Stacey Solomon will watch on as the entire contents of one family’s home is laid out in a vast warehouse so they can decide what to keep and what to ditch in the surprisingly emotional new BBC1 show, Sort Your Life Out. Hosted by Stacey, the show will become full series on BBC1 later this year.
"We have so much stuff in our homes that we don’t need and living in clutter is making us miserable," says Stacey who made her name as a contestant on The X Factor in 2009. "So we’re setting everything out in a warehouse so people can decide what to keep and what to lose.
"I’ve assembled a dream team for this show to help me transform Britain’s most cluttered homes. I want to completely transform family homes without breaking the bank... just by cleaning, organising and upcycling what they already have!
"I know from experience the joy that can come from sorting your life out! I love to organise, upcycle and declutter, I can’t describe the joy that that brings me.
"I also think a lot of the time people don’t realise that if you organise the things in your house it ends up saving you money in the long run, especially on perishable items. By being able to see everything and knowing what you’ve got stops you buying unnecessarily the same things again and again.
"Once you get in the mindset of decluttering one of the biggest challenges is knowing where to put everything if you do decide to let it go. You have to find the right charity shops for the items you’re giving away, so if it’s baby clothes try to look for women’s refuges or children’s charities.
"There are also designated electric recycling points all over the country and a lot of electrical and phone stores will also recycle items like plugs and chargers."
The family Stacey Solomon is helping first...
In the first pilot episode, Stacey Solomon meets keyworkers Tash and Lawrence who have four children. Their four-bed home is bursting at the seams with toys, out-of-date food and sentimental items. But with the assistance of the show’s dream team - cleaning fanatic Iwan, upcycler Rob and organiser extraordinaire Dilly - Stacey is determined to encourage Tash and Lawrence to get rid of half their possessions in just seven days!
"It’s chaotic – our house is a disaster," says Tash, a hospital director. "We’re on this rollercoaster of being parents and working full time, so it’s hard to sort it out. There’s just mess everywhere and makes me feel like I’m failing."
But decluttering Tash and Lawrence’s home is no easy task. Once it’s been stripped of all its contents and the items displayed in the warehouse, the couple are shocked to learn that they’ve accumulated 60 phone chargers, 1567 books, 225 DVDs, 23 pairs of swimming goggles and nearly 3000 toys.
"We’ve got a week to do this whole house and I honestly don’t even know how we’re going to do it," says Stacey. "There’s just so much stuff. It’s a huge challenge."
But it’s made all the more challenging when Tash struggles to let go of possessions that she has an emotional attachment to, from a pine spice rack to her old nursing chair.
Meanwhile, back at the house, the team get busy cleaning, upcycling and reorganising, and luckily Tash and Lawrence are delighted by the results, especially they now finally have the space to eat meals together around a dining table.
"Not in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be like this, it’s like a dream house," says Tash. "Everything has a place now – it’s changed our world."
The release date for Sort Your Life Out...
BBC1 will show the pilot episode of Sort Your Life Out on Easter Monday, then afterwards on BBC iPlayer. A full series of Sort Your Life Out arrives later this year on BBC1.
