When it comes to decorating our homes it can be hard to press the pause button on our spending. Yes we've allocated a budget for everything from key pieces of furniture to those final flourishes, but all it takes is a shiny, new, interiors accessory to distract us from it.
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And now new research conducted by home interiors specialists at Hillarys has revealed that we're paying the price for snapping up fashionable homeware items on a whim. Questioning 2,083 British homeowners they found that they spent an average of £928 each year on items they put out on display but never use.
72 per cent of those surveyed had parted with cash for blankets/throws that aren’t used totally an average of £97, while 64 per cent burnt a hole in their wallets for candles that are never lit adding up to £90 on average. And it doesn't stop there.
Our need to keep our properties looking show home ready has also lead to 44 per cent of Brits splashing out an average of £50 on fancy towels that take pride of place in our bathroom suites but remain as fluffy as the day they were bought.
Over in the kitchen 27 per cent of those questioned revealed that their shelves were adorned with ‘display food’– such as Kilner jars of pasta or fruit bowls – that never made their way into a home-cooked meal, totalling £20.
A further 31 per cent of purchased posters of films they’ve never seen – probably to up their culture vultures credentials – with an average wasted spend of £45.
Commenting on the figures, Tara Hall, spokesperson for Hillarys, said the following:
'Our homes say a lot about who we are as people, so there can be some pressure to try and impress guests with a certain look or particular items that we think say something about us. However, the costs soon add up, as our figures show.'
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