The house that my grandparents lived in for 50 years had NO bathroom other then a sink and toilet. There was a shower head with a shower curtain in the basement which you had to go OUTSIDE to get to. And my grandma had 2 hip replacements so she couldn't comfortably go up and down steps. My grandparents 'sponge bathed' every day. I asked my dad once how he got clean when living there (from the time he was a sophomore in HS until him and my mom got married when they were 22) and he said he spongebathed and was probably more clean then a lot of the kids he went to school with! When they moved into the trailer behind my parents house there was a HUGE tub and a separate shower - but my dad put a large piece of plywood over the tub and they put a dresser up there for more space. Neither one of them could get in and out of the tub anyway. I don't know if my grandpa ever used the shower or not (change was hard for him! ) but my grandma certainly enjoyed using the shower when she had one.