Expensive gadgets clutter homes

UK residents are being urged to insure the £9.4 billion worth of white elephant gadgets that clutter their homes.

Esure.com reveals that people have massively overspent on household gadgets that they believed were great buys at the time but have subsequently rarely used.

The 'Useless gadgets' poll found that 24 per cent of people polled admitted to wasting money on buying someone a household gadget that they suspected would remain in its box.

However, Nikki Sellers, Head of Home Insurance at esure.com reminds people that the quantity and value of the "offending items" rises over the years, "so it?s important to keep an inventory of all your home contents - even your mistake-buys or unwanted gifts - to avoid being left under-insured".

"As a nation," he says, "we?re guilty of boxing up and stockpiling our white elephant household gadgets in lofts, garages, wardrobes and drawers, leaving them out of sight and easily forgotten."

A massive 23.4 million UK adults have banished a useless object to a drawer or cupboard and 10.6 million store their dust gatherers in lofts or garages.

The sandwich toaster tops the poll for the third consecutive year, with £315 million worth of the kitchen gadget left unused in UK homes.

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