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.

Q. What do your boss and a slinky have in common?
A. They’re both fun to watch tumble down the stairs.

About a month after a hundred of us got laid off, a friend sent me that joke because our department director got canned too, in the end.  Oh sweet joy.  He is a mean, awful person.

So after that little bit of Schadenfreude, I got to realizing how my dwindling finances are dwindling further, meanwhile my expenses have hit in a big bad way after the holidays.  I’ve sold stuff on Craigslist, things I didn’t need, and then I actually considered selling my car.  I take public transportation around town a lot, and ride my bike in summer.  Of course, in Chicago we have that whole crazy parking problem during the winter, so the car was on the chopping block.

But still, I am job hunting and might have to take something in the suburbs.  That would require a car, and this car has a few years of life in it still.  So I did my research and discovered that Chicago Title Loans would be a great solution.  With a car title loan, they look at your book value and calculate what they would lend you.  It helped me keep my bills paid while I work out my employment situation, and keep my wheels so I have more options on where I end up working.

By the way Chicago  is near Cicero, Lyons, Englewood, Hometown, and Chicago Ridge.

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.