Storage is at such a premium she has to keep her bananas in the toaster oven.

When it comes to the rent, however, it is all worth it as Ms Cohen, in her 40, pays just $700 a month to live in New York's Upper West Side - whilst neighbours are charged $3,000.

Ms Cohen, who happens to be a professional organiser, said the last three years in the apartment have been a joy and that friends even prefer to come and visit her.

She told the MailOnline: 'I'm sure there are some compromises, but it's worth it.'

Ms Cohen found her 12ft by 7ft 'microstudio' through a friend and cleared out all the furniture left behind by the previous tenant - the clutter was so bad you could see just a thin strip of carpet on the floor.

She then installed a desk with shelves about it on one side and a dresser behind a curtain on the other.

Above the dresser and towards the back of the room she installed a bunk bed style frame for one person with a short ladder.

This elevated her mattress so it was off the ground but just 23 inches from the ceiling.
'The first night I slept in the apartment I had a panic attack,' she said.

'When I went up to bed and I woke up in the middle of the night - I had a friend stay over because I thought I was going to fall out of the bed - when I woke up there was the ceiling and the wall on every side.

'After that night I have not had a panic attack and it's cosy.'