A pinafore dress, a coat, a pair of shoes. They lie forlorn in my wardrobe, having never seen the light of day.

To my credit, I own just a handful of fashion items that I bought but have never worn. A lot less than the average female who, apparently, wastes almost £13,000 on clothes and shoes that she will never put on.

According to a survey of 2,500 people, at least four out of five women questioned - a whopping 86 per cent - have fallen victim to an impulse buy. On average, claims the research by a leading insurance company, women buy 14 items of clothing every year - jeans, blouses, skirts, dresses and shoes - that do not leave the wardrobe. This equates to an amazing £13,000 over a working life.

I am, it seems, unusual. In fact I think my husband has more unworn items than me - a lovely linen jacket bought two years ago from M&S, a cool, cotton jumper and an attractive striped shirt to name but a few bits and pieces (I reckon he's too nervous to abandon his long-established "extra in Shameless" look).

However, I think for me - and I'm sure the majority of the population - clothing is secondary to all the ridiculous purchases that I end up buying after flicking through those tat-filled catalogues that I have never requested but which come through the post anyway.

The real skeltons in my closet are:

Car vacuum cleaner

Why, as the untidiest person on the planet, I felt the need for one of these is a mystery. I think I was pregnant and suffering some sort of compulsive cleaning imbalance in the brain. The purchase, from Halfords, was both reckless and foolish. Even when fully charged, it only ever sucked up enough to cover the bottom of a jam jar. It lies unused in my wardrobe. I may give it to my daughters to use in their dolls' house.

Liquidiser/blender

A ridiculous buy for a woman who only cooks when her husband is ill. Purchased from Argos when, in the first flush of parenthood, I had read too many "right on" articles about the benefits of feeding your child fresh, pureed food. I used it once, to make a sort of carrot/swede mush that my child rejected in the manner of someone presented with a plateful of duck droppings. She was back on processed junk from jars before you could say "complete waste of cash". And I don't believe it did her any harm at all.

Trolley bag

Bought from - dare I admit it - one of those catalogues that ply you with time-saving devices that in reality do anything but. The pictures of smiling shoppers, effortlessly fishing out their specially-designed bags from the supermarket trolley to the boot of the car had me whipping out my bank card. Unfortunately, it was just too much effort to take it in and pack it. And anyway, when full, it proved too heavy for a fair damsel like me to hoist from trolley to boot. A great way to meet burly men, but otherwise... it sits unused, but I'm already thinking it will "come in" for ferrying stuff to car boot sales.

Corkscrew

Not your average simple grab bottle between knees and twist affair but a rather more hi-tech, state of the art. It looks fancy but is, in fact, a huge flop. To sum it up in three words: waste of money. I can't remember where it came from, but it's an ideal gift for those wanting to stay off the booze. Try as you might, you simply can't get corks out of wine bottles.

There are probably a dozen more items in the inner reaches of the garage, although I haven't lost my mind sufficiently to go down to the leaf blower or pond vacuum cleaner (I kid you not) yet. And as for clothes, the time to worry will be the day I order a little black dress in size 10.

Updated: 10:35 Tuesday, January 17, 2006