Hi All
I am new to this site but like what I have seen so far...I have a situation that I need help with..Me and my son who is 6 have been living with friends who are married and have a teenage daughter along with custody of a elderly family member..
We moved in 6 months ago because at the time a roommate situation had gone south and she found somewhere to move and basically did not care were me and my son wound up..
So the friends told me that we could come and stay with them.Well at the time it was supposed to be until I could get on my feet again financially.This was in January which was going to work out fine.Then in Feb I lost my job and started having problems with my feet.I finally got unemployment in May.
The situation is this we don't have a room of our own we stay in their living room I sleep on a air mattress and my son sleeps on the loveseat.We have no privacy and I pay close to $100 a month to keep my entire house in storage to go and look at our stuff.My unemployment is not a lot because I was working for a company that the hours varied because it was a college bookstore..
Well the problem is that I have not been able to find a job here in town that I can do because it has to be something that I am not required to stand on my feet to do..I have 17 yrs of retail experience but that does not help with jobs where you can sit down and work.
With my limited income it's been hard to find somewhere to live other than where I am..The situation I am in there is usually daily yelling at the teenager because she has done something that is not the way her step mom wants it to be done and when I have tried to help out all I get is that's not the way I wanted it done or that's not the way it's supposed to be done so I quit doing much around the house for that factor..Then I get yelled at for not doing stuff I am in a no win situation.
I want to stay here in FL and where we are because of my son is in occupational therapy but on the other hand I have a friend who lives in Virginia and has offered to help us move up there and stay with her and until we can find a bigger place there..
The catch here is my son is developmentally delayed and thanks to the OT he managed to pass kindergarten this year..I have been in FL 5 yrs now and sorta want to stay here but on the other hand not sure that staying here we are going to survive with the amount of stress we are under living where we are living..
The housing here for low income has a waiting list and I have to have my birth certificate which I have ordered from where I was born which is Illinois but it maybe another 2-3 weeks before it gets here and there is no guarentee that even with that which is required will get me into somewhere..If I could find someone that needed help around the house and with child care as a live in situation it would be great but I have yet to come accross anything like that here so far..I don't know that moving to Virginia is the best thing to do if that would not cause my son more problems than necessary..Any help or advice would be greatly apprciated..I am kinda stuck here and not sure which way to go..I really don't want to move state to state again I did that several times when I was younger before my son was born and we moved to FL when my son was 14 months old and have been here ever since..Just not sure what to do...

I know how you feel. After my parents divorced my siblings and I moved around with our mom alot and that is definitely not the way to grow up. You can check out the website for CoAbode. They are a free service for single moms who are looking to share housing with another single mom. This is great because housing costs are lower and you will have single parenting in common with your roommate. Good Luck.