Meanest/ thriftiest thing you’ve ever heard of

Thrifty behaviour can be counterproductive sometimes. My mum was a child in the war (born 1935) and was very much brought up not to waste anything and to make things last. This resulted in her buying a bottle of lemonade from the 'pop man' rationing it to a small glass each every couple of days (there were three of us) and not buying a fresh one until the following week. This meant that after the first thimbleful on day one it was flat. In that position I would let children drink it on the first day, on the understanding that there would be no more until the man came round again next week.

It was the same with fruit, which she did encourage us to eat, but if there were wrinkled apples in the bowl we couldn't take a fresh one, with the result that the wrinkled apples got wrinklier and the fresh firm ones started to wrinkle.

RosieandherMaw

Momac55

I worked with a man who used to bring the knob off the central heating system to work so that his wife, who was at home on mat leave with a new baby couldn’t put the heating on

A knob indeed

Yes, indeed!

I wonder if she left him?

I worked with a man who used to bring the knob off the central heating system to work so that his wife, who was at home on mat leave with a new baby couldn’t put the heating on

I've just been told that would class as abuse nowadays, as a form of coercive control.
Most unpleasant, and yes let's hope the poor young mum and her baby did leave him ☹️

I know where that knob would end up! Dreadful man.
Doodle My mother had hard childhood, she would go without rather than let us. I would make a pudding with the wrinkled fruit and eat the fresh, let children drink the bottle of lemonade in one day, think most would. There is a big difference between thrifty and mean.

I agree, and made that point upthread. I'm not blaming my mum - she was brought up in the war - but pointing out that sometimes saving money at all costs has unintended consequences. As I said in my post I would also give the lemonade to the children, and I would find a way to use the wrinkled apples, but I didn't live through food shortages as she did.

I'd forgotten about this till reading this thread. I used to be in a 'baby sitting circle ' as was common in the 70's. One family I baby sat for had no heating on in the middle of winter. I was there for hours one night with just the red light on the electric fire for comfort. I knew my friends's husband was tight and she was afraid to question anything.
Eventually they divorced and she went back to teaching and remarried happily.