My grandparents were so poor, ag, they really did make meals of an orange box,etc.
Why, even today the local window cleaners use a sander but you don't hear me moaning,,,,,,,much.
The Goon Shows were repeated when I was a kid and I remember odd snippets of dialogue (or _because_ they were odd, like you memorize baffling things, in the hope that you'll find out what they mean, later), one of which was Bloodnok or Griptype Thynne, inviting Ned Seagoon to "pull up an orange box" (to sit on).
I can picture a (70s) tea-chest but don't know what size a 50s orange box was, nor whether it was wood or cardboard. Ask your ma. (?) Whatever, it was clearly a common point of reference or it would not have got laughs (the character is hard up, or else, a miser).
Poverty in the UK is sometimes described as 'relative'. People feel poor if they see others better off than they are.
Real poverty, in SE Asia for example, sees some reduced to selling their children to pedophiles. That's real poverty.
If the hand-hold slots are 3 feet apart, the arms would be stretched outwards, at an awkward angle. Modern day health advice would be to keep the arms straight to the sides of the chest but it's not as if they would weigh 50lbs+, is it?
Then again, 3 cubic feet of (mostly) water would be like two+ bucket loads. Hmm.