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Chapter 1: What does Elizabeth Day bring to the unboxing?
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This is Sort Your Life Out Unpacked with me, Dilly Carter. Every episode, a celebrity guest will hand over three boxes, each containing an item from their own home. We'll unbox them together and hear plenty of memories and stories too. Along the way, there'll be simple tips to help you sort your own life out. My guest this episode is basically the queen of podcasting.
She's been showing us since 2018 that we can mess up in a million ways and it's okay to do so. But given that she rates herself a nine and a half out of ten when it comes to being organised, I'm going to guess she doesn't fail at clearing her clutter. It is, of course, the incredible How To Fail host, broadcaster and author, Elizabeth Day.
Chapter 2: How does Elizabeth describe her approach to organization?
Oh, Tilly. Nine and a half out of ten. Are you coming for my job?
Now I'm really regretting saying that because it sounds so smug. No, it's good. I like that confidence. I am really organised. And the thing is, because I do a lot of different things, I do have to be super organised because I have to get into different mindsets, whether I'm preparing for a podcast interview or I'm writing a book. I have to be hyper organised. And I also love sleep.
So timing is important so that I get into bed so that I get eight hours.
Do you know what? People don't realise how being organised affects our sleep. And sleep is our most important commodity. So if everything in your house is unsettled, if you are feeling like you are living in chaos, it affects our sleep because you've got this to-do list in your head that you need to tick off.
I completely agree. And I think there is something so psychologically important about walking into the bedroom and knowing that it is a place for rest.
You know that feeling when you go on holiday and you walk into a hotel room and you're like, you have that deep breath. And the reason that we love that feeling is because of that calm, because there is nothing around. There's no clutter. There's no chaos. There's no piles of clothing. There's no piles of books. It's just pure, unadulterated bliss. I cannot wait to see what you've brought in.
But first, I'm going to ask you a few quickfire home truths. How would you describe your home in a sentence?
Calm, sanctuary, safety and peace. Wow.
Okay.
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Chapter 3: What sentimental value does Elizabeth attach to her teddy bear?
That's not a complete sentence, but don't judge me for the lack of verb. Okay.
What's one thing in your house you think you should get rid of?
I think that there are quite a lot of mugs that I don't technically need. But do I want them, Dilly? I do. So there's probably a fair amount of decluttering to do in the mug area.
What is the one thing about your home you're most proud of?
I'm really proud of the fact that Justin and I created it together, that we have it. And it represents so much for me. Justin and I got married in 2020 and it's a second marriage for both of us. And so we went through a lot of really bruising emotional years before we found each other.
And then to have a chance to build a partnership and reflect that in how you also decorate your home or how you are in it. And I think that we are very good at compromising when it comes to taste. I'm someone who historically had a love of a knick-knack and a trinket. And he's someone who really admires the simplicity and minimalism of Japanese design.
And so coming together, there were definite moments where we had to compromise, both of us. But we were so willing to do that.
And does that mean if he's got a love of Japanese that he's Marie Kondo'd his pants?
Yes.
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Chapter 4: What is the story behind Elizabeth's grandfather's cigarette case?
And I couldn't really work out how to make the leap. And I read this book and Tom Wolfe is a former journalist turned novelist. And it made me understand how I could use my journalistic skills because the way that he writes is it's incredibly well observed and reported. I'd never read anything like it. I just found it so buzzy and refreshing and brilliant.
And when I first met Justin, my now husband, we got chatting about our passions and the Bonfire of the Vanities came up. And for my 40th birthday, which was the first birthday that we had spent together as a couple, this was part of his present to me. And it is signed by Tom Wolfe.
Signed, yeah. I've just opened it up as you were talking and I thought, I wonder if it's signed. I was actually also thinking, I wonder if Justin wrote in it. No, that would ruin the value. That would ruin the value, would it? Absolutely don't sign in it, does it? Yeah, I would be useless because I would be like straight away, you know, writing a whole essay in it.
Not that I have any plans to resell it. I'm not putting it on eBay or anything like that. But I love, as you identify, the heft of it. Yeah, it's a really meaty, heavy book, isn't it? And it feels appropriate to me because it's had such a sort of meaty impact on my life.
Yeah, I mean, it's super meaty, super heavy. I mean, I love a hardback book. I love actually a book. I'm not a Kindle reader. I like to have to have a book.
I love hearing that, Dilly. Yeah.
Because you'd think decluttering expert, you'd think, oh, get rid of your books, just get it on Kindle.
But no.
Absolutely against that.
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Chapter 5: How did Elizabeth's childhood in Ireland shape her?
No. I actually love the chaos of a bookshelf. You'd be surprised to know. That's why I don't, there's no colour coding.
There's no alphabetisation.
Colour coding? I can't be friends with people that colour code their books. I'm so glad you said that. I'm so glad you don't do that.
I know that I am friends with people who colour code their books, but it's like no shade.
It's actually, you know, I don't not like people that colour code their books just for clarity. Let's talk about you and Justin and how much stuff did you both bring to your house that you now share? Was it hard? Was there a lot of stuff? Did you have to reduce a lot of your stuff or did you find that a real struggle?
Such a good question. Actually, there wasn't that much stuff. And that's partly because we'd both been through divorces. I had rented with my ex. And when things ended, I left almost everything. I was like, all I need is a bag of clothes and the things that I know are mine and that are very meaningful to me. But I left with barely anything. Like physical objects, I suddenly realised...
were not important. Was it like shedding? It was like shedding and it was so liberating. It was terrifying and it was also liberating because I'd always been someone who was so attached. And so that was a really wonderful opportunity because we had space to decide... How we wanted our home to look and feel.
Yeah.
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Chapter 6: What lessons did Elizabeth learn from her grandparents' relationship?
And to start building together.
Yes.
Like creating that capsule amount of stuff together. Exactly. Rather than just, yeah, bringing stuff from the past. So actually starting fresh is so cathartic, isn't it? Hugely. Right. Thanks for sharing your beautiful book. Let's move on to your second box.
Here we go.
Let's see what is in the second box. Oh, I mean, this is super cute. So I have got the most beautiful big brown eyes staring out at me. And this is a lovely, looks like a very old teddy bear.
Not only is he brown and has these lovely brown eyes and that lovely worn look that only a teddy bear that you've had for years has, but he's got the cutest little waistcoat on, this Czech waistcoat, which is a little bit worn around his arms, which feels like he's been quite active and he's worn away his waistcoat because he's been so pulled around.
Did someone make this bear, number one, and did someone make his waistcoat, number two?
I made his waistcoat when I must have been about eight or nine. So that waistcoat is 40 years old.
So tell me who this is and why he's so special. Thomas.
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Chapter 7: How does Elizabeth define her happy place?
And my dad had given me a bear. He'd found a bear in a shop that he was just like, this is for you. And I was so touched by it. It's probably one of the best presents I've ever been given. But I was specifically touched with the fact that the seatbelt had been there. He'd taken the care. And at that time, Thomas didn't have his waistcoat. That was a later edition.
But I named this bear after my father, who is also called Thomas. And the reason Thomas is so special to me is obviously his origin story. But then a few months after I turned four, we actually moved from Epsom to the north of Ireland, where my father had got a job as a surgeon at Atna Galvin Hospital in Derry. And at the time, that part of the world was quite a tough place to live.
It was at the height of the troubles. And to be a little girl with an English accent was slightly strange. And most people thought that I was part of a military family, which, of course, I wasn't. And at primary school, that was fine. I had a really nice experience. But Thomas came with me through that. So he was my security, along with my parents and my sister.
But Thomas would be in bed with me every single night. And then when I went to secondary school, I didn't have a very good time. And Thomas helped me through that as well. And I ended up leaving that school halfway through the academic year. And I got a scholarship to a boarding school in England. And every single trip I ever went on, I would pack him too.
And I remember I would often pack him at the very top of the bag or I'd have him poking out of my rucksack because I wanted him to be able to breathe and to see the world and to experience the trip. And I didn't want him to feel just like another object because for me, obviously, he was like one of my greatest friends and still is. And so he was with me through all of that.
Right up to university, he would be on my bed. And then I think, yes, when I got married the first time, I was like, I think it's time to put Thomas elsewhere.
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Chapter 8: What decisions does Elizabeth make about her items at the end?
But to this day, he sits on my dressing table in our bedroom. So he's still there sort of watching over me.
He's just not on the bed, but he's on the dressing table. Yes. What was your childhood like in Ireland?
Yeah.
It was a curious mix because obviously as a child you don't think to question where you find yourself because you don't have enough agency. So on the one hand, we lived in beautiful countryside. So we lived about half hours drive from Derry. Mm-hmm. And that was a really sort of outdoorsy childhood. Like I would go on cycle rides on my own for hours.
I kind of explore overgrown rhododendron bushes and streams and rivers. And I just go and find a quiet spot to read books. And we had a donkey and four sheep and a cat. And so it was very rural and outdoorsy and adventurous. And then in the city, to get to school, we would always go through a military checkpoint with an armoured vehicle and soldiers with AK-47s.
And it was sort of a strange disconnect.
That must have been quite scary as well.
I... Bits of it were quite scary. I remember every marching season. So I'm sure your listeners will know this, but there are some very contentious dates in the Irish calendar and people still take to the streets to march. There were a lot of Orange Order marches and you'd see kind of men in balaclavas often on the TV news. And when I thought of monsters under my bed, it was terrorists and
And I remember vividly sort of shopping centres being empty because of bomb scares. And when I went to my secondary school in Belfast, I would get the bus back at weekends. I was a weekly boarder there. And the bus station was behind the Europa Hotel, which became known as the most bombed hotel in Europe, famously. Yes.
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