What's this noise in my car?

So my car started to make a few different noises actually. There's a noise coming from underneath the hood. It sounds like a ticking noise. Like something it turning and every time it turns it's hitting something and making that ticking noise, sorry I'm not great at explaining things lol. Then there's a noise that the car just started to make today, I'll assume maybe it's because of tge cold weather. When I turn the steering wheel, it's like a high pitched squeel kind of. It did that this morning but didn't do it when I left school a few minutes ago? Now, the other isn't so much of a noise. I'm having a bad idling vacuum leak problem. When I come to a stop, parked too long and turned on the needle goes below one and it starts to idle very badly to where I drive with two feet. Before school started my parents spent $700 fixing this car and one of the things that was supposedly fixed was the vacuum leak, but it's still there. I drive a 2001 Ford Escape XLT V6 and I want to keep this car going as long as I possibly can. Me being 17 and just now getting a job, I can't afford to spend $1500 for a mechanic to "fix" my car. I'd rather take some initiative and work on it myself so any help that isn't negative is greatly appreciated!

The ticking noise your going to need to do better then say it is under the hood. It could be a idler pulley or a valve tap, you need to tighten the power steering belt to stop that squeal in the morning so while your there take off the serpentine belt and turn all the pulleys by hand you may feel one that is causing the clicking. As for the low idle you need to clean the throttle body and the air by pass valve with carb cleaner. You can Google that there are about a million sites to show you how.

Multiple possible problems. How loud is the ticking, and how often does it tick?

The ticking, if not too often, could be your radiator fan if you have an electric one. It could also be your air conditioner compressor if it needs freon - they will turn on and off if there isn't enough freon for them to compress (and click about every 3-5 seconds). This and /or your power steering can cause the whining noise when you turn the wheel if your power steering fluid is low or the power steering pump is about to go out.

Check the power steering fluid reservoir for fluid level, and watch the ac compressor. Neither has anything to do with the other, but both may need attention. If the AC clutch keeps trying to kick in and out, you need freon. Yes, even in the winter, many cars will use the ac system in the defrost cycle, so it will run if you have ac turned off and defrost on. Some older GM's used to run it all the time.