I've been reading Fauf's blog entry and the comments about this D.......Economy and it reminded me of when I was a little girl in England in the 1940s and 50s.    

We lived in a very small house in which the front room was a newsagent's shop which made the living space even smaller.  We had no appliances except a vacuum cleaner which we called a "Hoover".  I can only think there was no other brand.  We did have a radio and a wind-up gramophone on which we played old 78 records.  We had no fridge so we shopped nearly every day or had it delivered.  We never owned a car which was just as well as there was no where to park it.   I never even owned a bike or anything on wheels as my parents thought the road where we lived was too dangerous and after returning to England later I would say the road was as busy as a freeway so I later understood my parents reasoning.

For many years although the beach was only a mile from our home we could not play there because it was mined and it took several years before the mines could be cleared enough to make it safe.

However there were advantages to living in a shop because I had more candy than most kids  ( a dubious advantage for my teeth!) and I also read all the comics and books we had for sale!