HOW much living space do we actually need?

I recently heard about a four-storey Victorian house in London that has been converted into 14 tiny flats, with fold-up beds, miniature shower rooms and built-in storage units. A set of stairs, leading to the bed, pulls out to make a dining table. A fitted kitchen is tucked behind folding doors. Each studio apartment is 18sq ft - smaller than an average budget hotel room.

Micro-apartments are becoming quite a trend, with rising numbers of developers converting older properties into them.

Could this be a solution to the housing crisis - and, in the process, change the way we live?

In this fast-moving digital age, possessions we own - especially younger people who’ve grown up with laptops, iPads and the like- are scaled down in size and number. When I started university, 30 years ago, I took a car load of stuff, including a clunky stack stereo with speakers, a box of tapes, a pinboard and a huge trunk filled with books. I’d imagine today’s students and twenty-somethings have a more minimalist lifestyle.

There probably aren’t many millennials with rows of bookcases cluttering up their flat-shares. Even the way they watch TV has changed - why take up valuable space with a television set when they can watch programmes streamed through a laptop or smartphone?

So maybe people don’t need so much space these days. Micro-flats might be a good idea, especially as starter homes.

They’ve been doing it in Japan for a while. In Tokyo, one of the most over-crowded cities in the world, landlords have developed share houses comprised of pods, basically sleeping spaces with just enough room for a few clothes and possessions, stacked up on top of each other. Not for the claustrophobic, I guess, but for busy young professionals who spend most of their time at work or out and about, it’s just somewhere to lay the head.

It is when we face the upheaval of moving house - something I have done three times in the last two years - that we realise how much stuff we have, and how little we need most of it.

Over the past year I have cleared out my late parents’ home, carefully going through their things and deciding what to keep and what to let go, and, along the way, have also discarded much of my own clutter.

I recently moved to a much smaller house than I was in before and have been forced to scale down my possessions even further to fit the space. It’s been quite a cleansing process, and I’ve come to see that I really don’t need the things I’ve accumulated over the years. Why did I collect so many mugs? Why did I keep all those cheap dog-eared paperbacks I will never read again? Why did I hold onto clothes from long ago that I’ll never wear again? Did I really need four sets of cutlery?

There are some things I will never part with, but downsizing has made me realise that I can do without a whole load of stuff.

“I reckon I could live in a caravan when I’m retired,” I told my partner, after offloading another load of bin-liners at the charity shop. Raising an eyebrow, he reminded me of what is currently covering the spare room floor; files filled with cuttings of my work dating back to the weekly newspaper I started on, stacks of photo albums, childhood toys, my old dolls house, letters and cards, vinyl albums, an antique sewing-machine, schoolbooks, even my old Guide uniform.

The flotsam and jetsam of life that I’m not ready to let go. Maybe micro-living isn’t for me...but at least I don’t have four sets of cutlery anymore.

* Business class is wasted on children

KIRSTIE Allsopp says her children fly economy while she travels in business class because she doesn't want them to be spoilt.

The Location, Location, Location star said: "Club Class should be a huge treat you've worked hard for. If kids get used to it, what do they have to work towards?"

Quite. Such luxury is wasted on children and, at 10 and 12, her kids are old enough to sit on their own. There's nothing worse than a privileged brat with a sense of entitlement and no work ethic. Other wealthy celebrities should follow Kirstie's example.

* Sorry Amber, Love Island has nothing to do with love

THE winner of last year's Love Island says she hopes those taking part in this year's series are doing it for the "right reason" - to find love. Since winning the ITV2 reality dating show, Amber Davies landed a lucrative contract with a fashion label and a presenting stint on daytime telly. Oh, and she's no longer with her Love Island partner Kem Cetinay, who's been on Dancing on Ice, had his own spin-off show and released a rap single.

Love Island, the surprise hit of summer, 2017, is back. The new batch of singletons sharing a Spanish villa will, for the next few weeks, sell their souls as they bed-hop, turn on the tears and hog the cameras to bag a cash prize. It has little to do with love, and everything to do with fame and money. Well, it's better than working for a living isn't it?