Tidiness guru says keep only the things that bring you happiness

As Hong Kong households start spring cleaning ahead of Lunar New Year, Marie Kondo, the Japanese diva of decluttering, may have some useful tips for families trying to establish some order in cramped flats.

Kondo, 29, grew up in a small Tokyo home that, like many in Japan, looked well-ordered from the front but was a mess inside, its spaces overflowing with clothes, gadgets and other items.

"It was only normal for that time in Japan," she says.

Her introduction to tidiness came from watching her mother struggle to maintain orderliness in their home. "As my mother was a housewife, I, too, became very interested in housekeeping," Kondo says.

In fact, she became so keen on it, she volunteered to clean her siblings' rooms and couldn't resist tidying her friends' rooms, too, when she visited. It wasn't long before she was dipping into home magazines for ideas. By the time she began the equivalent of secondary school, Kondo was devouring all the books on tidying up that she could lay her hands on.

That led to a successful career as an organisational consultant in Tokyo.