My memory is pretty good but I find myself continually leaving the faucet on in the bathroom and kitchen sink.
If there is some background noise going on that drowns out the sound, I've left it on by mistake several times. Mostly when I'm waiting for hot water to get upstairs, or for the dish pan to fill up, and get distracted. I've left the hose running outdoors several times.
I've not done that (yet.) I still submit that these things are not because aging makes one forgetful, it's that the cumulative quantity of the same behaviours & events inevitably makes them blur together. No single tourine event even registers anymore. This is made worse when we retire, since not only do we not have jobs to break up the mundane household stuff, but we are exclusively engaging in a much higher volume of the mundane household stuff. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
@Beth Gallagher My Grandma's house in Chicago had NO WATER METER. No idea how the city billed her, if they did at all. I often found the garden hose had been left on outdoors, flooding the lot next to the house. This aggravated my Dad; we had a meter in our basement, were supplied by City of Chicago water purchased by our town (Berwyn), billed twice a year. Dirt cheap. Frank
I tend to leave lights on, but not faucets, although I did forget the sprinklers, and have left them on all night a few times.
I'm a bit OCD, Frank. Always checking and rechecking lights on/off, doors locked, faucets dripping, stove burners, etc. I suppose it keeps me occupied. I have a single-handle faucet in the kitchen and it is finicky... has to be closed at a certain angle or it drips. So I have developed a knack and always pay attention to that one for sure. We had our pool built in 1996, and one time shortly after it was finished I turned the water on to raise the water level and forgot about it. Overnight I created a flood in our backyard and several neighbors as well. I only did that once, though. And never heard the end of it, either.
The most notable incident was when I left the outdoor faucet running to a hose with one of those pistol nozzles you have to squeeze. When I drove home from work one day the water was spraying like Old Faithful in the back yard. The hose had burst. I have 2" water pipes coming into the house in town (long story), so the water pressure is very high. It was quite impressive. Not sure how long it had been going.
Never faucets, just lights. Lights are silent but running faucets you can hear and get your attention.
Had to be watchful when grandbabies were in the bathroom by themselves. I have found water trickling, sink almost overflowing, wet counter top as an attempt to clean it, empty hand soap dispenser, wet hand towels, tissue clogging toilet, ugh.
My youngest son seemed to think that an entire roll of toilet paper was "single use." I had to leave a plunger permanently in the kids' bathroom and taught them all to use it. I wonder if he is still spinning Charmin like Wheel of Fortune now that he has to buy his own.
...only if your house is big enough. In an apartment with no stairs you'd hear it. I've never left it on --- so far.