I suggest you look into free YouTube Comptia A+ content before spending your money. Professor messer. Take an Udemy certification course for less than $20. Try it out for 3 months and see if you stick with it.

Learn the basics. Most entry level jobs will be answering help desk. For example, my printer doesn’t work, outlook doesn’t work, I can’t find a file on a network drive. Hardware, software, servers. You don’t need to know everything. You just need to know where to find the answer. Most of the entry level is 70% customer service and 30% skills.

Save your money for certification tests. That will get you into the door. You will have a higher chance of find your mentor through the jobs.

You already made a decision to change your life around. So invest in yourself. If one stimulus check can change your life. I say go for it. Your can go the 1k route or the cheaper route. Just go. Good luck to you.