Have you ever kept a box you would have just unpacked just in case you might need it? Fast-forward a few years and you discover a whole collection of empty boxes cluttering up your living space.

If you’re pleading guilty right now, you’re not alone.

While packing to move to my new place, I realised that over the years I’ve gathered a collection of boxes that once carried some of my favourite gadgets and gizmos which I had bought years ago. At first I was a little bit concerned as I thought I might suffer from hoarder symptoms but then, I gave it some thought and came to a different conclusion.

After a brief analysis, I realised that the chief source of empty boxes were electronics and appliances. I had kept the boxes for my camera and lenses, mobile phone and computer parts, some of which I no longer even owned. The first and most important reason why I kept these boxes was for warranty reasons. With technology you really can’t tell if you’re going to be that unlucky user who ends up with the faulty gadget. So I feel compelled to keep the box in case I would need to return the item.

There are so many DIY ideas you can find online

Inside the box, I also keep the extra things, like the manual, CDs and the warranty. Sometimes, when possible, I fill a box with other boxes – sort of like a Russian doll – to create more space.

Another reason why I keep boxes is because technology is constantly changing. The mobile phone I bought today, for instance, will be revamped into a better model in a few months. If I want the more recent version of my old phone, I have the box and everything else ready so I can sell it on eBay. This is always a good option to have if you’re the type of tech geek who wants to keep up with the latest trends.

I sometimes like to keep boxes simply because I can reuse them for storage – the bigger the box, the better. Smaller boxes can have their purpose too. I love to cover small boxes with a nice wrapping paper and use them for make-up storage, nail polishes and my travel postcards collection.

Sometimes I also catch myself keeping the sturdier boxes to create something artistic, such as star lanterns for Christmas. Also, being into photography, I can make some cool equipment out of boxes, such as a small light studio for stock photos of objects. There are so many DIY ideas you can find online: just go on Pinterest, search for ‘box recycle’, ‘box ideas’, ‘box DIY’ and anything else on those lines and you’ll find so many creative ideas such as games, paper holders, a cabinet, and more. Why throw something away when you can make something useful out of it?

So there are quite a few valid reasons for keeping empty boxes. The question is how to prevent them from turning into too many. One resolution I’ve made is that every year I’ll do some spring cleaning and ensure that the boxes I know won’t ever be used go in the recycling bags.

One way of going about this is by following the three pile system of decluttering: toss, maybe and keep. It’s very straightforward. You toss away all those boxes that you don’t need and keep the ones that you do. The tricky part is the maybe.

To help prevent ending up with a clutter of maybes, you can set a limit: in my case, I decided that I can only have up to five boxes in the maybe category.

The good news is you don’t really need to keep all boxes for warranties. Most appliance packaging, such as that for kitchen and home appliances, do not usually affect resale value in the same way as electronics, which is great when you consider their larger size takes up too much space. Another way to reduce clutter and make more room is to break down boxes and store them flat when possible. Keep warranties, instruction manuals and other literature in a filing cabinet.

In some cases you won’t even need to keep the instruction manuals as some companies have them avail-able online, so you can just download them and save them on Dropbox or on a flash drive.

Following the three pile system of decluttering can really change the way your box room looks and help you become better organised.

• Christina Goggi is a web marketing content specialist and a regular blogger on various tech websites.