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.