Housework calories calculator

See how much energy your housework and chores use, including cleaning and washing the car.

Your details

Activity

Minutes

min

Your weight

stlb

Sessions a week (optional)

Sex (optional, to personalise)

Age (optional)

years

Height (optional)

Another chore (optional)

Minutes of it

min

And another (optional)

Minutes of that

min

30 min of vacuuming

78 kcal

extra over resting, for your weight; add age, sex and height to personalise

Total, including what you burn at rest110 kcal
Your resting burn over that time32 kcal (1,529 kcal a day)
Effort for you (corrected METs)3.5 METs, against 3 for the standard 3.5 ml/kg/min
Personalised withaverage adult figures (add age, sex and height)
Effort level3 METs, moderate
Each week (3 sessions)234 kcal on top of resting
Counts towards your 150 weekly minutes90 minutes

The headline is the extra energy the activity used on top of what you would burn resting, which is the part that counts against food. Figures use the 2024 Compendium corrected METs and can be 20% out either way; fitness, technique and how hard you go all move them.

The working

30 minutes of hoovering

Vacuuming is 3.0 METs. The standard sum is METs × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200 per minute, so at 11 st (69.9 kg) 30 minutes uses 110 kcal in total. About 32 kcal of that you would have burned resting anyway (Harris-Benedict for an average 40 year old, 170 cm), leaving 78 kcal extra. At 3 METs it just counts as moderate activity.

Add your sex, age and height to personalise it. The 2024 Compendium corrects each MET for your own resting rate, so the extra kcal shifts a little: a shorter, older woman burns less at rest, so more of the total counts as extra.

Chore league table

METs

Job	METs
Scrubbing the bathroom	3.5
Mopping	3.5
General cleaning	3.3
Dusting	2.5
Ironing	1.8

A cleaning session

Add up to three chores

Most of us mix jobs. Add another chore or two with their minutes and we add them up, chore by chore, and count the ones at 3 METs or more as moderate activity towards the 150 minutes a week. 30 minutes hoovering, 20 minutes mopping and 15 minutes ironing at 11 st is about 78 + 64 + 17 = 160 kcal extra; done three times a week, the 50 moderate minutes each time make 150, the whole weekly guideline. Ironing is light, so it counts for breaking up sitting rather than towards the 150.

Make it count more

Easy tweaks

Put music on and go briskly
Carry laundry upstairs in two trips
Squat rather than bend
Wash the car by hand

Read with care

What this cannot tell you

PaceSlow pottering is lighter than these averages.
Who does itIt cannot make anyone else do the washing up.
Back careRepeated bending can strain backs; mix tasks.

Questions

Common questions

Does housework count as exercise?

Brisk housework counts as moderate activity.

How many calories does cleaning burn?

About 230 kcal an hour of general cleaning for an 11 stone adult.

Does ironing burn calories?

A little: 1.8 METs, light activity.

Sources

Last checked 21 October 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.

Before you push on

New to exercise, or got a heart, lung or joint condition? Have a word with your GP or practice nurse first. Stop and get help if you feel chest pain, faintness or unusual breathlessness, and call 999 if it is severe.