My wife is a pessimist.  I came home from work and told her how my boss complimented me on a project. Wife: A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the pants. I told  her the point in this economy is to be irreplaceable.  Wife: Don’t be irreplaceable, if you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted. I said, do you have any idea what kind of crap I put up with to hold onto this job??  Wife: The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.

This is why she is not employed herself.  Debbie Downer is easy to lay off.  But she redeemed herself a few weeks ago. We got a big unexpected expense, and I didn’t know how we were going to pay for it.  She said that would be easy, go to Wheeling Title Loans, where we can get money from the value of her car.  She was right, that’s exactly what we did.

So, that goes to show that pessimists, looking at half empty glasses, still have a few good ideas now and then.

By the way Wheeling is near Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Illinois, Northbrook, Prospect Heights, and Riverwoods.

I was under the impression that to steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

My professor at Triton didn’t quite see it that way.  So I was going to flunk her course, but she gave me an option. Take it again.  Which might sound reasonable until you figure out you’re going to have to pay twice for honor of enduring the pain twice.

But that’s life. Lesson learned. The even bigger problem was this was an expense I didn’t anticipate. And it caught me short.

So I did more research, on the Internet, and found a way to get fast cash.  You can use your car title, if you own it outright, to get a car title loan. I went to Rolling Meadows Title Loans for mine.  It was easy and fast and I got my money in a day. Amazing.

Next semester, I should be this resourceful in my schoolwork.

By the way Rolling Meadows is near Arlington Heights, Mt Prospect, Wheeling, Elk Grove Village, and Schaumburg.

Something I learned while studying at Oakton Community College and working at the same time was that bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

And when the money comes up short, man, that’s when the problems start.  I can’t believe the banks get away with that stuff, those overdraft fees.  And god help you when you get behind on a credit card.  The interest rates are more than 20%.

Even with my degree, it’s been touch and go with money for me, and this economy is not helping anything. I thought I had it all covered and then I had a fender bender on the Eisenhower a few months ago.  Sheesh, people in this town forget how to drive once things start icing up. So while I had my car insurance payments up to date, I still had a $500 deductible to cover for the repairs and no way to do it.

So I did what made sense.  I used my car’s value to pay for the car repair.  A perfect system.  I looked for a car title loan store and found Prospect Heights Title Loans online.  For anyone whose looked into getting car title loans, you have to appreciate the simplicity of doing it this way.  And speed. I had my money in one day.

Bills travel fast, but the title loan did too.  Amazing.

By the way Prospect Heights  is near Wheeling, Northbrook, Des Plaines, Mt Prospect, and Arilington Heights.

I’ve always been of the opinion that 99 percent of lawyers give the rest of them a bad name.

Which explains a situation I found myself in a last year. My car got banged up pretty badly by a pizza chain delivery truck that took a corner too tight at a corner where I was waiting for a red light. I was ok, but my dog was injured from the impact. My insurance covered everything but the $500 deductible, but the vet bills came to about $2200. Both my insurance company and the pizza company’s lawyers fought this one tooth and nail – supposedly I should have had her in a restraining seat belt device in the back seat??? - and I got stuck with the bill.

This did not come at a good time, financially speaking, but my beautiful dog needed follow-up surgery and I needed money to cover it and the deductible. I went on the internet and found Mount Prospect Title Loans, a car title loans company that loaned me the cash based on my car’s value. It was easier than going to a car title loan store like the kind you see on Higgins Road or in the city. It’s all online, and you get your cash in a day.

My car and dog are fixed, and next time I’m finding a better lawyer.

By the way Mount Prospect is also near Arlington Heights, Wheeling, Des Plaies, Rolling Meadows, and Palaine.

I made a list of things I do that annoy even myself:

1. I sing along with the elevator music.
2. I would rather go to work than stay home sick.
3. I constantly talk about the price of gasoline.
4. I enjoy hearing about other people’s operations.
5. I consider coffee one of the most important things in life.

Another thing is I can’t stand is having credit card debt hanging over my head. It happens – God knows, emergencies come up and you have to get out that plastic – but fall behind on those charges and you get slapped with really high interest rates. Like 28%! So to manage down my credit cards, and keep payments made in time to bring down those rates, I took out a car title loan from Lincolnshire Title Loans. It was a lower interest rate, so I was actually doing a smart thing. I thought car title loans were something for people with really desperate problems, but in fact that’s not always the case. A car title loan is a financing option – something grown ups do when they need to manage their money.

Of course, that doesn’t stop me from singing on elevators. And why should I?

By the way Lincolnshire is near Wheeling, Buffalo Grove, Riverwoods, Vernon Hills, and Deerfield.

There are a lot of unanswerables in life. Why is “abbreviated” such a long word? Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? Why is the third hand on the watch called a second hand?

My new question is why do the commercials make it look like credit cards are about creating a wonderful happy life for you and your family, but car title loans are looked down upon? Lemme tell you about my credit card story.

I was given three credit cards when I went to college, and here, four years after I graduated, I’ve only gotten more and more debt accumulated. I paid the minimum balances for the last three years, then lost my job at United in the fall (just as well, it didn’t make sense to commute into the city now that they moved there from here in Elk Grove Village). My unemployment checks didn’t come close to covering my expenses, so I had to figure out how to keep them working in case I had to buy something on emergency.

Fortunately, my car is paid for (thanks dad!). So I went to Elk Grove Village Title Loans to see what it was worth. I was able to get a car title loan in less than 24 hours, which helped me make rent and get some car repairs that I might need if I take a job in McHenry County (yeah, who knew?). Either way, it was at a rate that is less than my 29% credit card interest charges.

Which goes to show, it pays to question some things we take for granted in life.

By the way Elk Grove Village is near Wood Dale, Bensenville, Mt Prospect, Arlington Heights, and Wheeling.

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.

I asked my obstetrician about how my childbirth would feel, and she said I’ll feel more pressure than pain. My baby weighed in at ten pounds, seven ounces. Calling that just pressure is like saying a tornado is a lot of wind current.

Which is just like the storm of financial problems we ran into around the time of my delivery. We had both lost our jobs, our mortgage was killing us, and then the hospital and doctor expenses were only partially covered by our health insurance. We talked about selling one of the cars, but with a baby and both of us looking for work, that didn’t seem like a smart idea either.

I went online and looked for ideas. That’s when I found Buffalo Grove Title Loans, a car title loan company that advances you money depending on the blue book value of your vehicle. Both our cars are five years old, but since they’re paid for we have the title. So I got $4000 to cover us in that torrent of expenses, enough to keep our heads above water and the insurance bills paid. It’s not been an easy time, but finding that cash got us through the toughest part of it and now we feel like we can manage things and get back on solid footing.

By the way Buffalo Grove is near Wheeling, Northbrook, Deerfield, Highwood, and Prospect Heights.