You are likely going to have to live on what you make AND make some real life changes. You may have to move, change schools and all the rest AND go to school.
I have done plenty I don't WANT to do. It is easier NOT to do things for sure, but really, you do need to live within your means ( as if there were no $$ from "him.). Obviously that is not where you are living now.
People move, kids change schools, and friends stay friends if they are good friends even if they are 12 years old. Life goes on.
You will make new friends, your kids will make new friends, you will learn new living skills and life will go on. You are going to have to step out of YOUR comfort zone for your family and with your family.
You need to decide to do this and then do it.
BTW no one said it was EZ. However, ANYTHING WORTH DOING is NOT USUALLY EZ.
You can sit on the wheel and spin (think about decisions) or you can step off the wheel (make a decision) and enter life as a full participant with your kids. You can focus on being a victim of your Husbands addiction or you can choose to take care of yourself and your kids.
My Dad lost his job of 30 years when I was a kid. Mom had a job tthat did not pay a lot.
You know what I did? It was fall.. I got my hunting license and went out and shot a deer in season.. and that is what we ate. I helped cut wood to heat the house. I had a vegetable garde. My Brother and I raised chickens for food and eggs and sold the surplus. I went to work and paid rent and went to school and got good marks.. and eventually Dad got another job and life went on.
I was raised with with table linens and sterling flat ware. I spent time working for $10 an hour (or less) with a (yes, only one) plastic table cloth and plastic flat ware. I made it just fine. It wasn't ez.
I have lived in fine homes.. and I lived in a crack house in a bad neighborhood and I never used crack. The point is I made it and I am here today to tell the tale!
All these things added texture to my life and today I am fine. You can decide to be fine as well.