The average British home contains £400 worth of post-Christmas clutter – including unused gadgets, books and DVDs, it has been revealed. Researchers also found sports and exercise equipment such as bikes, tennis rackets and golf clubs will also have been consigned to the cupboards along with unwanted board games.
It also emerged Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Ultimate Home Cooking’ and auto-biographies by Sir Alex Ferguson, Katie Price and Morrissey are most likely to be cluttering up homes.
Whilst the recent trend for baking has left a fifth of us with unused moulds, cutters, tins and other Mary Berry-inspired paraphernalia.
The report also found around one in four Britons admit they feel ‘stressed and upset’ by the clutter in their homes.
Scott Green of www.needaproperty.com, who commissioned the study said:
“Our findings suggest that the average homeowner could free up a space similar to a single bedroom if only they threw out the junk that remains unloved and unused.
”A good de-clutter would benefit us all whether we are planning to move or stay in our houses, however anyone considering selling should take heed of the fact that 45 per cent of people say that piles of junk would put them off buying a home.”
The study of 2,000 adults also found more than half of the adults surveyed (52%) cited books as the biggest clutter culprit.
Novelty Christmas items (30%), jumpers (22%) and books (20%) were most likely to be unused, with grandparents (26%) and in-laws (22%) identified as the most common culprits when it comes to giving presents we’re unlikely to use.
Further findings reveal two in three Brits (64%) would not feel guilty about getting rid of unwanted Christmas gifts – and although most would like to give them away to charity, many are unlikely to find the time to make this happen (37%).
However, a quarter (25%) plan on re-gifting presents, whilst an unapologetic 18% plan to sell unused items.
Whilst Christmas presents play a key part in clutter accumulation, the study suggests that it’s not simply a case of out with the old and in with the new when it comes to household junk.
Indeed, over a quarter of those surveyed (26%) admitted that the majority of their clutter is over 30 years old.
Six in ten Brits admitted they could live without at least 60% of the junk they have accumulated, with the majority of clutter being stored in bedrooms (25%).
Residents of Yorkshire and the Humber were identified as having the least cluttered homes, with 52% admitting their homes were very cluttered, compared to a national average of 61%.
70% of East Anglian homes were revealed by the survey as very cluttered.
Top ten items cluttering our homes:
1. Books
2. DVDs
3. Sports equipment
4. Board games
5. Sandwich makers
6. VHS / cassette tapes
7. Baking utensils such as cake tins, cookie cutters, moulds
8. Food processor
9. Coffee machine
10. Sewing machine
