This brings us yet to another important tip. "Don't get stuff you don't like because you will only add to what you're gonna clean," Popi advises. "They have to be things you love. Never mind if you don't have a table yet-go through life without a table. One day, you'll find a table you really like. There shouldn't be any excess baggage-they should be things you want to have because you want to keep them."

Now that Popi is living alone, who's going to do the laundry, do the dishes or wash the car?

"Easy," Popi says with a beatific smile. "I bring the laundry to my mom's place. Of course, I can do it at the deck of my place but why bother? As for the dishes, I can always use paper plates so I don't have to wash. And as for the car, my mom tells me to bring it over to her place for cleaning. My mom's always looking for an excuse to see me."

A miniture sketch by Tam Austria of his bigger painting titled
"Ikaw sa Gabing Madilim" hangs at the top of this staircase.

Thank God, for mothers, living alone need not be a drudgery.

Popi is pretty content with what she has. "What I don't have is a boyfriend," she quips. "My ideal man is someone who'd make me laugh, make me think, yung ganon. I'm not even looking for someone who is financially secure. And I certainly hope he finds me."

A workaholic, Popi finds time to unwind. "I don't have to go out on dates or go to a bar," she says. "My work is not a nine-to-five thing. Sometimes, I work the whole day; sometimes, I can take the whole day off. You can't keep working. You have to say 'OK, to day, I'm not working. Let's have fun Let's eat out. I love to eat. Or I can just stay home and watch Ally McBeal. What matters is the company I'm with. We can always just stay home and eat some strange food. Or sometimes, I go to my sister's house and play with my niece and nephew."

Two months on her own, Popi has learned to be a budgetarian. "For the first month, my electric bill amounted to only P700, my water bill was P55, the phone bill was P200 and the cable P200, for a grand total of P1,155," she enumerates. "Including the association dues and parking, I pay P17,000 for rent which is pretty good because for a place of this size (93 sq.m) in Makati, I'd easily be spending P25,000 (P20,000 for rent, P3,000 for association dues and P2,000 for parking).

Popi's favorite piece of furniture in this house
is this old wooden chair. "It feels so comfortable to sit on."