How to Save Time by Combining Your Workouts and Household Chores

Do you workout? Going to the gym on a regular day? Or possibly working out at home following an app or video on YouTube?

Every morning I join this program on TV. Just a 15-minute workout, good for loosening up the muscles and getting the blood flowing.

Otherwise, it’s hard to find the time to go to the gym, right? Let alone having the energy. We have such busy lives with work, family, our households, friends, you name it.

There are only 24 hours in a day. So we need to spend those hours wisely. Maybe you sometimes ask yourself what is more important. A clean and tidy home, enjoyed by the whole family, or your (good) health. When you choose your health and want to exercise, your mental health could suffer because you feel guilty about your messy home.

Well, what if I tell you, there is a perfect solution for that dilemma. You could burn some calories by doing your household chores. Yes, it’s true. There are health benefits attached to doing household chores. You’re going to look at vacuuming in a whole different way!

The early days

When you look at a woman in the 1950’s, she spent a lot of time doing her tasks in her household. She didn’t go to the gym, simply because she didn’t have the time (among other reasons).

Having a neat, tidy, and clean house was very important in that time. And because of all kinds of fancy appliances, we spend less time cleaning our houses these days. As well as, we women have a job. In contrast to most women in the 1950’s.

Exercise at home

Set yourself up for success. If you don’t have time to go to the gym, try to exercise in a different way. Cleaning your home could be one of them. If you would need some motivation, my friend Sarah is sharing 9 ways to get motivated to do the housework on her blog.

You could even put in a little extra: Spring Cleaning! Get everything out and wash, scrub, and mop each room from top to bottom. Now that’s what I would call a solid workout at home.

How many calories burned?

You must be curious by now how many calories you burn with every household chore you take on. I did some research and I found this list from StarBrands (a company in British cleaning supplies).

Doing these household chores for an hour would burn a lot of calories. And look what you need to do in the gym to burn the same amount. Amazing!

• making the bed = 70 calories/hour = 20 min Pilates
• doing laundry = 148 calories/hour = 40 min weights session
• ironing = 157 calories/hour = 30 min water aerobics
• sweeping the floors = 161 calories/hour = 30 min cycling
• dusting = 166 calories/hour = 20 min aerobics
• vacuuming = 175 calories/hour = 20 min jogging
• cleaning windows = 231 calories/hour = 25 min circuit training
• scrubbing the bathroom = 256 calories/hour = 20 min spinning
• washing the car = 314 calories/hour = 45 min swimming
• mopping the floors = 314 calories/hour = 45 min boxing

To help you out with monitoring how many calories you have burned while doing household chores, I made a printable tracker “How many calories did I burn?”. Just click the image to download for free!

Win-win situation

This would save time AND money. No subscription needed for the gym, right? You just get your daily exercise at home. It’s a great alternative for working out and staying fit.

You get a great workout plus a clean and tidy home. What more do you want? And by combining your workout and your household chores, it saves you time for other fun stuff.

Now go on and print out that checklist from the Resource Library. And if you want to want to read this post again, pin it on your favorite board on Pinterest.

Other posts you might enjoy:

• How Music Can Actually Help You Boost Your Productivity
• 15 Simple Ways to Help You Unwind After a Busy Day
• How Are You Spending Your Limited Time?