Warren shows her frugal chops in reusing tea bags

Elizabeth Warren proved her fiscally prudent bona fides in a recent profile in Vogue magazine, in which she makes a cup of tea with a used tea bag stored in her desk.

The profile of the Harvard law professor, who is charged with overseeing the creation of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was published in the most recent edition of the magazine. The article opens with the anecdote about Warren and the tea bag.

"If Elizabeth Warren offers you a cup of tea, don’t accept," writes Rebecca Johnson.

After the author's comments on the extreme recycling, Warren acknowledges she can't bring herself to throw away a still functional tea bag.

“I know,” said Warren. “But I just can’t stand the waste of throwing out a tea bag after one use. It’s like a knife in the gut for me.”

The CFPB does not officially come into being until July, one year after the Dodd-Frank Act authorized its creation. However, an implementation team is establishing the office and making hires to staff it, and Treasury officials said the office is on schedule for its July debut.

Warren has said she wants the CFPB to fundamentally remake the way consumers obtain credit from banks and other non-bank financial institutions. She has said a key part of that effort will be dramatically simplifying the wording of consumer financial agreements and making it so consumers can readily and immediately compare financial products with all relevant fees disclosed clearly up front.