Which of these unused items are you hoarding in your drawer full of clutter?

Takeaway menus, old mobile phones and bits of string are among the unused items cluttering up our homes, according to a new study.
Four out of five people admit to having a drawer full of clutter.Four out of five people admit to having a drawer full of clutter.
Four out of five people admit to having a drawer full of clutter.

And although we are in National Spring Clean Week, we wait an average of six years to have a clear out.

The survey has revealed just how much Brits hoard in their homes, with four out of five of us admitting to having a ‘drawer of clutter’.

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The most common things found in them tend to be batteries (69 per cent), sticky tape(66 per cent) and chargers and plugs (63 per cent).

The top items people have in their drawer of junk are:

1. Batteries – 69%

2. Sticky tape – 66%

3. Chargers and plugs – 63%

4. Pens and pencils – 62%

5. Old mobile phones – 57%

6. String – 48%

7. Calculator – 41%

8. Takeaway menus and leaflets – 35%

How Clean Is Your House star Aggie MacKenzie said: “These results revealing that eight out of 10 of us have a guilty drawer of hidden mess aren’t surprising – it seems to be a household staple - and whilst its contents can be of use, there are items in there that would be better used by someone else.”

We eventually do get round to that spring-clean, we do put our unwanted items to good use, with 65 per cent of us giving items such as clothes, DVDs and homeware to charity after a clear out.

However, while the survey found that 57 per cent of us have old phones lying around at home, and 70 per cent of us say we’ll use these items again one day, the research reveals that this isn’t the case.

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Indeed, 22 per cent of those questioned were unaware of recycling options for old phones.

Three UK have Freepost envelopes available in their stores so anyone wanting to send an old mobile for charitable collection can do so via their Reconnected scheme. See www.three.co.uk.