Well what can we say? Our lovely cleaner, Lina, has texted us to say that her little boy, Alfred, was born on 29 February. What a lovely, noble English name. Well done Lina, and congratulations! We look forward to seeing little Alfred in due course!

Well here we are, and already it’s March. For those of you who have been wondering where we’ve been for the past three months, all I can say in our defence is that we’ve been coping with an invasion of babies. Yes, BABIES! As we mentioned last year, our beloved Lina went on maternity leave just before Christmas, and since then two more of our cleaners, Debbie and Louise, became pregnant and left recently to get on with the job of, well, growing what they started.

One baby? Fine! Two babies? Okay. Three babies? What on earth is going on?*! There was only one thing to do, of course. I ordered an immediate investigation into the cleaning products we’ve been using ☺

Since then we’ve been scampering about the countryside to fill the places left by the girls, and to recruit extra cleaners to cope with the ever-increasing stream of clients who are coming to us because, even when we don’t advertise, we constantly receive enquiries from friends of our happy customers. Thank you to all our wonderful clients, we’re always delighted to receive your recommendations and to know how well we’re serving you.

Nevertheless, it has taken us the best part of three months to fill the baby gaps (if you’ll pardon the expression) and to expand our team further to cope with the increased demand for our services. This is because we won’t take just anyone on, we are extremely fussy, and finding those ‘rare diamonds’ – talented people with the potential to become our cleaners – can be a real challenge. Nevertheless, we’ve done it, and I’m delighted to report that we’ve just taken on three new fantastic cleaners to fill the places of the cleaners who have recently left. They have all completed our very thorough training and are already wowing people with their cleaning skills.

So here is a very big welcome to Janine, Sue and Stephanie! All of your clients have said that you are doing an absolutely excellent job, so very well done to all of you!

I’m delighted to report that we have also recruited a further four cleaners to cope with the increased demand from our new clients. They are fantastic, very skilled people and you’ll be hearing more about them shortly.

In the meantime, we would also like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to all our other clients for your lovely testimonials and words of thanks. We are sorry we are not able to put them all on our website due to space and time constraints, but they are all very much appreciated and we will endeavour to add another small selection of them to our site in the near future.

Moving back to babies, I’m sorry to report that my investigation into our cleaning products proved inconclusive ☹ I am now beginning to wonder if there is some spectacular alignment of heavenly bodies somewhere, because the baby phenomenon has spread to some of our clients and, indeed, to our friends. Even I have succumbed. No, before you ask, not to ‘growing my own’ - but to a rare foray into knitting needles, and you can see the result of that attempt above.

Before you ask, yes, the blue round thing beneath the hat IS a gym ball. It was put there in order to protect the identity of the poor unfortunate who will be expected to wear this humble little hat.

I confess I haven’t knitted for years, but I did manage to cast on the required stitches and knit away quietly at this little green ‘tea bag hat’ of an evening after scampering around the countryside each day looking for our new cleaners. All was not completely calm on that front, I further confess. I had barely six rows left to knit when a text arrived announcing that my friends were to hold a ‘baby shower’ in three days’ time to present their baby gifts. That was much sooner than I had expected and caused nothing short of a panic. I didn’t know how to ‘cast off in pattern’ and sat there wondering how to get the darn thing off the needles. And eek! What then? I couldn’t remember how to make the hat up either. And I had too many work commitments to take time out to go and get some help somewhere.

So it is with a very great deal of gratitude and a somewhat red face that I must now thank Jenny, a very accommodating lady in the knitting department of C & H Fabrics, Brighton, who managed to talk me down off the ceiling and explain to me over the telephone what I needed to do. I’m not sure that my subsequent stitching was completely correct, but I am hopeful that it will fool the uninitiated, at least from a distance. In fact I rather like it for myself. So if any seasoned knitter out there would be kind enough to share with me how to expand the size to fit a grown-up woman, I would be all ears. I’m already seeing the potential of unravelling some unwanted old sweater and reknitting it up into a new hat for free. So thank you, Jenny of C & H Fabrics (http://www.candh.co.uk/). You certainly saved my little tea bag hat from metamorphosing into something unrecognisable.

This post was written by Lorraine Turner for Adore Cleaning.

Here's wishing all our wonderful clients and fantastic cleaners, our very valued suppliers and support teams, and our lovely friends and well-wishers, a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

From everyone at Adore Cleaning!

Here is a message from our lovely cleaner Lina, who left us on 17 December to go on maternity leave:

"To all my lovely clients, I would like to say thank you for all your cards and good wishes, and for the flowers, sweets, baby mobile, baby mirror, the Brut Champagne, the penguin and the piggy. Thank you also to my lovely client who is knitting bootees for my baby (you know who you are!).

And of course a special thank you to Lorraine and Catherine for the silver bangle for my baby and the necklace for me, and to all my friends and colleagues at Adore Cleaning!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will be in touch again when my baby is born!

Lina x"

PS: In case some of you haven't heard, just before she left, Lina told us that she is expecting a boy. We will keep you all posted!

Here at Adore Cleaning we are delighted to welcome five new cleaners: Marina, Gery, Madeline, Kerry and Louise. You are already wowing our clients with your fantastic cleaning skills! Well done everyone. Keep it up!

Do you ever find yourself saying, “I haven’t had time to get out and exercise” or “I’m too busy to go to the gym”? With today’s increasingly pressured lifestyle, many people are having to scale down their fitness routine or squeeze short exercise sessions into coffee breaks, but you can use domestic cleaning and household chores to give yourself a good physical workout at home – and the best part is, you don’t have to use up your valuable free time to do it!

While cleaning your home is no substitute for a full exercise regime, it can be a fantastic way to help burn off those calories if you do it in a vigorous way. Before you embark on this or any other exercise regime, however, be sure to consult a suitably qualified medical professional if you are over 40 or pregnant, if you have an existing medical condition or are convalescing, or if you have any doubts about your physical fitness for any reason. Also be sure to drink plenty of water during your cleaning session to keep you hydrated and feeling good.

To begin, first put on some clean indoor shoes with light-coloured rubber/non-slip soles. These will not only help protect your floors and keep them clean, they will also prevent you from slipping on any wet floors. You’ll also find a couple of pairs of household gloves useful – rubber or latex are ideal. You’ll need to keep one pair separate for bathroom cleaning in order to protect the rest of your home from cross-contamination from germs, and the other pair can be used to clean the other areas of your home. You will also find an apron will help to keep your clothes clean and free from damage.

Put on some fast, uplifting music that makes you want to dance. This will help you feel energized. When you feel your toes starting to tap, start walking around your home as vigorously as you can, tidying things up as you walk. Exaggerate your movements, and if you have stairs in your home, even better! These are a great way to get the circulation going. The aim is to get nicely warmed up. While you are tidying, avoid gathering everything up at once – instead fetch one thing at a time, and then go back for something else. This will help squeeze more journeys into your cleaning session. When you’ve done all the tidying, you can use the same method to collect together your cleaning materials, walking back, to and fro, to collect each item.

Now for some stretches. Grab a feather duster and stretch up high to clear any cobwebs from the ceiling, or dust from a picture rail. Don’t just stretch above your head – try to create long stretches to either side of your body as you stretch up and to the side to dust the tops of books on shelves, or along stairwells or window ledges. Gradually work from the top downwards. If you have time, use the feather duster over the walls, door frames and mouldings, switching hands from time to time to give both arms a workout, and remember to reach and stretch as much as you can. When twisting, don’t jerk – just twist smoothly from the waist, keep your shoulder blades down, and keep your head and spine in alignment.

Are some areas really high? Time for the stepladder. Climbing up and down a stepladder is a great way to add in some step aerobics, which will help tone your legs and increase your stamina.

Now for the cleaning and dusting. Aim for wide, vigorous arm movements as much as possible (taking care around any fragile objects, of course). You can get particularly wide, vigorous movements going when you are cleaning windows, for example.

Need to dust a high piece of furniture? Do a series of ankle raises for maximum effect: simply keep your feet together and your legs straight – the movement comes from raising and lowering your heels – up, down, up down –with the weight of your body concentrated on the balls of your feet, until you can really feel the workout in your ankles and legs.

Do you have any wood furniture to clean? Sprays are quick and easy to use, but a more traditional tin of wax will get you rubbing and buffing much harder and will give your furniture an absolutely beautiful shine.

When you get down to floor level, don’t bend or lean, do a series of squats instead. Keep your spine straight, pull in your abdominal muscles to protect your back, and bend at the knees. Use this method when cleaning your toilet too. 

Floors need mopping? Vacuum them first otherwise the mop will simply disperse bits and pieces back around the floor. Vacuuming before mopping will also enable you to get a double workout from each floor. Remember to pull in your abdominal muscles and squat when you use the nozzle attachment around the floor edges and skirtings. Keep your back straight, never simply bend over or you could hurt your back.

After you’ve gone round the edges, why not practise some lunges to vacuum and mop the main area of each floor? Keep your toes pointing forward, and your knees directly over your toes, don’t allow the legs or knees to twist. And when you bend the leg in front at the knee, keep the bent leg at a right angle to avoid injury and to work the thigh as much as possible.

When you’ve done enough lunges on each leg, vary the exercise by walking around while you vacuum and mop. To do this properly, don’t simply stay in one place and use your arms to pull and push the vacuum cleaner or mop, instead use your legs and walk around as you clean. This enables the legs to do the work and will help to keep any strain away from your back.

When picking up heavy items, such as full baskets of laundry, remember that the same method for protecting your back applies: always bend at the knees, and pull in your abdominal muscles. Keep your back straight, and breathe normally.

So how many calories can you expect to burn off from all this cleaning? Here is a rough guide, based on 10 minutes for each activity, but do bear in mind that these figures can vary widely depending on your age, weight and physical fitness:

Dusting: 29

Vacuuming: 41

Mopping floors: 33

General cleaning: 42

Cleaning windows: 30

Laundry: 45

Making beds: 24

Changing linen: 57

Ironing: 19

Carrying out the rubbish/trash: 57

Walking (moderate pace): 48

Walking up and down stairs: 87

Other household chores (in case this inspires you to do more!):

Cooking: 31

Gardening (weeding): 48

Gardening (trimming shrubs): 53

Washing the car: 39

To put the above figures in perspective, cleaning and vacuuming a small 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment for a couple of hours can burn off around 500 calories. No wonder so many of our cleaners lose weight and tone up fabulously after a few weeks or months of working for us!

Why not try this for yourself? It’s a great way to multitask, because you will not only give yourself an invigorating workout, you’ll have a beautifully clean home too.

This article was written by Lorraine Turner for Adore Cleaning.  

We'd like to say a big welcome and thank you to one of our newest cleaners, Sheran, who has really been wowing her clients. Here is what one lady said after a taste of Sheran's work recently:

"What a fantastic clean Sheran did today - spotless! Will be very happy to have Sheran every second Wednesday at the same time."

Susan C, Lewes

Fantastic Sheran! Well done!

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome on board our latest cleaner, Mandi, who has recently completed her training with us and is already wowing her growing base of delighted clients. Here is what one happy lady in Lewes has just sent to us by email:

"Mandi did a fantastic job again on Wednesday."

Well done Mandi! Keep up the good work!

Congratulations to Lina, one of our fantastic cleaners who has just passed her latest Social Care exams. Well done Lina, you've worked hard and you deserve it! We're proud of you!

With very best wishes and lots of cheers from everyone at Adore Cleaning!

Can someone please tell us if the dog in this film would like a job as a domestic cleaner (click on the link below)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=P9Fyey4D5hg