Even today my mom cuts napkins in half before placing them into the rack. One time when we were running low I had replaced them myself. Few seconds later she was already hovering over the dining table with her scissors dutifully mutiplying our napkin 2x before anybody could use any.
Her penny pinching was a trigger for me. Often I would be unable hold my tongue on something that I found ridiculous. I found many things. Having to shut all the lights off anytime I left a room even to just go to the bathroom. Not being able to run the sink while brushing my teeth. But one of her tactics I hated most was how she grocery shopped. We would drive to multiple stores in order to save what seemed like literal pennies. Her response to my bickering when it got too loud would always be:
Her penny pinching was a trigger for me. Often I would be unable hold my tongue on something that I found ridiculous. I found many things. Having to shut all the lights off anytime I left a room even to just go to the bathroom. Not being able to run the sink while brushing my teeth. But one of her tactics I hated most was how she grocery shopped. We would drive to multiple stores in order to save what seemed like literal pennies. Her response to my bickering when it got too loud would always be:
Dig the dirt. Will there be money?
or
We're not even rich. We have to do this.
I grew up not wanting money in the typical sense. Never had dreams of lambos and mansions that I would enjoy I was rich. All I ever dreamed of was shopping at one grocery store, of keeping the lights on wherever I went in the house. And I d reamed of not having to watch my mom cut napkins in half.
Your gas price example reminded me of a loaf of bread example (i think it was loaf of bread. let's just run with that though). In the UK journalists would randomly ask one of their leaders to guess the price of a loaf of bread. It was meant to demonstrate how detached they are from regular folk who know/care about such.