16 easy ways to improve every aspect of your life this September

September marks a natural reset after summer – back to school, work, and into a new season. With all that’s going on, a major overhaul may not be on the agenda, but it is the perfect time to start stacking up small, achievable habits and low-effort changes that, done consistently, can really improve your life and all-round happiness. Whether you want to refresh your home or revitalise your relationship, there’s an easy hack for it here… Spider-proof your home with scent No one needs the cortisol spike that comes with attempting to capture these small but shiver-inducing pests. They seem to be multiplying and heading inside for autumn, but “spiders hate strong smells”, says Anna Louisa, author of The Five Minute Clean Routine. Adding five to 10 drops of orange essential oil to your mop and bucket before cleaning floors will fill your house with a fresh smell that spiders avoid. Double up with cinnamon sticks. “Place them in cupboards and on windowsills; spiders can’t stand the scent,” she says. Switch your wardrobe round, one hanger at a time When you’re hanging your clothes, put the hangers on the rail back to front, then each time you take out an item to wear, return it to the wardrobe hung the “right” way around, advises Louisa. ‘That way, at the end of each season, you can see clearly what you’ve worn and what you haven’t – as the pieces you haven’t worn will still be hung back to front.” These are the items of clothing you can then choose to dump or donate. “This makes decluttering at the end of seasons easier.” Shorts Move after each meal “Instead of automatically sitting down after eating, take a short walk – even five to 10 minutes counts,” says Lavina Mehta, a personal trainer and author of The Feel Good Fix. “If you can’t get outside, walk around the house, march on the spot or put some music on and have a dance. Movement after eating can be particularly helpful for digestion and managing the post-meal rise in blood glucose.” Take a hairdryer to your radiators “Blast your radiators with a hairdryer or steam cleaner to remove dust,” continues Louisa. As well as quickly cleaning an often-neglected area of the house, “this makes them work as efficiently as possible for the colder months”. Turn off your phone notifications Breaking the habit of checking your phone will prevent your brain from being constantly depleted of dopamine, a neurotransmitter related to feelings of reward, motivation and happiness, suggests neuroscientist TJ Power in his book The Dose Effect. “Besides emergency calls from your ‘favourites’, turn off all notifications on all your apps. Turn off badge app icons too,” he says. This enables you to choose when you go into an app, rather than feeling compelled to do so every time you get pinged. Start jumping while the kettle boils “Every time you boil the kettle, use those few minutes to do some jump training,” says Mehta. In a number of studies, jumping has been linked with significant improvements in bone mineral density – and bone health is essential, given that as many as 30 per cent of older adults die within a year of breaking a hip. But improvements in bone density can be achieved in as little as three minutes of jumping a day. Try jumping off a step of around eight inches high, then rebounding and jumping up as high as you can after landing. Aim for a total of at least 30 jumps. “You’re attaching movement to something you already do, so there’s no need to find ‘extra’ time for a workout,” notes Mehta. Arrange a double or triple date Romance can be rekindled remarkably effectively in the company of other people, says counsellor and psychotherapist Georgina Sturmer. “We often think that it’s the special intimate date nights that will improve our relationship but, in fact, it can often be just as helpful to spend time with our partner in the company of others. That’s when we feel like a team. We see our partner how other people see them, we create shared memories and shared moments of laughter – and something to debrief together over later.” Swap sending a text for making a phone call “So many of us instinctively reach for that text message when we go to contact someone,” continues Sturmer. “In fact, it’s got to the point that when the phone rings, sometimes we worry that something bad has happened! But what we sometimes miss in these messages is moments of synchronicity and connection that can only happen when we are both on the phone at the same time.” A study assessing levels of oxytocin – the bonding hormone released when messaging someone or calling them – actually found a substantial release of oxytocin during a call, and none at all with a text. So when it’s important, or if you really miss someone, take a few minutes to phone them. Employ the 30-day rule for finances Struggling to save money? Instead of buying something the instant you want it, write it down on a list – then wait 30 days. If you still want the item by then, be it a new jumper, homeware, cosmetics or tech, then go ahead – but if the impulse has passed, that’s money saved. You can even go a step further and actually take that money out of your current account and put it into a specific savings account to start mounting up. Never leave a room empty-handed A 2025 study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found a negative association between clutter in the home and feelings of wellbeing and life satisfaction. To combat this, make sure to pick something up and put it back in its place every time you leave a room – whether that’s taking your cup from the coffee table and putting it in the dishwasher the moment you turn the telly off, or taking that laundry basket from the bottom of the stairs to the bedroom the first time you see it. Try ‘dopamine dressing’ “Many of us go into autopilot when we reach for our clothes in the morning, but the concept of ‘dopamine dressing’ tells us that what we wear – in particular the colours that we wear – can enhance our mood,” says Sturmer. “So if you find yourself slipping on the same outfits all the time, have a think about whether you can change it up a bit, so that your look can uplift your mood. It’s easy to forget that the simplest things, like wearing a bright blouse or even socks, can bring us happiness.” Add another plant to your plate The best way to improve your diet is to add more good stuff, rather than focus on taking anything away. Most of us are lacking fibre, so adding another vegetable, pulse or fruit to your plate will help your gut and improve the amount of nutrients you’re taking in. Think about chucking some pre-cooked lentils in with your rice, buying mixed packs of frozen peas and sweetcorn instead of just one or the other, and sprinkling mixed seeds to add crunch to both savoury and sweet dishes. Round up your cash Using either your regular banking app or by linking your bank account or credit card to a purpose-built savings app like Moneybox, you can choose to “round up” the digital spare change from your daily transactions to the nearest £1, and have those spare pennies put into savings. So, if you bought a coffee for £4.05 (yes, that is how much a Caffe Nero flat white costs these days…), the “leftover” 95p would be set aside and invested. Rounding up multiple transactions a day would quickly add up! The 10-10 minimalism method suggests taking 10 minutes a day to get rid of 10 things (Photo: The Creative Tandem/Getty) Set a 10-minute timer to declutter Choose one small, contained area – your sock drawer, say, or the kitchen island – and set a timer for 10 minutes to clean and declutter the area. This is a version of the popular 10-10 minimalism method, which suggests taking 10 minutes a day to get rid of 10 things (again, from one contained area rather than the entire house). Done daily in different areas, you’ll find your whole home becoming organised in what feels like no time. Eat with your family, invite someone to dinner or have lunch with a colleague Sharing meals is strongly related to wellbeing – and is as strong an indicator of emotional health as income and employment, according to the 2025 World Happiness Report. People who shared more meals with others also reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction, whatever their age, gender, country or culture. Start and end the day with a hug It will help you reconnect. “Really think about how you begin and end each day with your partner,” advises Sturmer. “Many of us are guilty of being busy and distracted when we spend time with the people in our lives. And this can make it increasingly important to think about how we begin and end each day together. Eye contact and a shared moment or two before everything else begins, or before we go to bed, can go a long way.”