Sort Your Life Out

Book Review Feb 11, 2024

My review

3/5 stars

I've watched every single episode of the show to date, and loved them all, so of course reading the companion book was on my to-do list.

As expected, this is pretty much a summary of all the tips that have been given on the show. The upshot is that everything is an easily-digestible, compact format that you can refer back to again and again to help you sort your own spaces. The downside is that the content doesn't feel fresh in any way if you've watched the show, and the reading of them can sometimes feel a bit repetitive.

I enjoyed the formatting in the book, with some nice illustrations, some quotes from the show on feature pages and a very approachable, friendly font (important when you're talking about someone pulling the entire contents of their house apart).

I would have liked to see a bit more input from the team in the writing - it was abundantly clear that someone random and anonymous had written the content based on what they'd watched - it felt a little impersonal, given how warm and familiar the show feels.

I thought I would enjoy the fact that real families are included as mini case-studies, but actually, the execution fell a little short for me. There wasn't enough context given for the case studies to make sense - in some cases, it was literally just a box with the family name and how many things they found in their home - not particularly motivational for me.

It was a quick read, there were some useful tips, and I liked the formatting, but it didn't give me anything I didn't already know from watching the show.

Book blurb

The first official book from the life-changing BBC One show, Sort Your Life Out will have you falling back in love with your home in three simple steps:

1. STRIP - how to let go and clear out the clutter (when you don't have a warehouse to hand)!

2. SORT - time to sell, donate, recycle and upcycle.

3. SYSTEMISE - learn how to organise, fold and store in a way that is manageable and sustainable.

Filled with every tip and trick from your favourite experts Stacey, Dilly, Iwan and Rob, this empowering book will give you the tools to transform your home and get that Sort Your Life Out mindset.