3 years of housing my mother --Losing hope for my own life. Any advice?

Time to muster up all the courage you have, and THEN SOME, and sit Mom down and tell her the truth. You do NOT need to and you SHOULD NOT defend yourself or give any reasons. You are to tell her "Mom, I have decided that I want now to live on my own. I can give you two months to secure yourself a place to live, but I cannot give you longer. I expect you to move out by the end of the two months. I am not trying to be mean, I have no reasons for this other than that I have decided that I now want to live alone, on my own. Please make your arrangements. If, at the end of that time, you have not moved, I will have to evict you. I don't expect it will come to that, and I don't wish it to come to that, but I do need you to know I am prepared to go to that length."
Your Mom clearly has had her way with you. You are afraid of her. You are grown up now, and you will have to behave as a grown up if you expect to live as a grownup and not a frightened child. And trust me, I am 77 and I am here to guarantee you that we are ALL always frightened children. No matter we look like we know what we are doing. We are anxious scared kids who have to face down ever single new unfamiliar situation as though we were just newborn.

The mistake here was to allow your Mom to move in with you. Ha! Like you didn't know that, right. She sold her home. Then if she had to live at a Motel 6 until she found an apartment or condo that should have been as it should have been. But you believed her. That was your SECOND mistake. She has attempted to raise you to serve her well. Let's see now just how well she did.
Make no mistake. I know. This is going to take GREAT COURAGE.
Say it. Say it gently. Say "I love you, but this is a decision I have made for myself and it has nothing whatsoever to do with you." Then go in the other room and tremble a bit, cause this is scary stuff.
I am assuming of course, that your mom is living with you in your home. If that is not the case, if this is an apartment, and if Mom doesn't move out in that two month period, the better part of valor may be to give a 30 day notice, and to move out lock stock and barrel to a new apartment. Leave Mom there. She can assume or make a new lease and manage her own life.
Good luck. I hope you will update us. Mom is still very very young. For our time. She could still be working should she choose to. And she should definitely get a new life that isn't leaching off of your own.

I am of the opinion that if mom has lived with you for 3 years, if you own, you won't be able to evict get. Talk to an attorney and see. If that's the case, I think you start getting your house ready for market and tell Mom you are moving to a 1 bedroom apt and she's not invited. I would only give her 30 days, I would not allow her to be in the house when it's shown so I'd have her move out ASAP- 30 days. Tell your broker to ignore anything said by mom and that mom's not authorized to talk about the house. And you might want to ask an extra 20% over market to pay you for the hassle of moving!

I understand your dilemma. I'm an only child to a single parent mother. When I moved out of state to go to college (and at that same time we had sold our family home) she was utterly lost. She actually asked to be my (off campus) roommate in college. Thank the Lord I said no. Long story short, today my mom (90) lives next door to me (60). She never bothered to make friends anywhere because she had many sisters, and then also me. As the youngest, most of her siblings are now deceased or out of state. She relies on me as her entertainment committee and provider of her social life. Neighbors love her but she can't be bothered with the complexities of relationships, I guess (and probs why she is single) so she doesn't make any effort to do anything independently, anything socially or to help anyone, etc. She was a no-nonsense RN and worked up until her late 60's.

I would do a little research before your "talk" with her, think about what she can afford for rent, find online resources to search for housing, anything that will help to start move her forward. Not sure I would go so far as mentioning eviction at that discussion but you will need to make it very, very clear that there's a hard deadline after which time you hope she doesn't force you to resort to anything that may damage your relationship and cause you to feel very disrespected, etc. I think you will know if she's taking you seriously as you see what she spends her time doing after the talk.

Your mom got to live her 30's without a parent/roommate (I'm assuming) and after all, you did allow her to stay, mostly rent free, for all those years -- how many parents get to do that?. Now you need to pick up where you left off, before you chose to "help" her. Write down what you want to say and stick to the script so that the talk doesn't devolve. Tell her how much thought you've put into it. The point of the talk is to inform her of what's going to happen and why, that you will help her, that it doesn't at all mean you don't love her, but you will absolutely be moving on with your life, and she should as well. The move is also for her benefit, even if she won't see that right away. Wishing you the right words, the right perspective and the right outcome.

Was your mother a functional human being with a job before she sold her house?

She's in her mid-60s? So am I. I wouldn't want to live with any of my kids.

I think you need to set a date for her to leave (like November 1) and pack her things for her if need be.

Has her mental health ever been evaluated? You might want to look into that.

You can evict your mother. It doesn’t matter if she’s lived in your home for 3 years. You can formally evict her if you want.

I think your mother is purposely unable to find a suitable house because she wants to keep living with you. There's no other logical reason for why she's been unsuccessful with house hunting for THREE years so far, let's face it. I'd tell her either of 2 things. 1. She's got 30 or 60 days to find a place or else she's got to leave, it's time. She may actually NEED a push in order to make a big decision like this. 2. Use Surprise's idea and put your house on the market. Personally, I think that's taking things a bit too far, but hey, if it accomplishes the goal and sets you free from this nightmare, it's worth it.

It really blows my mind how some mother's feel perfectly fine ruining their daughters lives like this. It seems to be an only child dilemma for many of us, where we became our mother's entire LIFE, creating a nightmare situation of guilt and obligation for us. They'd say it's all about Love but in reality, it's all about Smothering us.

Take your life back NOW, my friend. Your mother is young enough to have a life of her own without usurping YOURS.

Best of luck

She needs to find her a place and live peacefully and independently while she can. You have been a very patient and gracious host. If it's uncomfortable for you, help her to her first month's rent in an apartment she can manage. Good luck!

"She has been on countless trips to locations across the US blowing through her interest earned on her house proceeds trying to find the next home and has come up empty every time."

I take it she has no retirement savings? Are the house proceeds her retirement savings?

Time is moving on, as you've already noted. Time to get your mother out of your house.

What is your plan going to be? Start a plan of action now, so that she isn't still with you 20 years from now (yes, it could happen!) with you responsible for her caregiving.

God bless you. Like you having cared for 2 Moms it took its toll on me. Sadly, many elderly parents think you have to drop your own life for them and it causes a lot of stress. You have to take time for you.......

Here’s an angle you can take... does your mother want to be a grandma one day? If so, tell her she won’t be one as long as she lives with you! Like you said, her being there has killed your dating life. You’d be surprised how this could change her perspective! Even if you have no plan or desire to have a kid, you don’t need to tell her that. 🙂

Another angle is telling her she may have a good 30 years left, and her 60s is way too early to ‘retire’ from life. You want to see her have her own place she loves, maybe meet a new partner, enjoy the years she has while she’s physically and mentally able. Using it as a “I want the best for you, mom!” instead of “You’re driving me crazy, scram!”.

You’ve seen the future and it isn’t pretty. She has no intention of moving out, after all why should she? She is free, while you are the prisoner. You need to evict or tell her that she has 15 days to move out. Drastic step is sell your house, and it’s not as crazy as that..I considered doing that just to get my mother out. I ended up forcing her hand because she started a fire in the kitchen and she left because I would not bend. If you want to live like this for potentially 30 more years, then do nothing. But you deserve a life and partner and all that brings. She clearly is selfish and cares nothing about you, so use this as your impetus to get her removed. Good luck. And no guilt.

Thank you all for your guidance/answers. I think I just needed to hear all of this from someone outside of my circle of friends. I just feel like a POS for having to resort to this, but at this point, what other choice do I have? I'll let you all know what happens! Thanks again.