It’s getting closer to that time of year when you have to dip your hand in your pocket and fork out a bundle for the festive season, but you could be sitting on a pile of Christmas cash by holding onto your old mobile phone.

According to recent research from mobile recycling comparison website SellMyMobile, has shown that 84 percent of UK homes have at least one mobile phone hanging around, and that last month smartphone resale’s were up 68 percent.

Well with Christmas quickly approaching now is a good time to fish out that unwanted mobile handset so you can take advantage of a cash boost. So SellMyMobile has come up with the top 5 most valuable and least valuable handsets.

So here they are the top 5 most valuable recycled handsets for 2010…Obviously the top slot goes to the iPhone 4 valued at £390, 32GB iPhone 3GS £249, 16GB iPhone 3GS £240, HTC Desire at £201, and the BlackBerry Bold 9700 at £200, so if you have any of these laying around you could be onto an earner.

The least valuable recycled handsets of 2010 are…the Nokia 2210 at just £1.50, the Sony Ericsson T610 at £1.50, the Nokia 3510 at £1.35, the Samsung C120 at £1.10 and the Sony Ericsson Z300 at a pitiful £1.

Funnily enough though even though 95% of Britons are aware of mobile recycling services, most seem to miss out when it comes to getting the best offer for their handset with 21 percent taking the first offer they are given while 60 percent just give their old handset to a member of the family.

The MD of SellMyMobile, Keir McConomy says, “It is apparent that the majority of UK customers aren’t aware of how much an old mobile phone can fetch in value, and since so many families are tightening belts for Christmas this year, it’s a great way to tick some money off the present list.”

So if you are somewhat strapped for cash this Christmas why no dig out that old mobile device and recycle, it’s worth a try right? So any of our readership recycled their old handset in the past?