Same here. I was raised by a mother who was raised by a mother (and father) during the depression. So to say that we were "frugal" is putting it mildly. But honestly, when my grandmother started "recyling ice cubes" I thought that was a bit extreme. I do however, have a rain barrel and composter. Why waste?
Way off point here now, but this just reminded me of a skit on SNL (Saturday Night Live) a couple of decades ago when the original crew was still together. Gilda Radner had a character named Emily Latella, a slightly daft woman who liked to editorialize things. This one pops to mind:
"I don't know what all the fuss is about saying that we have to save our national race horses. I don't think that race horses should be so important that we have to hear about them on the news. What is the big fuss about, anyway?"
The news anchor (Jane Curtain) chimes in and says, "Emily...Emily...you've got it wrong. We just said that we need to reserve our natural resources."
Emily, who is sort of "church ladyish" in character looks up, bewildered. Then she utters her famous lines that her character always finished her routine with:
"Oh, well that's different then...
...Never mind."
What does this have to do with the thread? Nothing. It just spurred an old memory.
Here's an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afi2xeM5ZSI