Stacey Solomon: ‘I was an unorganised mess when I became a mum at 17 – things had to change’

Despite being dubbed the 'Organisational Queen' due to her nifty home hacks and tidying techniques, Stacey Solomon confessed to OK! this week that she's hasn’t always had a talent for keeping things ship-shape.

"Me and my mum laugh about this now, because before I had Zachary I was all over the place," she admitted.

"I was such an unorganised mess. I was so scatty and would forget my instruments for school and all my homework and stuff and I just lived this really ridiculously awkward life of losing stuff."

When she unexpectedly became a mum at the age of 17, Stacey told us she realised that if she didn’t overhaul her chaotic lifestyle, she wouldn’t be able to cope, which turned out to be a valuable lesson that still stands her in good stead today.

"I honestly put it down to having Zach at a really young age and having so many commitments," said Stacey, who gave birth to her latest addition to the family, daughter Belle, in February.

"I was still at college doing my A levels, as well as working on the side. As soon as I had Zachary, I realised I couldn’t live my life in a scatty way any more. I had a human to look after, I had to work out where my milk vouchers were and how I would keep them going for the whole week.

"How would I get him into nursery then get to college, then get to work, and who was going to do childcare? Everything became like a military operation and if I wasn’t organised, I would not have got through the day."

Today, with so many demands on her, both at home and at work, we wonder how Stacey – who is mum to Zachary, 15, Leighton, 10, Rex, four, 23-month-old Rose and six-month-old Belle – finds any time to herself.

"There’s one space in my house that no one goes into and it’s where my clothes are – like my walk-in wardrobe," she revealed. "It’s not massive, but it’s big enough for me to sit on a chair and no one, not even the dogs, are allowed in there.

"So if I ever need to hide away, I go in there and I just shut the door and then no one comes in."

The third series of her hit BBC makeover show, 'Sort Your Life Out With Stacey Solomon', is back on our screens this week and she’s also been busy working on a homeware range for ASDA – something she described as "an absolute dream".

After living on a tight budget herself as a single mum and with the current cost-of-living crisis in mind, Stacey said she wanted to make sure her collection, which features more than 200 pieces, is affordable to all.

"My biggest bugbear is that sometimes, when you are really struggling and have to make ends meet, you feel that you have to get the worst version of everything because that’s the cheapest option. It just shouldn’t be like that," she said.

"There are ways of making things that are still responsibly made, that are still beautiful, that still have good materials and are good quality, but are at a decent price."

At Home with Stacey Solomon is available online at george.com and in store from 7 September with prices starting from £1.

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