Toilet manners and a new wife... help?

My parents grew up in the depression, and they always said to not flush the toilet because it would just go down itself and they didnt want to run up the electric bill. I am getting married next week and am not sure that my new wife can deal with the smell and invconvenience of hovering over a mounded toilet. How can I change a behavior that I have had for 35 years? ITs almost a comfort thing now that my parents are dead....