It starts with a piece of paper or a memorable souvenir. Before you know it, you’d have boxes filled with similar things you can’t let go of. You would need a room to store stuff you probably would not remember you ever had.

By the time you decide to do a little spring cleaning, there you are again just looking through each box thinking that you’d need these things one day —even if it is an old, tattered pair of bell-bottoms your mom wore as a teenager.

If you can relate to this, you are a clutter bug.

It is not a bad thing to reuse things but if you’re just storing them for a rainy day, it is high time you put storage to good use.

Here are tips on how to cure your separation anxiety:

Check it out. Things can be classified as useful or not. There are no exceptions to the rule. A piece of paper from your elementary years with doodles from your boredom in class is usable only as papier-mache. Candy wrappers from your “ex” 10 years ago are called trash. Do a checklist. Look around your area with the firm objective of clearing it out, and classify your things according to given categories.

Keep it simple. If you wish to keep something that’s old, make sure you will have use for it. If necessary, go through this process with a friend to evaluate your decisions. Simplicity is the key. Aim for a minimalist area to make sure that what will stay is truly essential.

A dime a dozen. The things you have accumulated over time are most probably those that do not technically have much value. Do something productive with your stuff and set up a garage sale, you get to clear a cabinet or two and earn along the way.

Say goodbye. Or to make things less complicated, just bid your clutter farewell. Pieces meant to be thrown can go to two places and two places only—garbage bag or donation box.

If you feel that some of your things are still usable but don’t have a place in your home anymore, give it to someone who can take care of them. There are a lot of charities and organizations that will be more than happy to receive these gifts of old toys, books and clothes.

Look at your stuff one last time and let go, you will feel better knowing that someone will be smiling the next couple of days because of you.

Once the process is over, smile and look at the area you have without your clutter. By keeping the sentimentality to a minimum, you will be breathing more easily and leave room for more memories in your newly organized space.

Eunice Sara Vibal is part of “Jak En Poy: Bato, Gunting, Papel, Atbp.: An Interior Design Exhibit of Sustainable Proportions,” the graduation exhibit of the PSID Advanced Class of 2011, which runs Oct. 1-31 at Interior Zone, SM City North Edsa, Quezon City.

In cooperation with SM City North Edsa Interior Zone, “Jak en Poy” showcases 20 different spaces designed in creatively planned solutions. Sustainable interior materials, such as stone, steel, concrete, paper, glass, wood, bamboo, rubber, plastic and clay, are applied to interior design booths that evoke different moods and styles, conscious of the concept of designing for a better world.