Spring Cleaning: Here’s How Many Calories You Burn During 15 Common Chores BY CLAIRE NOWAK ( courtecy ;- reader's digest )

Do you tense up at the thought of tackling the biggest cleanup of the year? We found a tempting incentive to clean besides just having a tidy house: burning serious calories.

Dream scenario: Get fit while cleaning your house

EVGENIYA68/SHUTTERSTOCKDoing chores around the house may not feel as intense as HIIT, or any workout for that matter. (These workouts burn the most calories, according to science.) But if you spend enough time cleaning or—dare we suggest it—doing multiple chores at once, those calories burned can add up. Here, we found out just how many calories we burn after 30 minutes of various spring cleaning activities. Note: These calculations were made using the average weights of American women (166 lbs) and men (195 lbs) over the age 20. (This is how often you should be cleaning everything in your house.)

Sweeping the floors

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Women burn: 87 calories

Men burn: 102 calories

Vacuuming

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Women burn: 94 calories

Men burn: 111 calories

These are things that professional housecleaners do in their homes every day.

Dusting the furniture

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Women burn: 57 calories

Men burn: 66 calories

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Washing dishes by hand

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Women burn: 49 calories

Men burn: 58 calories

Make sure you never, ever skip these spots when spring cleaning.

Taking out the trash

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Women burn: 57 calories

Men burn: 66 calories

Organizing your bedroom

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Women burn: 189 calories

Men burn: 223 calories

Scrubbing the bathtub

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Women burn: 106 calories

Men burn: 124 calories

Try out these chemical-free ways to clean your home.

Washing windows

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Women burn: 126 calories

Men burn: 149 calories

Rearranging your living room furniture

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Women burn: 189 calories

Men burn: 221 calories

Sweeping the front walk

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Women burn: 113 calories

Men burn: 133 calories

Try these tricks to clean your kitchen in 5 minutes.

Washing the car

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Women burn: 76 calories

Men burn: 89 calories

Watering plants

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Women burn: 57 calories

Men burn: 66 calories

Mowing the lawn

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Women burn: 170 calories

Men burn: 199 calories

Make sure to avoid these cleaning mistakes that are probably making your home dirtier.

Pulling weeds

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Women burn: 132 calories

Men burn: 155 calories

Moving boxes of winter clothes into the attic

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Women burn: 302 calories

Men burn: 354 calories

What about other chores?

SERGEY MIRONOV/SHUTTERSTOCKThe CalorieLab has a nifty tool that can calculate the calories burned during dozens of activities just by putting in your weight. But if the activity you’re searching for isn’t listed there, you can calculate approximate calories burned with one equation. Here’s how it works:

1. Find the metabolic equivalent (MET) of the activity, which is the intensity rate you’re exerting. Don’t worry: Arizona State University and the National Cancer Institute already did that for you.
2. Multiply the MET by 3.5 (the number of milliliters of oxygen you consume per kilogram of your body weight)
3. Multiply that number by your weight in kilograms (to convert from pounds, divide your weight by 2.2046)
4. Divide that number by 1,000 (so you’re working in liters instead of milliliters)
5. Multiply that number by 5, since you burn 5 calories for every liter of oxygen you breathe in
6. Last but not least, multiply that by the number of minutes you engaged in the activity. Voila, the number of calories burned.

Try these simple tricks to keep the hard-to-clean objects around the house clean.