Westminster is obsessed with cleaning up its act. But the real mess is in your spare room. Sort Your Life Out, the BBC’s decluttering crusade, has dropped its verdict. Four cardinal sins. Each one a political own goal for the average household.
First mistake: holding onto ‘sentimental’ junk. Your old university scarf. The broken toast rack from Auntie. Labour’s shadow cabinet has nothing on this emotional baggage. Tories call it ‘the nanny state.’ But the data is brutal. 67% of homes surveyed admit to hoarding ‘emotional clutter.’ That’s a voting bloc of misery.
Second sin: the ‘just in case’ pile. Old cables. Expired medicine. The gym kit you’ll use tomorrow. This is the political equivalent of a hung parliament. Nothing gets thrown out. Nothing gets done. The show’s hosts, Stacey Solomon and her team, call it ‘decision fatigue.’ I call it a crisis of governance.
Third mistake: poor storage. Actually, no storage. Piles of paperwork on the kitchen counter. Coats on chairs. This is the backbench rebellion of the home. Each item a rebel MP demanding attention. The result? Chaos. No room to breathe. No path to the kettle.
Fourth error: buying cheap stuff twice. That £5 pan from the market. It warps. You buy another. Then another. This is the fiscal drag of domestic life. The Treasury would call it ‘inefficient resource allocation.’ The show calls it ‘wasting money.’ Same thing.
The programme’s solution is radical. A 24-hour blitz. Empty every room. Sort into three piles: keep, charity, bin. No half measures. No ‘maybe’ boxes. This is the political purge the country needs but is too afraid to have.
Insiders say the reaction has been fierce. Sorting rooms triggers emotional battles. Couples fight over a vase. Families squabble over a book. It’s the Brexit debate for your living room.
But the numbers are stark. Britain has more storage units per capita than any other European country. We are a nation of hoarders. The show’s popularity is a sign of collective guilt. We know we have a problem. We just don’t know how to fix it.
The political establishment should take note. Decluttering is a wedge issue. It taps into anxiety about control, about the future, about the past. A government that helped people sort their homes could win votes. But so far, no one is brave enough to try.
For now, the message from Sort Your Life Out is clear. Your home is a mess. Your life is a mess. And it’s your fault. But there is a way out. Start with one drawer. Then another. Then maybe the whole country can follow.
Eleanor Rigby, Political Bureau Chief
