Edmund Yuen is not afraid to get dirty cleaning your dorm

Meet Edmund Yuen, the savvy freshman in the CAS who is not afraid to make a buck or two, even if it involved putting cleaning gloves on and getting dirty.

Last night as I sat in my common room with my suitemates, complaining about all the studying we have yet to do, a faint knock on the door brought us to our feet. We were looking for any excuse to procrastinate. We opened the door, and there stood Edmund, paper in hand, with a proposition.

Edmund Yuen, CAS, prospective Economics major

His idea is simple. He will clean your dorm suite, do the dishes, do your laundry and even do individual services like taking out the trash, all for a little pay. He even brings his own materials and cleaning product.

We know how living on a student budget can constrain you from many things New York has to offer: concerts, dance clubs, the endless restaurant options, shopping, you name it. So, it’s the go getters like Edmund Yuen who deserve recognition for their unparalleled efforts to earn some money ingenuously, without even having to leave one’s residence hall, and for avoiding the Wasserman Career Center altogether.

I asked Edmund a few questions about his vision for the business, and here’s what he had to say:

Have you run a business like this before?

No, never. It’s my first try, so we’ll see how it goes [he chuckles].

What is your main goal or hope to get out of this?

Honestly, money. It seems like an easy way to do it, so I thought, “Why not give it a try”?

How did you come up with this (rather unusual) idea?

Well, one day I realized how dirty my room was, so I thought I would clean it. Then, it hit me: Why not make money out of doing this?

How much are you charging?

I’m offering a deal of $25 for the first clean, then $35 for any after that. Laundry is at $5 per load, and $1 for a taking out the trash.

How are your cleaning skills?

I am not a good cleaner by any professional standards or anything, but I’ll do it, I mean, how hard can it be?

 Do you know if you’re even allowed to be carrying out this business in a residence hall?

I haven’t even thought about that [he laughs]. Oh well, we’re not allowed to have outside professional cleaning services come in, I know that, but no one said anything about students doing it. Honestly, I have no idea, but until someone stops me, I am taking my chances.

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You heard it right people, cleaning services for a good price at Third North! (Sorry other halls, but perhaps this will be an inspiration to some of you to follow Edmund’s footsteps)?

The modest business plan and contact information

I guess it may be a little weird to have a random other resident come into our humble abodes, but this idea is undeniably brilliant. Oh, the places college life takes us to… Desperate times call for desperate (or genius) measures?