Recession watch: My first payday loan

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession.

For years, I've lived by a couple rules. For instance, I never eat yellow snow, and I never step foot inside one of those payday lending establishments.

Well, at least my yellow snow rule is still intact.

Like many Americans, I've never had a high opinion of payday lending loan establishments, but earlier this year, utterly broke, I finally broke down. My reasoning was that I'd rather take out a few hundred dollars from a payday loan place than ask my parents for money, something that really loses its appeal after the age of, say, 25, let alone when you're 38. And the last thing I wanted to do was to try to play a cat-and-mouse game with my bank called, "Write a check to the store and hope it's not cashed for awhile."

So I confess. Earlier this year, for the first time in my life, I went to a payday loan place. But I only did it once. Well, twice.

OK, four times.