Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason.

And we’ve seen our share of that here in Illinois. And what I hear is our property taxes and income taxes and sales taxes are all going up more in the future. Meanwhile, our home values are going down and jobs are disappearing. It’s hard to be mr. happy face about all this.

I think the best news is it’s making everyone a little more resourceful. We know we have to find a way to pay for everything, even while cutting back. There simply are some things you can’t cut back on, however. I live in South Holland but one of my jobs is in Naperville.  So I need my car to get to work.  When the transmission fell apart on it, I couldn’t afford a new car and I couldn’t afford to not have a car.  So I used the car to get a loan to pay for the transmission.  I went to South Holland Title Loans and found the money for the car repair there.  Simple, and I got the money in a day, early enough to fix the car and only miss a few days of work.

I want to change the whole economy.  But for now, this is how I make do, and there’s a certain pride that comes with figuring out how to do that.

By the way South Holland is near Berwyn, Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills, Elmhurst, and Oak Forest.

I love Oak Park, but sometimes I think we’re a little too PC.  That’s why I laughed at a bumper sticker I saw the other day, “honk if you love peace and quiet.”

My next door neighbors could use a little help in the peace/quiet front.  They have parties in the back yard all summer long, and while we’re friends with them, we get no relief.  I never felt comfortable going out in the back just to read a book in the sunshine. And I’m sure they don’t want to see me in my swim suit.  So I looked into getting a wood fence, about five feet high.  It was $900, and I didn’t have much extra cash lying around.  So I heard you could borrow money from your car, sorta, with a car title loan.

I went online and sure enough, I found Oak Park Title Loans, a great place for car title loans.  You don’t have to go to some scary store in the city, you just take ten minutes to fill out the application.  The money is available in a day or two, depending on how you do it. So I was able to put up that fence before the next weekend, when the next party was held.  I get my privacy, they get their party without having to look at me – that’s worth honking a horn.

Oak Park is also near River forest, Elmwood Park, Maywood, River Grove, and Berwyn

My husband thinks he’s an athlete because he goes to Sportsmans Park to play the horses. I supposed there’s some aerobic value to the 20 or 30 times he jumps up into the air to see his fillies lose. Maybe even more comes from that grinding, stomach churning feeling he gets when he loses race after race. The real workout comes when he arrives home and dances around my questions about where he was, what was he doing and how much he lost.

Fortunately for both of us, I keep charge of all the finances in the house. He gets his recreational allowance and that’s all he can lose. Everything to pay the bills is hidden from him.

So when I ran into a bunch of bad luck of my own — cutback at work, medical expenses, travel to Cleveland to take care of family, holidays — I had to come up with some ways to manage (dear horse-hubby isn’t going to help much). I went online and found Cicero Title Loans, a great solution when you need cash but can’t sell your car because you need it. A car title loan is also great because you get your money in a day, which is what i needed to pay certain bills on time.

By the way Cicero is near Maywood, Oak Park, Riverside, Berwyn, and Forest Park.

I knew when I married my wife she’s not much of a cook. She told me she couldn’t make Jello because she copuldn’t figure out how to get two cups of water into the little packages. Yeah, she’s a blonde.

So I decided I would be the cook. And I didn’t want to be an ordinary cook. I wanted to be a master chef, able to make amazing things like I see on the Food Network. So I went out and bought a $2300 oven-range, $1600 refrigerator, $4000 worth of top line cookware, a blender/food processor, and a complete selection of more than 80 spices and herbs. It all set me back more than $8000.

And I’m using it. More now than ever — because I lost my job and have time at home to really work on making great food. The problem is I’m still paying for a lot of this great kitchen with a major loss of income. How do I keep the repo man at bay?

I went to Berwyn Title Loans, a car title loan company that valued my Saab at more than $14,000. It’s pretty easy to do, all online, approved in an hour, money in a day – real fast cash. I didn’t need that much, but it’s just enough to avoid racking up late fees on my credit cards while I wait on some new job opportunities. It’s a great back up. And at the end of the day, I’d rather be eating a fine fusion of French and Thai vegetables than bad Jello.

By the way Berwyn  is near Cicero, Lyons, Forest Park, Maywood, and River Forest.