I did it for a year or two and I wouldn't recommend it. You end up with piles of old papers and buckets of paper soaking in water - the paper needs to soak for a short while to properly mush down - a rusting squasher thing and water everywhere (you need a fair bit of room to store them in a place where water run-off is OK and the floor is impermeable; and the whole endeavour is punishing on your arms and hands. (Even when you don't get cuts or bangs from doing it.)
They work fairly well for overnight smooring of fires but you'd get as good an effect from wet dross in my experience. (With an open fire.)
There are other ways to save money - and I suspect better things to use old newspapers for. I gave it up as a bad job.