<p>So about an hour ago, I tried to bake brownies. It took me about 35 minutes to find the package, mix everything, and set it in the oven. It’s currently baking (and probably burning) right now. The package advertises “prepare in 5 minutes!”.
Does anyone else feel like they lack real life smarts - skills that you actually need in real life? Cooking is a prime (pun unintended) example.</p>
<p>Yes. I don’t have a driver’s license and I can’t do anything else with cars (buying one, putting gas in it, getting the oil changed, changing a tire). I don’t know how the bank works; I just have a job and my money gets direct-deposited into it. I don’t know how credit cards or debit cards work. I’ve never written a check and I don’t know what it means to balance a checkbook. I don’t know how to sew and I’m not any good at cleaning. When I make my bed it looks awful. I can’t cook much of anything and I don’t know how to buy produce. I don’t know anything about renting an apartment or buying a house (maintaining it and preventing fires). Both of my parents are tax preparers, but I don’t know anything about taxes. I don’t know how to grow plants. I don’t know how to put on makeup or do anything with my hair. </p>
<p>But yet, you know how to find the area between y=x^2 - 4 and the x-axis. Schooling.</p>
<p>And the brownies haven’t burned yet! (as of 10 minutes ago… I should probably go check on them…)</p>
<p>Status update: They didn’t burn! But apparently I forgot the non-stick spray so they’re really hard to remove from the pan. They still taste good though! </p>
<p>I do not know how to change oil or a tire, I barely learned how to put gas in the car even though I’ve been driving for almost a year, I can’t clean a bathroom, can’t mop, don’t know how to file taxes (except like TurboTax but that’s just from the commercials), I might know how to balance a checkbook? I can’t put tire chains on, have never taken public transportation, and don’t know how to make a pot of coffee. Don’t know how to sew or curl my hair properly or use coin operated laundry machines. Oh, but I CAN cook.</p>
<p>I’ve never baked before (our oven has been broken for years), I can only cook spaghetti, I don’t know how to curl/straighten my hair (don’t own either of them), I cant drive, when I try to grow plants they usually die (usually because I’m too lazy to water them or I forget), and I am horrible at caring for pets.</p>
<p>^^ but you can find the period of a sinusoidal function, so you have that going for you, which is nice.</p>
<p>I think I have real-life smarts because I’m forced to be more independent by my parents. Which means I always cook my own food and do my own laundry and things like that. So I’m pretty good at cooking, baking, and growing plants of course!</p>
<p>If you’re a girl and can’t bake those brownies, then I hope your marriage goes well. If you’re a guy and can’t bake those brownies, then you are fine but I question your sexuality.</p>
<p>@Bouncer I’m a guy, and there was no one else in the house (and I really wanted brownies… lol). Trust me, I wouldn’t be cooking unless I REALLY had to…</p>
<p>I bet the brownies are long gone but next time don’t forget the anti stick spray. Let them cool for a few minutes and cut them with a plastic knife. Then they won’t stick to the knife. If you’re going off to college in the fall list the things you need to but don’t know how to do. I’m an advanced adult but I probably didn’t know some of the things you listed when I was a freshman.</p>
<p>@OspreyCV22 Ah ha! They were sticking to the knife. (I reread the box instructions and it suggested both non-stick spray - duh - and using a plastic knife. Maybe I should read the instructions more often.)</p>
<p>I’m saving learning all the things I actually need in life until the summer before college. The three months when I won’t have anything I have to study…</p>
<p>All I’m good at is school, drawing, and making ramen noodles and green tea. I wouldn’t call myself smart because I wouldn’t be able to function without my mom’s cooking, and I can’t drive.</p>
<p>Haha, yes. I can cook pretty well, clean, do laundry, sew, grocery shop, and some other everyday life skills. However, I cannot balance a checkbook, or file taxes, nor do I have my driver’s license (and I’m eighteen!! I promise I’m not a total ■■■■■■), I don’t know much of anything about credit cards or banks, or ATM machines, I have no green thumb, hair curlers and straighteners bewilder me, can’t change a tire, pay rent or maintain a house, and I’m sure I’m leaving off a bunch of other important life skills. Like thanks, thanks a lot all eighteen years of my apparently worthless education.</p>
<p>I can cook, do laundry, make my bed, grocery shop, and drive (with another adult in the car). I can grow plants, including planting bulbs, paint a room, and take public transportation. But I can’t balance a checkbook, file taxes, or put basic furniture together.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s physically possible to not know how to grocery shop 
</p>
<p>This seems to have turned into the inadequacies thread quite quickly.</p>
<p>I can swim, do laundry, and take public transportation…that’s about it. I sort of know how to drive (I’ve had a learner’s permit for two and a half years), but I’m so bad at it that I figure I’ll probably never have a driver’s license. </p>
<p>I can curl my hair but it takes me an hour to do. I can’t sew. DO NOT EVEN ASK ME ANYTHING ABOUT CARS. Lol changing tires and all of that is way above my head. I took personal finance last year in school (req) but I forgot almost everything about check books and credit cards. I’ve never taken public transportation such as the subway, buses, etc. I say I’m a decent cook as long as I have the reciepe. I don’t know anything about tools really except super basic things like using a screwdriver or hammer. It will be funny watching me attempt house repairs in the future. My knowledge about house buying goes as far as the few HGTV episodes I’ve watched.</p>
<p>YES. JUST YES.</p>
<p>We could right a book: “America’s Smartest Dumbest Students.”</p>