http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112557219
Journalist Lauren Weber knows a little something about being cheap. When she was growing up, her father refused to set the heat above 50 degrees during the winter in New England.
He turned out the lights, even if someone had left a room for just a moment. And for a little while he even tried to ration the family's use of toilet paper. Seriously.
Rather than traumatize Weber, all that — and more — made her the perfect person to explore the roots of frugality in the United States.
