Sort Your Life Out on BBC1

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Absolutely loved it!

My list of big house jobs includes 'declutter' in every room so I was hoping to put off doing it be inspired. Loved Stacey Solomon though would have liked more from Ivan on the cleaning.

I didn't like the parents bedroom colour either, nor the dust trap flower wall. The fireplace looked nice but also a massive dust trap. I hope the bunnies come back in too.

She is in insta, ask her

Just caught up on episodes 1 & 2 of season 2. A few thoughts:

1. I have no qualms about families throwing out 47 excess hair brushes, but it breaks my heart when they tell the kids to pick our their ten favourite stuffed animals. That girl giving up her Paddington in Ep 1 - FFS, she'll still only have eleven bears, that one was a memento of a day out! I've done those big declutters where you're all rational and objective in the moment, and I've regretted it.

1. Maybe I'm overestimating the size of the "donation" pile, or they haven't thrown a thing out in a decade, or maybe it's just having kids (I don't) .... but how much stuff are people buying every month to end up with such a surplus? I can get the thinking behind bulk buying household goods in Ep 1. But clothes, toys and toiletries - I'm genuinely interested to know the thought process behind so much stuff coming INTO the house. I got quite depressed about the clothes pile in Ep 2 in particular. It seemed like such a waste of our planet's resources.

(Not wanting to throw shade at either family, they each seemed lovely and their behaviour not that out of the ordinary.)

The child didn't give two hoots about the Paddington. It was the father who had the emotional attachment to it.

I can see how when your house is super disorganised, or you are super disorganised, you end up with multiples of the same thing. Can't find the beach towels for going on holiday? Just buy another. Don;t make lists when going food shopping so just bung things in the trolley. It's really easily done.

Oh and I totally hear you on the clothes. The disposable attitude to fashion is really poor and is encouraged by chains like Primark, Shein and ASOS selling things so cheaply designed to be worn once.

I think it's actually quite easy to get into some of these situations especially when you are time poor.

When you have DC and especially when they are involved in lots of activities, you need specific clothes and equipment. If they are into scouts or similar, you need things they may not use regularly but need when camping etc. And if you have multiples close in age then you can't always hand down either. So you end up keeping older tshirts and tops and trainers as they come in handy for camps/canoeing/climbing etc you also need up needing proper walking boots/wellies/raincoats/fleeces/wet suits and things they don't use at other times. And because they are generally stuffed in a cupboard etc most of the year, you forget they are there or it's too much hassle to dig them out and you suspect they don't fit anyway so you buy more. Then it's summer holidays and if you are going away you need enough clothes to last the holiday even if you can manage with a few tshirts and shorts at home. You know you should have a purge but you are tired after work and then you are either rushing sorting meals and ferrying about to activities or they are in their rooms so you have limited access to their wardrobes. You want to spend the weekends doing things (or are ferrying about to matches/camps/activities/visiting grandparents) so it never becomes a priority.

Then what happens is that in order to do each job, about 300 other jobs need done first i.e. can't empty a cupboard until you clear and make space to put the contents and then there is the hassle of what to do with the stuff you don't need, the emotional attachment etc.

I don't think any clothes are designed to be worn once, or that people buy them with that intention, but the fact that they are cheap means that if you can't find say a pair of shorts it is very easy to go out and buy a new pair for next to nothing. Same with odd random things like scissors, hairbrushes etc. I also agree about all the acquisition of stuff around busy families with hobbies and activities, we are coming out of that stage now but still have a great deal of hobby related stuff that might get used again one day and it feels better to keep it than have to buy new, but then in doing so makes it hard to find things so you do end up buying new after all, it's a vicious circle. Also the lack of time, lets face it I'd rather be talking the DCs to sport than tidying the understairs cupboard.

It's also a bit easier re clothes if your DC are slow growing or just not intended to be large adults. I noticed this difference with my friend. Her son could fit in the same clothes for a few years whereas mine were over 6 foot by 13/14 so needed a new blazer nearly every year at school and new footwear constantly as well as all the other stuff. So not so much throw away fashion but just necessity.

Yes, mine are slow growing which does help, although it means that they have stuff from years ago that is falling to pieces and they just won't let go of it because it still fits. One of my DC got through years 7 to 11 in one pair of school shoes.

Interesting that you say that because I do have slow growing children and assumed that made the clothing situation worse! My cousin’s children grow quickly so every autumn and spring she shops for the next season and bags up all of their existing clothing to sell. Whereas my children get given clothes the right size for their age and some are way too big so get put away for later, some are on the big side but passable so get worn for the next three years and then they still have eg shorts and T-shirts from three summers ago in their drawers. It’s definitely cheaper with slow growers but it does mean a lot of clothing hanging around for years on end! There’s no “summer is over I can get rid of that” because it will most likely still fit next year

The dad had at least 7 pairs of swim shorts - one of which kept from his first lad’s holiday. Surely one or two would do. I just can’t fathom how they afford all these clothes they don’t wear. Twenty pairs of trainers at £25 each is £500.

Really? I'm not surprised. The hutch was far too small . When I kept rabbits they always had access to a large outdoor run, and the hutch itself was a converted hen coop and much larger.

Dilly gave some advice about how to accept hand-me-downs which makes me think that some of this family's clothes issue was around that. And when my kids were their age it was an issue! People give you sacks of hand me down clothes - which is great. But some of the clothes are a year or two ahead, so you need to keep them. Other clothes are now between your two kids so being stored for the younger one to grow into. If you might try for another baby you're keeping the baby clothes too. You should send to charity shops the clothes you won't need, but that takes sorting time/ you don't know what they'll suit till they grow/ the donor wouldn't like it.

Worst is when the clothes are only on loan so you have to keep them and keep track of them.

My rabbits had access to a small covered outdoor run, and a larger, outer uncovered run I should have said.

I liked the fireplace in episode 2 but think the logs were awful. A small basket for decoration if she must, but sticking end pieces in the whole fireplace space did not look good. I think Stacy is better at the presenting as some of her ideas look like bodge-it jobs.

Though I liked the flower wall, but agree about dust trap.

I would definitely say no to children's clothing on loan. Far too stressful.

We had a bucket swing when dc1 was born that was given by a colleague. It went across the road to a neighbour when dc1 outgrew it, back to us when dc2 arrived then on to a different neighbour after that. But clothing is too easy to tear or permanently stain.

We had a coat that started with the girl across the road, crossed over, went through 3 sisters on our side of the road, onto our neighbour's DD and then onto our DD. We passed it onto someone else a couple of years ago. It was a smart one for special occasions, so didn't get worn every day.

Does anyone know if there is anywhere online where they post links to items used in the show? I've had a look on the BBC iplayer page and couldn't see anything.

I wanted to get some of those round lights with the magnets they used on the stairs in S2 E1 but specifically wanted the same as they used.

Is there anywhere?

[while I'm posting, I think Stacey Solomon is an amazingly perfect presenter for this show. She is so good at it with a lovely and genuine tone and empathy for the "contestants". I love how unself conscious she is about herself. I wish I could be more like that in real life out in public - let alone on TV being watched by millions!!]

They won't tell you where stuff is from as it's the BBC and they can't advertise.

@MyCousinsNotVinny I think the presenters are all on instagram, you could always try a DM?

Who’s watching

Interesting that the daughters stored their old shop stock at their mum’s house.

Or was it mums shop?

443 pairs of shoes!!

Gosh I feel sorry for Sue. I think she needs proper emotional support, counselling or something.