e ime magazine calls bestselling author Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up the

declutter bible for 2015. Using her last and first name, Kondo developed her “KonMari Method” for
transforming her clients’ lives by helping them clear their homes, find what “sparks joy” and live the
lives they want.

This book shares some gems of wisdom for keeping people’s spaces tidy and could potentially be
transformational for some. However, depending on your life situation, the suggestions may or may not
be realistic. Like anything else in life, you have to pick and choose the elements that work for you and
your situation.

Here are the pros and cons of Kondo’s KonMari Method:

Pros:

1. Decluttering in one shot allows for immediate transformation.

With the KonMari Method, you would discard your clutter and organize your space thoroughly all at
once. Her belief is if you tidy a little at a time, you would tidy forever because you wouldn’t see the
drastic results. You’d rebound to your old ways. This approach could be done in a weekend and would
ideally suit someone who lives in a small apartment or condo.

2. Sorting by category instead of by room can save you time.

Most home decluttering guides suggest using the room-by-room approach to decluttering, whereas this
guide suggests sorting by category. Instead of cleaning out the kitchen first, then bathroom and so on,
you’d choose one single category, like “books” or “clothes,” gather them up from all the rooms in your
home, put them in one holding area and then decide what to keep or get rid of in one space.

With the book category, you would gather recipe books from the kitchen, novels by your night stand,
coffee table books, children’s books and put them all on the floor in one room in the house. Then you
would sort them out all at once. This allows for more focus, less context switching and less decision
paralysis.

3. The emphasis is keeping only what “sparks joy.”

Most organization books focus on decluttering, and with good reason. Go to any typical American family
home and you’ll notice we just have too much stuff. Asking yourself “What sparks joy?” will help you
better decide what to keep, and also give you a greater appreciation for what you have.
4. You let go of your stuff with gratitude for the usefulness they served.

Most decluttering books want you to just ruthlessly get rid of stuff without much closure. Kondo
presents a way that acknowledges your things’ usefulness with a sense of appreciation for what they did
for you - like those fuzzy slippers that kept your feet warm and cozy in the winter time. And this will help
you to have a more mindful decluttering experience.

Cons:

1. This process may not be realistic for larger spaces or families.

This guide is written from the point of view of a single woman in her early 30’s who lives in a small flat in
Japan. Her method would probably work better for people with small spaces. It may not be realistic for a
family with three children and two big dogs in a big four-bedroom house in the suburbs. Thus, it would
be unrealistic to thoroughly declutter and organize in one shot if you have a larger home with children
and pets. It could certainly be done in a weekend if you’re willing to hire help or you’re moving away
and you have the pressure to declutter because of moving day deadlines. Otherwise expect to do the
KonMari Method in stages.

2. Category sorting may not be as effective if you have a family.

It may work better with one individual family member’s stuff at a time as opposed to everyone’s clothes
collectively for instance. Unless there are a small amount of things in that category so the sum of
everyone’s books for example is more manageable to organize it may work out. But, if you have a
household of five, it would be nearly impossible to sort out a lifetime of all individual family member’s
clothes in one shot - unless you hire help or get volunteers on board. There’s just not enough hours in
the day if you have a large house with a large family.

3. Untagging clothes and immediately hanging them in your closet doesn’t always make sense.

Again I disagree with this if you have kids. They may outgrow them sooner or actually grow into them in
the future. You may chose to regift the unused clothes in the future. With clothes, you almost have to
organize these by age.

Or you don’t know if you really need what you bought. You may already have something similar and
would like the opportunity to return the item. It’s probably better to keep tags on for a finite period of
time.

4. The book doesn’t address how to deal with children’s toys.

There’s no way you can declutter thoroughly because children grow and they will always have new toys
or activities come in and out of their lives depending on what stage of growth they’re at. Sure, you can
make that choice - you either make the decision to declutter their stuff to a T, but be aware stuff will
always be coming in and do you really have the time to ruthlessly declutter? Or you’d have to have
organization storages and systems in place to manage the flow that comes in and out. And with kids,
you’d have to involve them in the process to in deciding what sparks THEIR joy, what to keep and toss.

This book does contain some good advice that may work for your lifestyle, but I wouldn’t consider it full-
proof. If you’re single, or a couple with a small pet in a tiny apartment it may work. But if you’re a large
family in a larger space you’ll have to pick and choose what works otherwise outsource some of the
work. What I found most helpful is going through your things to find what sparks joy and sorting by
category. Other than that, it’s each each to his or her own.

Follow Lori Rochino on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lorirochino

Lori Rochino

I help simplify life to make room for things that matter. I blog about simplicity, lifestyle and small space
design at lorirochino.com.

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address@email.comBoard exami2. Sorting by category instead of by room can save you time.

Most home decluttering guides suggest using the room-by-room approach to decluttering, whereas this
guide suggests sorting by category. Instead of cleaning out the kitchen first, then bathroom and so on,
you’d choose one single category, like “books” or “clothes,” gather them up from all the rooms in your
home, put them in one holding area and then decide what to keep or get rid of in one space.
With the book category, you would gather recipe books from the kitchen, novels by your night stand,
coffee table books, children’s books and put them all on the floor in one room in the house. Then you
would sort them out all at once. This allows for more focus, less context switching and less decision
paralysis.

3. The emphasis is keeping only what “sparks joy.”

Most organization books focus on decluttering, and with good reason. Go to any typical American family
home and you’ll notice we just have too much stuff. Asking yourself “What sparks joy?” will help you
better decide what to keep, and also give you a greater appreciation for what you have.

4. You let go of your stuff with gratitude for the usefulness they served.

Most decluttering books want you to just ruthlessly get rid of stuff without much closure. Kondo
presents a way that acknowledges your things’ usefulness with a sense of appreciation for what they did
for you - like those fuzzy slippers that kept your feet warm and cozy in the winter time. And this will help
you to have a more mindful decluttering experience.

Cons:

1. This process may not be realistic for larger spaces or families.

This guide is written from the point of view of a single woman in her early 30’s who lives in a small flat in
Japan. Her method would probably work better for people with small spaces. It may not be realistic for a
family with three children and two big dogs in a big four-bedroom house in the suburbs. Thus, it would
be unrealistic to thoroughly declutter and organize in one shot if you have a larger home with children
and pets. It could certainly be done in a weekend if you’re willing to hire help or you’re moving away
and you have the pressure to declutter because of moving day deadlines. Otherwise expect to do the
KonMari Method in stages.

2. Category sorting may not be as effective if you have a family.

It may work better with one individual family member’s stuff at a time as opposed to everyone’s clothes
collectively for instance. Unless there are a small amount of things in that category so the sum of
everyone’s books for example is more manageable to organize it may work out. But, if you have a
household of five, it would be nearly impossible to sort out a lifetime of all individual family member’s
clothes in one shot - unless you hire help or get volunteers on board. There’s just not enough hours in
the day if you have a large house with a large family.
3. Untagging clothes and immediately hanging them in your closet doesn’t always make sense.

Again I disagree with this if you have kids. They may outgrow them sooner or actually grow into them in
the future. You may chose to regift the unused clothes in the future. With clothes, you almost have to
organize these by age.

Or you don’t know if you really need what you bought. You may already have something similar and
would like the opportunity to return the item. It’s probably better to keep tags on for a finite period of
time.

4. The book doesn’t address how to deal with children’s toys.

There’s no way you can declutter thoroughly because children grow and they will always have new toys
or activities come in and out of their lives depending on what stage of growth they’re at. Sure, you can
make that choice - you either make the decision to declutter their stuff to a T, but be aware stuff will
always be coming in and do you really have the time to ruthlessly declutter? Or you’d have to have
organization storages and systems in place to manage the flow that comes in and out. And with kids,
you’d have to involve them in the process to in deciding what sparks THEIR joy, what to keep and toss.

This book does contain some good advice that may work for your lifestyle, but I wouldn’t consider it full-
proof. If you’re single, or a couple with a small pet in a tiny apartment it may work. But if you’re a large
family in a larnations and in the interest of fairness to the students, the Board has decided to re-conduct
the examinations...,” it said.

It added, “Dates of fresh examinations shall be posted on the CBSE website within a week.”

According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and
expressed unhappiness over the paper leak.

Two FIRs

The Delhi Police on Wednesday registered two FIRs in the case relating to the leak of two question
papers.

“We have registered two separate FIRs under IPC Section 420 [cheating] and 406 [criminal breach of
trust]. The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch for further investigation,” Chief PRO of Delhi
Police Deependra Pathak said.

Police said they received two separate complaints at the Madhu Vihar Police Station.

Cabinet nod for national testing agency

Nistula Hebbar reports:

Mr. Javadekar has promised strong action against the guilty. “We have taken cognisance of the CBSE
paper leak. It seems some kind of a gang is behind this. A special team is investigating the matter and
the guilty will not be spared,” he said.

“The examinations are conducted across the country but this has been reported only from a few schools
in Delhi. The Cabinet has given approval for a national testing agency and it will come into effect from
next year to ensure leak-proof examinations,” he added.

In its February 2018 verdict, the court set a six-week deadline for Centre to evolve a scheme “exclusively
for implementation of the award” determined by it.

With the Central government not coming out with a scheme on the Cauvery issue within the six-week
period stipulated by the Supreme Court — which ended on Thursday — the Tamil Nadu government has
decided to approach the court with a contempt petition.

This was decided at a meeting chaired by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami with
senior Ministers and officials at the Secretariat on Thursday. Advocate General Vijay Narayan was also
present at the meeting, which lasted 40 minutes.

The petition is likely to be filed on Saturday, and Principal Secretary (Public Works) S.K. Prabakar will
visit New Delhi, along with chairperson of the Cauvery Technical Cell R. Subramanian, according to a
government source.

Time frame

On February 16, delivering its judgment, the Supreme Court set a deadline of six weeks for the Centre to
frame a scheme for the implementation of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal
(CWDT) given in February 2007.

The court, while dealing with appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala against the final award,
had also stated that “no extension shall be granted for framing of the scheme on any ground.”

Explaining that there is no other option for the State government than to file the contempt of court
petition, the source hoped that such a move would force the Centre to fulfil its legal obligation, as
mandated by the court.

On reports of the Centre planning to seek clarification from the court with regard to the meaning of the
term, “scheme,” as mentioned in the February 16 judgment, the source said there is no need for such a
course as Section 6A of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act makes it clear how a scheme should be
framed to implement decisions of a water disputes tribunal set up under the law.

In a nutshell, the section explicitly mentions that the proposed scheme may provide for “the
establishment of any authority (whether described as such or as a committee or other body),
composition, jurisdiction, powers and functions of the authority.”

Meanwhile, Tamil television channels reported an offer of resignation by three Members of Parliament
of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – P. Kumar, A. Arunmozhithevan and G. Hari -
over the issue.

Pointing out that he was not aware of their move, A. Anwhar Raajhaa who represents Ramanathapuram
Parliamentary constituency told The Hindu that he would also follow suit in the event of any direction
from the AIADMK leadership.The CBSE issued a notice with reference to the two papers: “The Board has
taken cognisance of certain happenings in the conduct of examinations as are being reported. With the
view to upholding the sanctity of th