mental picture of what’s going on in the scene you’re writing. It’s a sensory detail that helps bring the readers to the world you are building as a writer.

It’s a valuable skill for any writer because it helps you connect with the reader and makes the story come alive.

Fulfilling the Dream as a Writer with AWIS 

Aspiring Writers and Illustrators Scheme (AWIS) is a highly sought-after program created and developed for children who wish to write their own stories.

The focus of this level is to develop their vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and writing skills.

It also helps children construct coherent sentence structures that focus on the story’s imagery. 

But most importantly, children learn how to develop creativity, logical reasoning, and sequencing. These are the skills children need to achieve their dream of becoming successful, young authors and creating their future bestsellers. What makes it unique is the stories they create. It encourages them transform their stories into something tangible.

Why Reading Comprehension is More Important Than Ever 

If you’ve been one of my followers for the past years, you’d know how passionate I am when it comes to Zeeka’s learning.

I want her to do great in life, like every parent out there. That’s why I’ve been looking for different ways for her to learn habits that will ensure her love for learning.

And as you know, I believe that learning goes beyond the borders of the classroom. That’s how I got started with different ventures like Manila Workshops.

That’s why it saddens me to hear that the Philippines ranked lowest among 79 countries when it came to reading comprehension.

According to the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Philippines had an average reading score of 340. This is 200 points below that of China, which scored highest, and 100 points lower than the overall average point of 487.

The Philippines also ranked second to the lowest in Mathematics and Science.

The most alarming part of all is that the scores were based on 15-year old students. 

It is indeed sad because if we want our country to evolve and grow, we would need thinkers and doers. We need young people who have a strong vision of the future and concrete steps on how to get there.

It’s alarming for me as a parent and business owner.

It worries me because we are technically training the kids of today to be future leaders.

So if we’re getting these kinds of low results in our current system, how are we supposed to expect better, brighter days for those who are next?

Start a Movement through Boosting Reading Comprehension Levels in the Youth 

UEC Philippines understands the need for helping our children do better for their future.

They believe that every child has a story to tell. And every kid should be given the right to dream and express themselves through their own stories.

Unique English Classroom has a vision of breaking the boundaries of education by becoming a premier creative educational portal.

By empowering the creative process and becoming a platform where children’s voices are heard, they help build the child’s confidence.

UEC Philippines focuses on its G.R.E.A.T. core values.

Creative Educators or UEC teachers teach their students a different kind of English program where they learn gratitude every day.

They also continue to listen and connect with people, focusing on making them feel relevant and boost their self-esteem. 

They conduct themselves in the highest level of ethics to preserve unity, peace, and harmony among peers and the community.

They also value accountability and ensure that each member of the organization stays true to their word and actions.

And last but not least, they teach kids the importance of tenacity and determination so they could be successful in the classroom and in real life.

Let us help build and prepare a better future for our children through the love of learning!

Be a UEC Philippines partner today! For franchising inquiries or more information, visit their website here.

WarnerMedia and TotallyAwesome Work Together!

Have you ever heard of TotallyAwesome? It’s the leading kids digital media company in the Asia-Pacific region, reaching over 170 million kids monthly across desktop, mobile and online video. The company operates a kid-safe and compliant content and advertising platform, so you need not worry about what ads your children are seeing. TotallyAwesome makes sure brand engagement with the youth market is safe, effective and entertaining.

Recently, TotallyAwesome has announced a collaboration with WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks in the Philippines.

This is great news for advertisers who care about bringing safe content to children. This collaboration between the two companies give access to both companies’ advertising platforms through a unified kids-safe advertising proposition. They give kids’ brands a platform where they can talk to kids safely.

In the Philippines, WarnerMedia sees that there is an increasing number of children creating and consuming content online. Warner Media commits to providing kids-safe content through its own platforms, as well as through this collaboration.

Awantika Sood, WarnerMedia’s Kids and Entertainment ad-sales lead in Southeast Asia, added, “As children consume more and more digital content, the need to present an omni-channel, brand-safe solution to our advertising partners is very important to us. Adding to WarnerMedia’s own capabilities, our collaboration with TotallyAwesome platforms is a strategic move as it provides advertisers in the Philippines a one-stop shop to reach kids in quality and safe environments across linear, digital and social platforms. We look forward to a fantastic collaboration with TotallyAwesome.”

For brands who need more information on how to connect with TotallyAwesome, you can email them here: pr@totallyawesome.tv

A Freelancer’s and Consultant’s Guide to Using Taxumo

Think about all the attention given to the following:

  • Decluttering your closet and keeping and displaying things that bring you joy…
  • Following the footsteps of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg when they only have one style of shirt or attire…
  • The rise of planners and productivity apps that help you with time management.

All of these “hacks” introduced to us because man has finally realised that TIME is the most important asset.

And this realisation is what makes most entrepreneurs, freelancers and business owners successful. They never WASTE time. It’s more important than money. This is why service apps like GRAB, and even Upwork thrive, because successful people know that money is something that you can earn back but when you lost time, it’s lost forever.

This is the reason why Taxumo exists as well. If you value your time, and if you’d much rather spend your time earning money than computing your taxes or lining up at the RDO or the bank, this application is for you. We exist for people who see that they would much rather outsource computing, filing and paying to a system or application than spending time figuring out how to file and pay or when to file and to pay. It’s basically Taxumo giving you that gray sweater of Bill Gates and all you need to do is to wear it 🙂 haha! 

To make it even more convenient for you, freelancer or consultant, I have made this step by step guide on how to start using Taxumo and how to maximise using Taxumo.

SETTING UP A TAXUMO ACCOUNT FOR FREELANCERS OR CONSULTANTS

Sign up to Taxumo using these settings (Yup, just copy your Certificate of Registration). Here is a sample Certificate of Registration and see the parts. It contains the Tax Type that you need to file.

If you don’t have this, check out Taxumo’s Business Registration Service for Freelancers. Click here: https://www.taxumo.com/business-registration/freelancer

Have your COR by your side when you set up your Taxumo account. If you don’t have it while setting up, it’s okay. You can still change the details later on. Copy EXACTLY what is written in your COR. Example, if the Taxpayer’s Name in your COR is Arboleda, Ginger Palma, please copy it as is in Taxumo.

As you can see, you can turn the notifications (email notifications) on and off. We highly suggest that you turn these on.

For your Business Profile (see image above), just copy the line of business in your COR. For “I want to file my Taxes From”, place the date when you received your Certificate of Registration OR place the date when you want to start filing with Taxumo (if you’v been filing taxes manually before).

For Freelancers / Consultants who earn below Php 3 Million Gross Revenue or Gross Sales a year, the above settings are the suggested settings. Just copy it.

Business Type: You are providing services

Income Source: Income from Profession BUT if you are still employed AND doing consultancy / freelance work on the side, choose “Mixed from Business and Employment”.

Income Tax Rate Type: If you earn below Php 3 Million Gross Revenue or Gross Sales a year and have minimal business expenses, we suggest that you choose the 8% Flat income tax rate option.

TaxPayer’s Type: Choose Professional

Deduction Method: Just choose Optional Standard Deduction but this won’t matter when the system computes your income tax since you chose 8%.

For each year also, Taxumo allows you to save a business setting! 🙂 So cool! Since you can only change Deduction methods and income tax rate types at the beginning of the year, you can choose and save settings for each year.

And for the last part of the settings page, choose and highlight (color aqua) the taxes that you need to pay. Again, based this on your Certificate of Registration. Then upload your COR and your Digital Signature (which is both optional at this point).

VERY IMPORTANT: Please don’t forget to click on SAVE for every YEAR – Business profile that you set!

ENCODING INCOME AND EXPENSES AS A FREELANCER OR CONSULTANT

The next step is to encode your income and expenses. Click on Cashflow on the left side of the screen, and this is what you’ll see (empty cashflow tab). You can look for entries that you have encoded before by clicking on show filter. To add income, click on the “Add Button”.

This is how an empty Cashflow view looks like.

Each income entered in Taxumo should match an official receipt that you prepared for your client. The OR/SI number portion is the OR number of that transaction. For freelancers/consultants, always choose Sales – Services.

Business Name here is the name of your client. For foreign clients who don’t care about ORs, you don’t need to send them a copy of the official receipt. Just keep it in your booklet.

For expenses, those expenses that you can justify to be part of the delivery of your services is what you can encode. Please make sure that the receipts are under your Tax Payer’s Name (especially for expenses that are Php 1000 and above in amount). For transportation and foreign system invoices, please save emails as PDF and save it in your computer. You can also upload it to Taxumo as backup.

PRO TIP: Encode both income and expenses on a daily basis. This will allow you to maximize Taxumo’s Real Time Tax Calculation tool. You can see how much taxes you need to pay at any given time (para hindi kayo nabibigla when tax due dates come).

FILING TAXES

To file taxes, be sure that you are done encoding your income and expenses for the applicable period. Go to the Tax Dues tab and you’ll see all the tax cards with the Tax Dues and the deadlines.

Click on the file button and pay your taxes. Taxumo will then show you a summary of that tax.

If there are things that you need to change, you can go to your settings page. Some fields are also editable here.

For paying your taxes, you need not go to a bank within the city of your revenue district office. You can pay using any of these available channels.

  • Grabpay
  • Debit or Credit Card
  • PayPal
  • Mobile or Online Banking
  • Bank over the counter or Non-Bank over the counter like Bayad Center, SM Payment Counters, Robinsons, 7-11, etc.

PRO TIP: If you have chosen Dragonpay, please ALWAYS check your email for the completion of payment. They will send instructions for you to complete your payment.

Once you have successfully filed and paid for your taxes, you can visit the Past Filings tab on your Tax Dues tab.

If you see “Unpaid filings”, these are the tax cards that you have clicked but have not yet paid for. All you need to do is to click on CANCEL FILING so that the tax card returns to the CURRENT FILINGS TAB.

If you have successfully files and paid for a tax card, it will be marked COMPLETED (it will be marked temporarily IN PROGRESS for 2-3 days before it will say COMPLETED). Once marked completed, you can download and save the copy of the (1) form (click on view form and then click print form — print to PDF if you want to save it in your computer), (2) Download the BIR Confirmation and (3) Download and save the tax payment record.

It’s important to save backups of these in your computer. An OC person like me always want to have “back-ups” for everything. 🙂

After this, you can sit back and relax!!! Fun times!

If you want to maximize your Taxumo subscription, here are some things that you may not know about Tauxmo…

  1. If you receive 2307 forms, you can encode them directly to Taxumo’s Withheld Taxes tab (received tab) and the system will consider it when it computes your Income Tax return. Some people don’t know that these “attachments” should also be submitted and declared to BIR using another system called Alphalist Data Entry and Validation Module. Failure to submit these will also incur penalties.
  2. For your manual books of accounts, you will need to update them frequently. When a BIR examiner visits you, s/he will check if your books are updated. If you don’t know how to update your books, worry no more as Taxumo’s Books of Accounts view formats your entries in columns and all you need to do is copy these entries to your manual books.
  3. If you need to pay SSS voluntary contributions or loan payments, you can click on Pay bills. Compared to other systems, Taxumo already generates the PRN or the payment reference number for you which you can get also from the SSS site. You need not shift from one site to the other.
  4. Entries are exportable and downloadable via Taxumo’s Books of Accounts view. All income is under cash receipt and all expenses are under cash disbursements.
  5. You can give access or delegate access to two more people. Example, if you are using an accountant or bookkeeper, you can give one access to him or her.

Rest assured that Taxumo is constantly innovating and looking for ways that can help you become more productive as a freelancer or consultant.

For Taxumo’s pricing for their subscription plans, click on this link: https://www.taxumo.com/taxumo-pricing/

For those who copied the 8% option above, pricing is at Php 700 per month or at Php 10,000 for a year’s access.

For those with a lot of expenses and who would like to opt for the Graduated Income Tax Table — OSD or Itemized Deduction, pricing is at Php 1500 per month or at Php 20,000 for a year’s access.

If you have any more questions on how to use Taxumo, feel free to leave a comment or message me through https://www.facebook.com/mommyginger/.

JML Fresh Air Mist Ultrasonic Aroma Humidifier: Perfect Gift to Start the Year Right

My favorite past time now is looking through stuff in online stores and window shopping! I just feel so relaxed when navigating through these sites and when walking through the isles (even if I know oftentimes, I don’t get to buy anything). It’s so tempting though to buy new and innovative things and gadgets that you see.

JML Fresh Air Mist

For the longest time, I have been eyeing different humidifiers. The one that popped out was the JML Fresh Air Mist Ultrasonic Aroma Humidifier. I saw this at Ace Hardware actually. But, before we talk about this product, the reason why is that my husband, EJ, wakes up every day and coughs like hell. He has pretty bad dry cough in the morning. I did some reading and people online say that humidifiers can help with this.

Oh, and I wake up to cracked lips, sometimes, too! Both these things may be because of the dry air in our room.

So, let’s talk about humidifiers! You may not know it but I saw several types online. What we had when we were kids was what is called a steam vaporizers. Do you still remember this? I still remember that my mom would use to place efficascent oil into the machine, and had me stay in front of the humidifier when I had colds.

What caught my attention are the ultrasonic humidifiers! Sounds so futuristic, right?

Well, these humidifiers produce a mist using ultrasonic vibration. The one that caught my attention early on was the JML Fresh Air Mist Ultrasonic Aroma Humidifier.

The JML Fresh Air Mist Utrasonic Aroma Humidifier can carry 2.5L of water. Humidifiers this size can be use for a room that is 10-25m². This was actually perfect for our room!

Have you ever tried using the JML Fresh Air Mist Ultrasonic Aroma Humidifier? Let me know!