Recently, I downsized from a three bedroomed cottage in Sussex with a garden and a shed to move on to 46-foot long 6-foot-wide canal boat in London. My son had just finished his GCSEs and had been offered a place in a 6th Form in London which specialised in film which would have meant an exhausting 4-hour daily commute for him. I am a single-parent and my son is the most important person in my life and I wanted to support him.

I also realised I only had a couple of years left before he moves out and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him before he flew the nest. However, the only way I could afford to move back to our capital city, where the rents are sky-high, was to rent out my cottage and move into a tiny canal boat in Kings Cross. I had to rent out my house un-furnished, so I realised that this was an opportunity to have an epic declutter so I didn’t have to pay a fortune for storage.

I had always been fascinated by the documentaries on Tiny Houses and had flirted with minimalism for years, but I always felt too messy and disorganised to really follow through so here was my chance. Little did I know that my decluttering journey would require me to dig deep and go on a self-development journey that has been profound and life changing to my whole world view.

Here are four life lessons I learned. Plus a series of coaching exercises to help you simplify your own life.

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