A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

And in this economy, I come to a lot of conclusions.  I conclude that a Saturday night at home is easier than finding a way to do something for under $25. I conclude that I like my job even though it gives me a headache every single day and my boss is a lunatic.  I conclude that living in Park Ridge is paradise, even though I grew up in Florida and married the man who grew up three blocks from Hillary.

I also conclude that there are times when you do things with money you never expected to.  Last fall, our daughter was set to start at Loyola University and we learned we didn’t get the financial assistance we thought she was going to get.  Classes were going to start in three weeks, but we didn’t have the cash to cover that first semester’s tuition.  We didn’t know where to find it, since my husband’s commissions were low all year and I was worried about a layoff. So we went online and found a fast loan source – a car title loan through Park Ridge Title Loans.  I would never have done this if I had to go to a currency exchange or one of those other places.  But this is based on the Internet.  You get your money in like two days and that’s just what we needed.  I’d recommend car title loans to anyone who needs cash fast for important things.

By the way Park Ridge  is near Wilmette, Des Plaines, Lincolnwood, Glenview, and Harwood Heights.

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.

I told my brother the other day there are six things that define when you are getting older:

1. The end of your tie doesn’t come anywhere near the top of your pants.
2. You take a metal detector to the beach.
3. You wear black socks with sandals.
4. You can’t remember the last time you laid on the floor to watch television.
5. Your ears are hairier than your head.
6. You feel nostalgic about saving the Purple Hotel at Lincoln and Touhy.

He hits four of them, me three. And here’s the kicker: at this time in our lives, when you would think things would be settled out financially, we’re both up against it with this financial and housing price meltdown. I’ve heard of people being despondent over it. And I’ll admit I’ve lost some sleep. But I’m a survivor, the kind of guy who goes on the Internet when I have a problem in search of solutions.

My crazy find lately has been car title loans. There have been a couple of pinches I was in – money owed there, receivables due in here – where timing caught me short. So I checked out what my Jaguar could get me at Lincolnwood Title Loans – it was a perfect solution! I needed $5500 for two weeks, and that’s where I got it. A car title loan is just another way of working with an asset to get cash leverage.

Not too old yet!

By the way Lincolnwood is near evanston, Skokie, Niles, Park Ridge, and Harwood Heights.

My husband thought it would be good for the kids to take up camping.  You know, the tent, kerosene stove, everything packed on top the car, sleeping bags, trying to stay dry in the rain, the whole thing.

I say camping is nature’s way of feeding mosquitos.  But I lost that argument. So there we were, scheduled to head out to Yellowstone in four days, leaving our nice air conditioned house in Des Plaines behind us in July.  But Hal took the SUV in for servicing and we get hit with a $2300 estimate. For that kind of money we could have flown to someplace without bugs, snakes and mountain lions.  But the kids had their hearts set on it.

Anyway, that was not a good time to get hit with that bill.  So in a rush, I went on the internet and found Des Plaines Title Loans, where I found the money we needed.  And in a way, it was a perfect solution, using the car title loan to fix the car.  But the important part was we got the money the next day, and the approval in one hour.  That way we were able to get the car repaired at his favorite mechanic’s on Rand Road in time for the trip.

In the end, the kids and Hal had a good time.  And I get to chose where we go next year.

By the way Des Plaines is near Mt Prospect, Park Ridge, Wheeling, Glenview, and Northbrook.