An interesting article in the Daily Mail Reporter about Brits storing their kids' possessions. Definitely a problem - sometimes avoidable, sometimes not. Enjoy the read:
"British parents are looking after nearly £2.5 billion of clutter their grown up children have left behind, a study shows.
Young adults leaving home are using 'the warehouse of mum and dad' to store their belongings - adding to a mountain of unused goods across the country.
In total, homes across the UK are crammed with almost 47.5 million cubic litres of clutter - enough to fill Wembley stadium 11 times over.
Full of junk: Young adults leave billions of pounds of junk at their parents' homes, with some retaining their bedrooms full of clutter.
The total value of unused possessions is thought to be around £50 billion, with people storing pricey clutter such as jewellery, power tools and electrical goods in their lofts, spare rooms and even sheds.
One in ten homes estimate that they're holding onto clutter worth more than £1,000, while a third - 35 per cent - have no idea how much their unused possessions are worth.
Clothes are the most hoarded item, with almost two thirds - 59 per cent - of people holding onto garments they haven't worn in at least a year.
Old paperwork comes next, with 57 per cent of those surveyed admitting to hanging onto receipts and statements.
Not the end: Despite adult children leaving home, their parents are still keeping lots of their possessions in storage.
Over half of Brits also hang onto photos, frames, and holiday souvenirs - 55 per cent - while old schoolbooks, as well as toys and games are also cherished long after we've finished with them - 47 and 43 per cent respectively.
Research by insurance group LV= show that over a fifth of people are storing possessions for others, including friends, family, partners or even ex-partners or spouses.
And over half of this clutter babysitting has been spawned by lazy children, with £2.4 billion of forgotten possessions left at home for parents to look after.
Despite this, many parents confess to enjoy looking after their children's old stuff - one in five still sees their child's old bedroom as belonging to them, even after they've flown the nest, and one in eight say they enjoy the 'nostalgia' that keeping their childhood possessions brings.
Others also cite practicality or nostalgia as a reason for holding onto the clutter - almost two thirds hoard possessions they think they may need in the future, while over half say sentimental value stops them having a clear out.
Some people have even managed to have the best of both worlds, with one in eight people storing possessions worth more than £1,000 in commercial lock-ups away from home.
John O'Roarke, managing director at LV= said: 'Our research shows that we are a nation of hoarders, packing our homes with possessions that we just can't bear to get rid of and even though we rarely use these items, we would miss them if they were damaged or stolen.'"
More on kids' clutter:
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