I remember when I was first told about the September reset. I admittedly groaned – I do enough deep-cleaning in spring without needing another excuse to pull everything out! But then, I listened to what it really was – and I softened.
A September reset is not all about cleaning or endless to-do lists. It’s about adjusting routines and habits for your own wellbeing – doing what makes the biggest difference to you. It might involve meal-prepping to avoid costly lunches or decluttering the coat mountain that greets you as soon as you come through the front door. Maybe it’s just about making time to organise your finances and feel a little more in control. It’s completely personal to you.
But if you’re new to September resets, it’s difficult to know where to start and easy to overwhelm yourself. Here are 10 ideas to give you some inspiration and get you off the board.
Batch-prep your lunches
Making your lunches in advance saves you from resorting to unhealthy options as well as expensive meal deals. Plus, you know exactly what’s going into your food and you can reduce waste by using up your leftovers.
According to Linzi Pucino, kitchen manager at Good Housekeeping: ‘You’re already chopping veggies for your dinner tonight, right? So why not take another few minutes and prep some bits for lunch? Get some couscous on the hob, stir through veggies and a shop-bought dressing. There’s no shame in a few kitchen cheats here and there and your wallet will thank you in the long run.
‘Pouches of precooked grains and rice are a lifesaver, and make sure you always make too much Sunday roast so you can add chicken or beef to your lunches throughout the week. And if that feels like too much of a stretch, why not just make double of dinner?’
We recommend using quality sealed containers when packing your work lunches, such as Black + Blum’s Meal Prep Boxes,* which are suitable for the microwave despite being made from steel. For general fridge storage, opt for containers that are vacuum sealed to help food last longer.
*Find out more about GH Kitchen Essentials, here.
Sort out your direct debits
Make sure each one has a purpose and is appropriately priced. Forgotten streaming subscriptions are more common than you’d think as are free trials that have rolled into paid memberships. If you’re struggling to let go of a service, consider if you’ve used it in the last month, whether you would even miss it or if you’ve already got much of the same from another.
Create a bills spreadsheet
While you’re here, take stock of your outgoings before the expense of Christmas hits. Look over your bank statements and note down any recurring bills, no matter how small. Cancel any duplicate direct debits or memberships that are no longer needed, and consider small lifestyle changes that could make a big difference to your outgoings (such as the expensive morning coffee). Then check whether your income and outgoings align with your saving goals.
It’s worth looking into the due date for annual renewals, such as broadband, energy and insurance contracts, because these can often go up in price. You could potentially save money by shopping around when the time comes.
Empty your laundry basket
It’s easy for a laundry basket to house permanent dregs at the bottom. You’ll know the things we’re talking about: the hand-wash only items, the delicate silks and the grubby microfibre cloths that you refuse to wash alongside your everyday laundry. So it sits at the bottom of the basket, gathering dust and lint.
Use your September reset as a chance to finally empty your laundry basket. Tip everything out, separate it into dedicated washes, then pencil each on to the calendar. You can use pillowcases to keep each pile separate until the time comes to wash it. Going forward, make an effort to empty the laundry basket each week.
Set out your clothes the night before
It’s a small habit but it makes the biggest difference – lay out your clothes the night before so there’s no last-minute panic in the morning. By doing this, you can save yourself time, stress and make better use of your wardrobe. You can often tell who pre-plans their outfits by how they accessorise!
This also gives you advanced warning when you suddenly run out of socks or if there’s an unplanned mystery stain on your jeans.
Clear out your handbag at the end of the day
Doing a ‘handbag check’ at the end of each night will remove any rogue receipts, snotty tissues and wrappers that have collected throughout the day.
As well as getting rid of this disgusting clutter, doing a bag check means you know you have everything you need for the morning – so you don’t need to worry about missing keys or bank cards as you’re trying to leave the house. Plus, doing this encourages you to regularly switch handbags, something which many of us will only do once the handle physically breaks!
Find a home for all scattered toys
Toys are a tripping hazard as much as an eye sore if they’re scattered across the floor. Setting aside some time to sort through and donate those that are no longer played with, and finding a permanent home for everything else, can reduce stress and anxiety.
Store your toys in clear, labelled containers so they can be easily found by the kids – this also saves you from the excess mess as they dig through! Fitting some dividers in these containers can help to keep categories separate and organised.
Remember, a September reset is about changing routines for the better, so you’ll want to keep on top of the toys to make sure the mess doesn’t revert. Encouraging your kids to put them away once they’re finished playing with them is a huge help.
Sell unwanted clothes
Decluttering is often part of a September reset – in fact, we’ve found 5 declutter methods that can help you along the way – but we rarely talk about what happens afterwards.
Clothes are piled up ready to be sold but then nothing happens. They are abandoned and left sitting in a random room for months – a permanent eyesore that leaves you feeling guilty whenever you look at them. Part of your September reset could be to finally shift this stack.
Set aside an hour a week to list the clothes you’ve been meaning to sell online. If you have a lot of clothes to sell, set yourself a target of how many you plan to list each week. If there’s spare time, you can revisit those that have failed to sell to refresh the listing or adjust the price.
Follow a sleep routine
If your sleep pattern is all over the place and you find yourself tossing and turning most nights, a sleep routine can help. It’s easy to do, just make sure you go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time in the morning; it trains your internal body clock and helps you to get a more regular amount of sleep.
You would need to follow it all the time – including weekends – and you may struggle to fall asleep earlier than you’re used to at first but studies show it improves our quality of sleep over time. Aim for 7-9 hours a night, depending on how tired you feel.
Clean the dishwasher and washing machine
Finally, giving your dishwasher and washing machine a bit of TLC takes no time at all. In each case, you need only run a proprietary cleaner through on an empty, hot cycle, following the packet instructions.
For the washing machine, it’s also worth scrubbing out the detergent drawer as well as the rubber seal and emptying the filter while you’re here. That way, you won’t have to deal with musty clothes anymore.
Both your dishwasher and washing machine should have a cleaner run through them every three months or so, depending on use.
