Having a housekeeper while paying $$$ for workout classes

[Anonymous]

In smart money a reader wrote in once he is in debit and pays $100 a month for gym and $50 a week to mow his lawn.

It was recommended he quit the gym and mow his own lawn, he reasoned he goes to gym 4 times a week so once a week mowing not enough exercise.

He was then told also mow 3 neighbors lawns at $50 a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, my maid is overweight. So, that's a data point against your argument.

My maid?? Some of you are so out of touch I have second hand embarrassment .

I can just see you in your latest Lululemon outfit at Soul Cycle with the other basic B’s not having a clue to the buffoonish stereotypes you’ve become.

Nobody cares what you spend your money on, op was just pointing out the irony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In smart money a reader wrote in once he is in debit and pays $100 a month for gym and $50 a week to mow his lawn.

It was recommended he quit the gym and mow his own lawn, he reasoned he goes to gym 4 times a week so once a week mowing not enough exercise.

He was then told also mow 3 neighbors lawns at $50 a week.

It's good advice!

If someone isn't in debt, it of course doesn't matter if they choose spend their money on both the gym and housecleaners. But it is a strange mark of status in modern life, to pay both to avoid labor and to have someone force you to do labor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The workout I get from lifting weights and doing barre is not achievable by cleaning. Like, cleaning is light cardio at best. But anyway.

No one said it is. But what is true, is that if you don’t get functional movement all day long, an hour at the gym does not make up for your functional mobility deficits.

I don’t think most of you understand that if you’re the kind of person who pays monthly for gyms, you’re probably not a lardo who sits around 99.99% of the rest of the time. Furthermore, cleaning your house wouldn’t negate just sitting around doing nothing the rest of the day either. I can’t believe we’re grown adults acting like this is one or the other here.

no one has said this is one or the other. People are just really, really defensive about their workouts.

In fact OP did present it that way

OP here, and I didn't. I said you could "workout less" if you did your own cleaning/gardening. Which I still think is true. At no point did I claim that you could get in peak physical condition by cleaning your house, but many people seem to have read it that way.

But you can’t workout less and get the same results! I actually do clean my own home but it’s ludicrous to claim it’s equivalent to what working out at the gym does for my body and health or that I could just sub out a heavy leg day for bathroom cleaning and still grow leg muscles. it’s a goofy claim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In smart money a reader wrote in once he is in debit and pays $100 a month for gym and $50 a week to mow his lawn.

It was recommended he quit the gym and mow his own lawn, he reasoned he goes to gym 4 times a week so once a week mowing not enough exercise.

He was then told also mow 3 neighbors lawns at $50 a week.

It's good advice!

If someone isn't in debt, it of course doesn't matter if they choose spend their money on both the gym and housecleaners. But it is a strange mark of status in modern life, to pay both to avoid labor and to have someone force you to do labor.

The gym arguably isn’t labor? It’s recreation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, does anyone else think this is a little illogical?

Cleaning is a really good workout if you do it right. It has the added benefit of being extremely satisfying. And when you clean your own house, it promotes pride and joy in your home.

But a lot of wealthy people hire others to come and clean their home once a week or so, and then spend large sums on gym memberships, exercise gear, and workout classes. I mean, if you have money to burn, why not, but if you cleaned your own home you could probably cut back on how much you have to workout to stay in shape. A thorough, top to bottom, clean of our house offers great cardio and strength training. And can take a few hours, so good for endurance too.

Same thing with landscaping. Gardening is pleasurable, enables you to spend time outside, can be a form of fitness (pruning and weeding and hauling dirt or mulch definitely builds my muscles), and is something to be proud of. Why pay someone to do it when you could do it yourself and it's actually good for you?

I don't get it.

Comparative advantage.

And, also, I do a ton of outdoor work and home improvement and manual labor. It’s not even close to the calorie burn per my wearable that exercise is.

Also, tons of overweight manual laborers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, I clean my own house out of necessity, and I'm still at least 40 lbs overweight. What am I doing wrong?

No one said you could lose weight cleaning, or get all of your fitness out of cleaning. Just that cleaning your house is a form of exercise that could contribute to overall fitness, and it is odd for someone who highly values fitness to pay someone else to do it while they also pay another entity to provide them with opportunities to work out.

Everyone is so mad about this! It's hilarious!

OP is acting like cleaning your house is just as fun as Zumba. It is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, I clean my own house out of necessity, and I'm still at least 40 lbs overweight. What am I doing wrong?

No one said you could lose weight cleaning, or get all of your fitness out of cleaning. Just that cleaning your house is a form of exercise that could contribute to overall fitness, and it is odd for someone who highly values fitness to pay someone else to do it while they also pay another entity to provide them with opportunities to work out.

Everyone is so mad about this! It's hilarious!

OP is acting like cleaning your house is just as fun as Zumba. It is not.

Oh, but if you were as mindful as OP, it would be!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, I clean my own house out of necessity, and I'm still at least 40 lbs overweight. What am I doing wrong?

No one said you could lose weight cleaning, or get all of your fitness out of cleaning. Just that cleaning your house is a form of exercise that could contribute to overall fitness, and it is odd for someone who highly values fitness to pay someone else to do it while they also pay another entity to provide them with opportunities to work out.

Everyone is so mad about this! It's hilarious!

OP is acting like cleaning your house is just as fun as Zumba. It is not.

It’s just inefficient.. you get very little fitness from cleaning your house. It takes hours, which you could outsource, and you still need to workout, which you can’t outsource. So cleaning your house actually cuts into other time you have, does nothing to reduce workout time.