What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

i'm almost sure the book was written before 2000.
its about young girl (abandoned?) in a post-apocalyptic world who lives in a house (attic?) with two other people (relatives?) a women and an old man, i think the man was at home most of the time building little buttled models.
the girl is wondering the streets by day , searching and collecting things she can later pawn in exchange for living money.
she store it all in a shopping cart which she ties to herself so that other wanderers couldn't steal it

In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster

Thank you sooo much!!
I have been looking for weeks and people start telling me that I made up a book from memory:)