TODAY

Want your house to look great for holiday guests but don’t have all day to clean it? TODAY Home turned to three experts — green cleaning pro Leslie Reichert, Molly Maid president Meg Roberts and housekeeping director at Boston’s Liberty Hotel Eloi Charles — for their tidy-up-in-a-hurry tips.

First: Clean only areas that guests will actually see. Close the doors to messy bedrooms. Next, start on the left side of the room, and clean your way around it, working from the ceiling to the floor. Then follow their recommended tips for each room in the house – it should take you about 1 hour!

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Even when we know people’s names, why do we go for days without using them? By using someone’s name, you help them feel seen and acknowledged — and that’s an act of kindness. According to kindness.org’s research in collaboration with the University of Oxford, doing a kind act increases happiness, well-being, trust and compassion. And it can have the same powerful effect on those who receive the act. Try it, and put a smile on both your faces.

A single workout can immediately increase serotonin and dopamine in the brain. It can also improve your ability to focus and improve reaction times! That’s right, just one workout has the ability to do ALL of that.

Instead of dreading your workout or putting it off, think about all of the benefits you’ll experience. Think about how great you'll feel thanks to the feel-good hormones released as a result of your workout. Work out not because you hate yourself, but because you love yourself … And because you want to live a long and healthy life, both for your body and for your mind.