so i am a single 19y/o mom with a 10 month old. i live with my mother and am not currently working. my dad died last year a week before i had my son and my mother is at the point where she can no longer afford the house by herself and is looking for a new place. i’ve been taking classes online to be a preschool teacher. i finally completed all of them but now she’s getting a new place with her boyfriend and essentially kicking me out.

i don’t have a car to drive anymore because her boyfriend crashed mine. my grandmother is the only person i can go to, and that’s who i’ll be staying with at the end of march when she officially sells the house. well my grandmother is a snowbird. now she’s here in florida but she goes to west virginia from april to october. i’ll be going with her.

so now having said all this, the childcare license i got is no good in WV. plus, it won’t pay enough to live on my own. ideally in the 7 months in there with her i can work and save enough money to get my own apartment when we come back to florida. i am now thinking of becoming a CNA because it pays slightly better.

only problem with that is again the license is only good from state to state. i’m just feeling really stuck i guess and would really like some advice. either way i’ll have to look at income based apartments so that i can afford it. i’ve just applied for food stamps (EBT) and cash assistance (TANF).

i’ll also have to find daycare for my son if i want to work too. i THINK i found a position for a patient care technician in west virginia that does not require a CNA license and provides paid training, and pays decent. fingers crossed i can get that position but otherwise i’m just lost.

on top of that, i don’t have a car. my mother claimed my son on her taxes and said she’d use the money to help me get a new one. but we’ll see, she hasn’t kept her word for much. and then there’s the trouble of finding a job and apartment when i come back to florida... anyways, i think you’ve read enough. like i said, i know i sound like a complete mess. i like to pretend i have everything together but in reality i really don’t. i just want to be self sufficient and a good mother to my son.

i really would appreciate any advice you have for me, if anyone has been in a similar situation or just has their head on straighter than me and is willing to take some time out of their day to give me advice.