Keep calm and carry on clearing up

Sort Your Life Out's Dilly Carter was so stressed growing up in a messy house she's dedicated her life to helping others declutter... and with Britons spending a staggering £1billion a year on self-storage, there's plenty to do

- Sue Crawford

WHEN Dilly Carter rolls up her sleeves to help transform the cluttered homes of despairing families in BBC1's Sort Your Life Out, she does so with an unending passion and determination to change people's lives for the better. And that's because the professional organiser - a member of co-star Stacey Solomon's crack team since its start in 2021 - knows firsthand the healing power of a tidy house.

To the outside world, Dilly's childhood appeared idyllic with a beautiful house in Middlesex and two successful accountants for parents. But when she returned from school and the front door closed, chaos reigned. Every day she had to clear space on the sofa simply so she could sit and watch TV.

"My house was always a mess," recalls Dilly, now 43. "My mum and dad were hugely chaotic and I hated it, so my bedroom became my sanctuary and my escape and a place that I loved to keep really neat. I didn't like the way the rest of my house was, but I enjoyed having a nice, tidy space - order was something I got a lot of pleasure from." Unaware that one day she would curate calm spaces for a living, the young Dilly honed her skills by sorting, folding, tidying and arranging the constant jumble around her. In her parents' bedroom, clothes spilled out of drawers or lay on the bed and in the kitchen, cupboards were a mishmash of pots, pans and food packets - many of them out of date. The dining room table meanwhile was always full of piles of papers.