Penny Pinching Tips Prove Popular

"The things I was doing were saving me more money than the things they were writing about," Bailey said.

The Sun Journal launched its series in January after the economy tanked and editors sought ways to tap into what was sure to the be a big ongoing story.

The newspaper told readers it would refund the cost of a six-month subscription if tips didn't offer savings of at least twice the cost of a subscription. At the time, a media analyst at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla., said he knew of no other news organization offering such a guarantee.

At first, it was projected that the suggestions would lead to savings of up to $1,000. Instead, they totaled seven times that, Rhoades said.

Many readers wrote the paper saying they liked the project. In fact, it was so popular that the paper is continuing with a slimmed-down version of the series.

But it's hard to say if the series prompted anybody to subscribe to the paper or to hold onto an existing subscription, he said.

"The whole thing is unquantifiable, but our sense is it was a good thing to do," Rhoades said.

Bailey said he's already frugal and that some of the newspaper tips were impractical, so he decided to take Rhoades up on his pledge and ask for a refund. Still, he likes the idea of people figuring out ways to conserve, whether it be gasoline, water, electricity -- or money.