recession diaries

For those not familiar with the "The Recession Diaries" as it appeared on the Chicago Tribune's Web site, I used it to achieve two purposes: share tips for economic survival and thrift, and report my own stories from the home front as I wrestle with debt, financial choices and spending discipline....

Journalists, more accustomed to covering news than making it, are even less used to becoming part of the beat and story they cover. Imagine someone who reports on the local sewage board being asked to lay some pipe.But two weeks ago, I entered into my beat and its biggest story in dramatic fashion....

At least Lou Carlozo can't say he was unprepared. As the Chicago Tribune's assistant feature editor and writer of the popular "Recession Diaries" blog, he knew better than most what the suddenly cash-strapped have to look forward to. Still, it didn't make it any easier when on Wednesday he got his...