30 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do Before Turning 30

Book excerpt: Competence. Now in convenient book format 30 must-have life skills every capable adult should perfect before turning 30. You’re old enough to own property and have a family, but can you safely open a bottle of champagne? Or change a flat tire? 30 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do Before Turning 30 provides idiot-proof instructions for mastering these and other essential, face-saving, and possibly life-saving skills. You’ll learn how to... 1. wrap a present 2. start a successful fire in a fireplace, at a campsite, and in a barbecue 3. finish a piece of furniture 4. get a raise 5. order wine at a restaurant without getting stiffed 6. parallel park in three breathtakingly beautiful movements 7. dance a “slow dance” without looking like an idiot 8. use a full place setting properly, including chopsticks and Asian soup spoons 9. clean your place in under 45 minutes, when friends, relatives, or prospective lovers are coming by unexpectedly, and soon 10. hold your liquor 11. cure a hangover 12. do the Heimlich Maneuver 13. use a compass 14. change a flat 15. jump start a car 16. open a champagne bottle 17. send a drink to someone’s table 18. cook one “signature meal” 19. whistle with your fingers 20. take good pictures 21. fold a fitted sheet 22. remove common stains 23. sew a button 24. carve turkey, lasagna, and birthday cake 25. hold a baby 26. change a diaper 27. keep a plant alive for more than a year 28. make dogs and cats love you 29. help someone (an older or ill person, a woman you’re trying to impress, your mother) out of a car 30. write superior thank you notes