Homemaking appliances and equipment - enough but not too much

It's a fine line we walk sometimes - that line between having enough and having too much. One of the things that confuses many of us when we come to this way of life is this question: what can I use that will help me with my work and what it too much?  You would have to look back a long way to find women who commonly did the work many of us do now. I guess it would have to be pre-1950 because