2001 e-150 no heat or air

still teaching myself auto repair, problem was excessive fuel consumption no AC or heat coming from dents and blower motor was stuck on the defrost. Haven't replaced blend door actuator yet, was unaware that you needed to have vehicle running when testing pressure and evacuated some pressure because it was obviously in the red. Did so slowly and have AutoZone is like Cheers to me. But they can only teach so much, found the pressure at the very low end of the green after testing it while on, started getting cool air from the defrost, but filled to get to the Goldilocks zone in the green (middle), I guess my reservoir cap was not screwed on all the way and it overflowed. Best guesses are clogged heater core and does that mean it's now unclogged because now that I'm starting it it starts fine but it idles very very inconsistently then stalls. So I have no clue if I got too much refrigerant because it did start to blow cold and I'm trying to evacuate if there's any air but I don't know how to gauge it correctly without it complete evacuation and don't currently have the $70 to get the gauges for both sides and a vacuum pump.
But right now I'm stuck... Triple parked. Only matter of time before somebody comes to tell me to leave and I'll have tell them I can't because my home keeps stalling.