Happy Holidays, everyone! Today guest blogger Melissa Stevens shares how she plans to get work done around the house and stay in shape — all at the same time! — Lauren

By Melissa Stevens

We would all like to exercise more, but many of us can’t  find the time or money to do so. It would be wonderful  if we could turn everyday chores into exercise!

I’ve been thinking how I could combine chores and exercise, and came across some great ideas!

Put on Weight

Put on some weight before exercising, believe it or not. Adding weight to your exercises is a useful trick that will help your body work harder during simple tasks. Things like ankle weights and weighted vests can add up to 40 pounds to your exercise routine. With the weights, you can burn more calories while moving around, vacuuming, cleaning the windows, ironing the laundry, dusting shelves and climbing stairs! Wearing these things while you’re doing everyday household chores is an easy fat-burning trick. I might actually try this– it sounds great!

Cleaning my house for 30 minutes will bring me…

• Amazingly toned biceps and triceps. Stubborn stains in my bathtub and on the floor tiles will tone up my arms. (And I will not complain!) Inactivity is causing lots of health problems to some people I know. So, I will choose the stairs over an elevator whenever I can, and I will start parking my car a few blocks away from my destination so I will walk more!

Healthful Hints

These are a few more healthy tips I’ve found:

• Use wax polish in a tin instead of a spray polish for polishing furniture. The wax polish requires more work on your part to get a nice shine. In return for all your work, you’ll burn more calories!
• Whenever you see laundry or something else that should be taken upstairs, don’t wait for more things to pile up. Take it up immediately. Making more trips on the stairs will help you to burn more calories and keep your house neater!
• Plan your housework so you will have to go up and down stairs multiple times: Empty the dishwasher in the kitchen, then make the beds upstairs, go take the trash out, vacuum the floors downstairs, clean the upstairs bathroom – and so on.
• Bend and stretch more often – keep the laundry basket  (with laundry to fold) on the floor rather than up on the couch next to you.
• Play some fun music and turn up the VOLUME while working around the house – it will make you sweat more and move more!

Speaking of sweat, if you really want to work on something exhausting and satisfying at the same time, try kneading the dough for your own bread!

So, even though everyday chores can’t replace a session with a personal trainer at the gym, there are a few things you can do to make the work you are already doing help your body. I think I am going to try some of these things out myself!

Melissa Stevens is a professional blogger and the mother of a cute boy. In her spare time, she is engaged in crafting, housekeeping, organizing family life and travel. She writes articles on DIY, parenting, and practical solutions for a simpler and more convenient life. At the moment she is obsessed with eco-friendly products (like eco homemade cosmetics and cleaning products, eco rugs, towels, clothes…) and green ways to maintain her home, and helps other do the same.