In late 2022, Dilly Carter was diagnosed with womb cancer and underwent gruelling treatment. Four years later, the Sort Your Life Out expert is out the other side and while, as anyone who watches Sort Your Life Out will know, she’s the picture of positivity, in an exclusive interview with Good Housekeeping, she opened up about the hardest thing to accept after her illness – and why she’s still processing it now.
Asked what the toughest thing to let go of emotionally has been, the decluttering expert said: “That I won’t ever be able to have another child naturally. That was a really hard pill to swallow and I don’t think I’ve even processed that properly yet.”
Dilly, who had her reproductive organs removed was left with damage to her bowel after radiation, spoke about what she wishes more women knew about advocating for their health. She explained: “I wish more women would pay attention to anything that feels abnormal. We ignore so many things that go on with our bodies and those could be life-changing situations. Ask and ask again and get as many opinions as you can until you feel satisfied.”
During her treatment, the delcluttering expert was fortunate to have the unwavering support of her husband, Charley, whom she married on a beach in Bali in 2012 and with whom she has 12-year-old Nelly. She shared that the secret to a successful marriage, in her opinion, is about being open and honest, but also about understanding what each of them needs.
He’s fully supportive of her work, while she’'s more than happy for him to play golf, watch football, hang out with his mates. “At the end of the day, it’s about knowing each other intuitively,” she said. “No one knows me better than him and vice versa.”
As soon as Dilly was in remission for cancer, she revealed that she took stock, asking herself, “Right, what can I do next? I want to go full throttle! I want to succeed! No more chugging along!’
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She threw herself into her supersizing her business, Declutter Dollies, her BBC series, Sort Your Life Out, and she's recently launched a spin-off podcast Sort Your Life Out Unpacked, in which she asks special guests about the things they would keep, donate or recycle. She’s also created a product of her own that helps people organise.
First up is a series of leopard-print packing cubes, which reflects both her love of leopard print and her desire to create ethically made, built-to-last products. “I waited to find the right company and eventually came across FabricWorks, a women-led organisation that provides opportunities for women from Bangladesh, Morocco, London…” she explained.
"It’s a really impressive socially driven enterprise with these incredibly highly skilled women making all sorts of textile products. As the owner of a company that employs a team of women, it’s important to me that FabricWorks is a women-led organisation.’
And while she now has her sights set on building an empire, a “one-stop shop” that everyone can come to when they need help organising, donating, recycling – or moving house, she has no plans to one day, pack up and go on a very long holiday. Far from it.
“I’m not sure about that! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let go of my business completely,” she said. “All I’ve ever wanted to do since I was a kid is to help people and that’s still what motivates me.”
Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s September issue, on sale from 23rd July. Dilly’s Perfectly Packed range for The Contents Bag is available at thecontentsbag.com.
