Start with where you are: how to take control of your finances with a September Reset

If summer has left your finances feeling a little stretched, you don’t have to wait until January to do something about it. Loqbox Consumer Finance Expert and CMO Dani Palmer shares how a September financial reset can help you work out where you are now, prepare for what’s coming and get a three-month head start on your 2027 goals.

Why is September a good time to reset your finances?

September is a good time to reset your finances because it gives you a three-month head start on the goals you might otherwise leave until January. Summer is behind us, Christmas isn’t here yet, and there’s still time to understand where your money is going and plan for what’s coming next.

January gets all the attention when it comes to fresh starts. New year, new budget, new you. But January is also cold, dark, and you’ve just had Christmas. Personally, I’d rather not save all my life admin for then.

I love October Theory and the idea of autumn as another chance for a fresh start. There’s something about this time of year that makes you want to get your life in order. But when it comes to money, starting a little earlier in September gives you some extra time to catch up after summer.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I first wrote for LBC about why I think September is a great time to look at your finances, and then got to talk it through with listeners on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours.

Get a head start on your 2027 financial goals

Although presenter Shari Vahl wasn't entirely convinced by my maths on this one, I stand by the idea that starting in September gives you 15 months rather than 12 months for your 2027 goals!

Starting now means you can ease into your goals a bit more gently. Go little and often. Small, regular changes have time to add up to the bigger goal you want to reach. 

September also gives you some breathing room between two periods that can be expensive. Summer is behind you, Christmas hasn’t arrived yet, and you’ve got time to deal with anything that needs attention before thinking about what’s coming next.

By New Year’s Day, you could already be making progress rather than feeling like you have to start from scratch.

How do you start a financial reset?

Start your September financial reset by getting a clear view of where you are right now: what’s coming in, what’s going out, what do you owe and any costs you’ve got coming up.

That can feel scary, particularly if you’ve spent a lovely summer having fun and have reached the point where you’d rather not look too closely at your bank balance. If that sounds familiar, make this as painless as possible.

Choose a time when you’re feeling calm and relaxed. Don’t leave this until the end of a stressful working day. Make yourself a cup of tea, pour a glass of wine, whatever your jam is. Open your banking apps and get everything out in front of you.

Summer can be really fun and joyful. It can also get pricey. Our research found 81% of UK parents surveyed felt financially stressed about summer costs.¹ Whether you’re keeping the children entertained, making family memories, or heading to your sixth wedding and third festival of the season, summer expenses can quickly add up.

So if September arrives and things aren’t quite where you’d like them to be, guilt isn’t particularly useful. The better question is: where am I right now?

A financial reset shouldn’t mean cancelling everything you enjoy

A financial reset doesn’t have to mean cutting out everything you enjoy. Start with your essential spending, then look for realistic changes that work for your life.

You don’t have to stop buying coffee, cancel every plan and spend the next three months being miserable. That’s the kind of financial advice that loses me. 

Instead, start with your essentials. I find it much easier to ask “what can I genuinely not avoid?” than “what should I cut?”.

1. Try the 70/20/10 budgeting rule

The 70/20/10 budgeting rule puts 70% of your income towards essentials, 20% towards things you enjoy and 10% towards your future.

But don’t get too hung up on making the percentages perfect. Real life doesn’t always divide itself up that neatly, and your rent or mortgage payments might have other ideas. Use the idea as a guide and work with what you’ve actually got.

That’s something we believe strongly at Loqbox. Building financial confidence isn’t about getting everything right overnight. It’s about understanding where you are and making progress from there.

2. Swap, don’t scrap

Then look at where small changes might help. As I said on You & Yours, sometimes you can swap rather than scrap to protect your social life and wellbeing while freeing up some cash.

That could be a film night at home instead of the cinema, or having friends over rather than going out. I’m a big believer that enjoying your life should still be part of the budget. You’re just looking for little changes that work better for you right now.

3. How can you start building a financial buffer?

If you have money available to save, start with a small amount you can afford regularly rather than waiting to see what’s left at the end of the month.

Our research found 75% of people see emergency savings as key to feeling financially secure.²  So if you do have some room to save, I’m a big fan of going little and often with micro-goals. 

It can help to treat putting something into your buffer like another bill, rather than waiting to see what happens to be left at the end of the month. 

You could save a small amount regularly, perhaps £10 a week, or a percentage of your income if you’re paid irregularly. It doesn’t need to be a huge amount. Even £2 a day adds up to £730 over a year. That maths is legitimate, Shari!

What if there’s nothing left to save?

If there’s nothing left to save after your essential costs, don’t set yourself a savings target you already know you can’t afford. Focus on understanding your situation and getting support if you need it.

We also have to be realistic about the world people are managing their money in. We’re in a cost-of-living crisis, things are expensive, and for some people there simply isn’t anything left to put into savings right now.

If that’s where you are, knowing there’s nothing spare is useful information too, because now you know what you’re working with. If you’re struggling with household bills, speak to your utility providers early and ask what support is available. There may be cheaper tariffs or payment plans that could help.

If things feel harder to untangle, organisations like Citizens Advice and StepChange Debt Charity can help you work through your options. We’ve partnered with StepChange on a free Money Health Check, which can help you understand what support might be right for you.

Take the free Money Health Check with StepChange.

How can you get ahead of Christmas spending?

Christmas has a habit of feeling ages away until suddenly it isn’t. But, as I said on Radio 4, the handy thing is that Christmas happens at the same time each year, meaning we can actually plan for it.  

Starting in September gives you a few extra weeks to think about what Christmas might look like for you this year and what you can realistically afford. Our previous research found 28% of people didn’t start planning for Christmas until mid-October, while six in ten didn’t set a Christmas budget at all.³ 

You absolutely do not need to start buying Christmas presents in September. Getting ahead could simply mean deciding to spend a bit less this year, suggesting Secret Santa to the family or working out roughly what December is going to cost. If putting something aside is realistic for you, you could make a Christmas savings plan.

The earlier you start, the less December has to do all the heavy lifting.

What should your first financial goal be?

Your first goal doesn’t need to be huge. Start with where you are now, think about where you’d like to be and choose one small step that moves you in that direction.

It might be that you want to build up a bit of a buffer, get ahead of Christmas or start working towards something bigger. Or you might just want to feel more confident that you know what’s going on with your money. That’s enough. 

When we talked about this on You & Yours, one of the things that came up was how scary big changes can feel. I think doing it in autumn takes some of that pressure off. You’ve got time to ease into things a bit more gently, and make smaller habit changes along the way. 

For me, having a clear view of where you are right now is the important bit. From there, you can think about where you’d like to be and what feels realistic for you. If you do that, when January comes around, you won’t feel like you’re starting from scratch. 

Why small financial habits can make a big difference

Small financial habits matter because they can help you build confidence and make progress towards bigger goals without trying to change everything at once.

That’s something we care about a lot at Loqbox. We help people build their credit and financial confidence, and we’ve seen how much of a difference those smaller changes can make. 94% of Loqbox members feel more knowledgeable, confident, motivated, or in control of their finances.⁴  Because financial confidence isn’t built in one big moment. It’s built through the small money moves you keep coming back to.

It’s one of the reasons I like the idea of a September Reset. You’re not trying to completely transform your finances in a month. You’re giving yourself time to understand where you are, decide what you want to work on and start building from there.

Progress might mean building a habit you can stick with, understanding your money a bit better or simply feeling more confident about what you do next.

More from Dani on the September financial reset

Dani first wrote for LBC about why September can be a useful time to look at your finances, before joining BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours for its “September Reset” phone-in.

Read Dani’s original LBC Opinion piece

Listen to “September Reset” on BBC Radio 4

¹ Based on a self-reported survey of 200 people conducted July 2025.

² Based on a self-reported survey of 250 people conducted September 2025.

³ Based on a self-reported survey of 1,300 people conducted October 2025.

⁴ Based on a self-reported survey of 716 people, conducted September 2025.