How Many Calories Did a 1950s Housewife Burn in a Day?

Women burnt a lot more calories than we do now since they generally stayed at home completing every single housekeeping job. Anyone who has ever done all of the housework for a large household will understand. However, the number of calories they expend in a day is somewhat remarkable. If you’ve ever wondered how so many housewives in previous generations stayed so trim, you’re going to learn that cleaning was their most effective training program.

More ironing and less efficient cleaning appliances meant that they had to work much harder to attain the same amount of clean (yet their houses were often much cleaner than today’s homes). Not only did housework burn calories, but so did exercise. Another factor that contributed to the overall number of calories burned in a day was daily or frequent shopping, which was sometimes done on foot.

So, let’s see how many calories a housewife would have expended in a day. Women spent an average of 6 to 8 hours a day (or more) engaged in physical activity connected to the home, implying that it was full-time job!Modern estimates of how many calories are expended performing housework vary greatly, but the majority of them are around 150 calories burned per hour of work. Housewives used to spend the majority of their days cooking, cleaning, chopping, ironing, vacuuming, and sewing.

150 calories divided by 8 hours is 1,200 calories burned merely to keep the house operating. This does not include the energy required merely to survive, as well as any physical activity or hobbies.Let us now have a look at the equipment. Housework estimates today are based on how we live now, with the resources we have. However, modern labor-saving gadgets were only just becoming available to the majority of households during the 1950s, as many were still fairly pricey. And this makes a difference.

The type of tools used also had an effect on energy use. Using a modern vacuum, which is lighter due to plastic parts and more efficient due to attachments and developments in cleaning technology, probably burns slightly fewer calories than using a 1950 vacuum did. In addition, there was no Swiffer, anti-bacterial wipes, or easy-wring mops in the 1950s, and most of a woman’s tools were much heavier and more difficult to use than today’s cleaning devices.

The same is true for cooking: without food processors, electric spice grinders, stand mixers, coffee makers, and other time-savers, a woman could spend twice as much time and energy preparing the same type of meal as we do today. If cooking today burns roughly 50 calories every 20 minutes, a 1.5-hour supper should burn around 225 calories (possibly more in the 1950s) – that’s more than some breakfasts!

Households in the 1950s might have had a washer, but many did not have a dryer, so housewives had to hang their clothing out at the very least. Laundry washing, drying, and folding consumes between 70 and 250 calories per hour of work, depending on the type of equipment used and the amount of laundry done. Obviously, hand washing and wringing out clothes consumes far more energy than machine washing, and putting the stuff away consumes an additional 90 or so calories every hour.

SEWING, MENDING, AND IRONING. Ironing for 15 minutes burns roughly 40 calories, but how much ironing do you do every week? It was quite a lot back then, possibly an hour or more for the entire family because there was very little in the way of casual clothes that required no ironing. Older daughters would almost certainly pitch in or do their own ironing, but sons almost never did.

Most people nowadays spend no time repairing because they refuse to do it. When any form of wear becomes noticeable (save for that favorite old shirt or sweatpants for lounging), many people find it easier to simply buy something new. Women spent a lot of effort in the 1950s not only patching little (or major) patches of wear, but also up-cycling clothes, making hand-me-downs fit other youngsters, and modifying or even producing bespoke pieces for their family.

The appearance of a family was the trademark of a housewife’s pleasure in her work, and as such, even little faults such as a missing button or a tiny hole were addressed right away. On mend day, a woman could spend hours sewing and paying attention to minute details, which burns approximately 34 calories per hour if done sitting down. CLEANING. How many of us do a thorough cleaning every week? And how many of us do it with hand tools and scrub brushes, bending down on our knees to reach every nook and cranny?

This was the standard of cleanliness for many housewives in the past. Different areas of the house might be treated on different days, but deep cleaning was done at least once a week. Scrubbing the floors, for example, burns just under 200 calories per hour. This excludes sweeping, vacuuming, and polishing.Cleaning the windows consumes approximately 153 calories per hour, and dusting consumes an additional 100 calories per hour.

Making the bed burns roughly 10 calories every five minutes, which adds up to 30-50 minutes or more every day (up to 100 calories expended). Most women would not have mopped, dusted, or polished the silver every day, but cleaning was considerably more regular and rigorous than most people today. Some believe that cleaning isn’t a good workout, and that if you clean like a modern person, it isn’t. But, unlike today’s professional maids and cleaners, a 1950s housewife cleaned more harder and for hours at a time!

COOKING. Most of us would find it inconvenient to end our week by preparing a lot of bread, but some wives did spend their Fridays baking breads, rolls, and cakes for the family. Breads may be kept fresh for a few days, giving Mother a chance to rest on Sunday while also saving the family money. By the 1950s, many women preferred to buy their bread pre-sliced and ready to go from the supermarket.

But it doesn’t mean they didn’t bake or work on the house as hard as they could. TIME FOR REST. Even in her spare time, a traditional housewife would have been embroidering or knitting in the evenings or cleaning on Saturday. There would not have been many “lazy days” spent in front of the television, and there would be no true relaxation even on Sunday, as this was often a day of eating after church.

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