OBS blows the griffin out of the water <| sep |> Some good advice here . Your first priority is to not blow the 30 grand . Giving $ 5 k to your mom sounds like a good idea . Don ' t loan your brother money for a car , and don ' t loan or give money to anyone else , in fact don ' t even tell anyone that you have this money . The rest of the money has to go into savings and you can ' t spend it . If your SO is responsible give the money to her . Also consider giving half of your paychecks to her so she can save them and make sure the baby has what it needs . If you can ' t trust yourself with money you need to trust someone . Aside from all that you need to focus 110 % on moving up in your job and earning some money . $ 11 . 50 hr is ok for a teenager but not for the head of a family . I see in your comments you got your GED and are going to college . Make sure the college thing will lead to a career , and be open to working while you ' re there . College can be expensive but make sure you don ' t blow your remaining $ 25 k on that , go on the cheap and get all the aid that you can . Going to a local or community college initially is a good way to get some basic requirements on the cheap and then figure out how to transfer those hours to another school . Good luck !