Our homes’ most neglected areas have been revealed – but does the dreaded drawerful of Tupperware make the cut?

According to a new study from Hillarys (www.Hillarys.co.uk) it’s some way down the list, far behind lofts and attics which the average Briton only clears out property once every 15 years.

When asked why they left it so long, 47 per cent said that the task was “too time consuming” and 25 per cent admitted to being “too lazy”. A further 17 per cent said it was a case of “out of sight, out of mind”.

Second on the list was the medicine cabinet, which typically gets a proper clear out every seven years, followed by the cupboard under the stairs (five years).

Other neglected areas include desk drawers (three years), wardrobes (two years), and kitchen cupboards - home to all those mismatched pieces of plastic (once a year).

84 per cent of people said that, because these parts of their home were hidden from visitors, they they didn’t feel the need to deal with them. 70 per cent also admitted they felt “overwhelmed” with the large number of items they had stored in these spaces – so opted to ignore them instead.

When asked what they do with the things they eventually unearth, 32 per cent said they threw them away, 29 per cent said they rearranged them but kept them where they were and 11 per cent said they gave them to charity.

Tara Hall, spokesperson for Hillarys, said: “We all have those areas in our home where we stash stuff away and forget about it.

“Although it seems a daunting task clearing out these spaces, doing it more regularly makes it a much less time consuming task.”