Looking for an Apartment

I really want to move out from my mom's house I have my own room there but there are to many people in that house and I want my own space. It's so expensive in California everything costs so much I'm getting another job one that will pay me way more then where I'm at and hopefully once I save up I can find a cheap place but then I was thinking of getting a car first . I don't even know how to drive which is what I need to do first and when I ask people they say it's better to get a car first then a apartment which makes sense but I really want my own place to . I also don't understand when buying a apartment like how much time can you rent it and the pricing of all that . Anyways I just wanted to rant about my apartment search. I was on Craigslist and they had some cheap places and this guy posted free rent he wants like a lady friend to be with . Without the commitment and in exchange you'd get free rent I thought that was funny and scary but it is Craigslist there's a lot of creeps there I'm not planning on searching there I just did for fun. What do you think ?