I told my husband, the lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.

But he went ahead and bought those 500 tickets when the Illinois jackpot was over $100 million. Big shocker, he didn’t win.

Meanwhile that put us $500 in the hole just when the wall were crashing in. I wasn’t selling houses anywhere, his job ended a month earlier, and we have two kids in school at Oakton Community College and Columbia downtown. I was waiting on a check from a closing I had coming up (nice place in the Maine East district), but both kids had tuition costs and I wasn’t sure how to cover it in time to get them started for the semester.

So I did my own math and decided to look for a car title loan. My car is paid for and about seven years old, and I was surprised at the value I still had on it. I went online and found Niles Title Loans, an online car title loans company that gets you your money ASAP (one day, electronically sent to your checking account). I was able to pay it back in two weeks, but you can stretch it out if necessary.

The kids are both back in school. And I’m encouraging them to take some math classes.

By the way Niles is near Park Ridge, Harwood Heights, Lincolnwood, Wilmette, and Kenilworth.