Penny Pinching Tips Prove Popular

PORTLAND, Maine -- The Sun Journal's editor knew he was taking a risk when the newspaper launched a penny-pinching series with a bold promise: Readers who didn't save money from the tips over a six-month period could demand a $97 newspaper subscription refund.

The Lewiston paper offered penny-pinching pointers on everything from making your own laundry detergent to getting into state parks for free to pooling money with neighbors to buy yard equipment together. The paper ran "fun on the cheap" stories each Thursday, and had daily cost-cutting recipes.

In all, the newspaper's "Tough People Smart Money" project offered 186 daily tips with potential savings of more than $7,000, said Executive Editor Rex Rhoades.

And Rhoades is breathing a sigh of relief. Only three readers of the newspaper in Maine's second-largest city, 35 miles north of Portland, have seen fit to demand a refund.

"We had a number of people who sent us letters that thanked us for saving them money," Rhoades said.

But the savings didn't add up for Lauris Bailey, a 75-year-old retired teacher from New Sharon. Unimpressed with the thriftiness tips, Bailey asked for his money back.

Give Bailey a minute and he'll tell you 20 different ways he saves money. He scrapes every last bit of peanut butter from the jar, unplugs his TV when leaves for the day and takes "military showers" where he turns off the water when he lathers up and turns it back on to rinse off. He even measures out his toothpaste when he brushes his teeth.