Housework: Burn Calories Frugal Style
“Any workout which does not involve a certain minimum of danger or responsibility does not improve the body - it just wears it out.”
~ Norman Mailer, American Novelist and Playwright
Okay, admittedly I do have an actual gym membership. It’s a fairly frugal one too, which allows me to bring a guest with me every darned day if I want to. But, in our recent spate of spring cleaning, I have come to realize how much aerobic work there is just around the house.
Think about it, you save $20-$80 a month on that gym membership and you get a clean house at the same time. Nothing wrong with that approach.
Any activity can burn calories, strengthen your heart and help increase your metabolism. So pick up those feet and get a move on!
Some of the lovely, heart-pumping activities that you can get up to around the house include:
- Painting a room or the garden fence.
- Emptying, dusting and reorganizing a closet.
- Washing the road-salt off your car.
- Collecting, bagging and hauling old clothes to goodwill.
- Churning your own butter…easier said than done.
- Raking up last year’s leaves.
- Scrubbing down the tub and shower…icky but very labor-intensive. :-)
- Cleaning, pumping up and greasing your bicycle.
- De-cobwebbing all the corners and ceilings in your house.
- Sanding down and repainting the deck.
- Weeding and mulching the garden.
- Hand-turning the compost bins.
- Winding the balls of yarn for your next knitting project.
- Mopping all the hardwood floors.
- Sweeping out the garage.
- Having a yard sale.
- Washing all the windows in the house.
- Cleaning out the gutters.
- Building a chicken coop or treehouse.
- Finally taking down the Christmas lights!
You may not have all of these chores, or perhaps you can think of a few more. But all that I realized is that exercise can be found on more than a stairmaster.
Happy, healthy days to you!
