She's ready to move out of her car, but ...

DEAR AMY: For the past month and a half, I've been living in my car with one of my friends. I'll call him "George." I am 20 and George is 19. At this point, I have a job and have saved enough money to get my own place. The only reason I haven't moved into housing is that I have been waiting for George, who is like a brother to me, to save up money to pay for his half. The problem is, he only works six hours a week, and he won't save any money. I should mention that he smokes weed and most of his money goes for that. He keeps promising to get a new job or work more hours, but there is always some excuse why he doesn't. I don't know how to tell him that I'm tired of living in my car and need to move on. I don't want him to hate me.Sick of My Car

DEAR SICK: Congratulations to you for working so hard and saving your money for housing. Living on the margins is depressing and exhausting.

It is also very challenging -- and heartbreaking -- to watch someone you care so much about choose to stay in a hole you have worked so hard to climb out from.

You are not helping George at all by staying homeless. Losing his sleeping place might be the only thing that persuades him to start living his life differently.

You will have to do the tough thing here and say to him, "I can't live like this anymore. I found a place to live and I'm going to take the car. You're going to have to find someplace else to crash." You can go with him to a shelter if he doesn't have anyplace else to go. A shelter administrator or social worker might be helpful; ask for advice.

He may ask if he can crash with you. Unless he can come up with the cash upfront, you should say no. Otherwise you are just transferring the problem to another location.

You don't want your friend to hate you. But you can't help anyone (even yourself) if you stay in your car.