Once you’ve made it through high school and stepped into adulthood, you probably think you have all the tools you need to conquer life. Sadly not. Most people enter adulthood wishing someone had told them about a bunch of things, like how to file taxes without having a meltdown or how to cook something that doesn’t come out of a box. Lots of real-world skills are aren’t on the curriculum. Here are thirteen life hacks every adult wishes they had learned back in high school. These could’ve made adulting a little easier.
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Basic Financial Management
Adult life is basically 90% trying to figure out where all your money went. As such, a class on basic financial management, including how to create a budget, would’ve really helped. We’d have liked learning the ins & outs of saving, investing—and yes, even dealing with taxes. Sadly, math class doesn’t usually teach this.
Cooking and Nutrition
While some schools do teach cooking, lots of students only know how to microwave ramen. Being able to create a meal that’s tasty & won’t clog your arteries is a rather handy skill! A crash course in cooking would’ve saved us from years of takeout. Honestly, there’s no good reason why this class was taken off the curriculum.
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Planning and Preparing Healthy Meals on a Budget
Likewise, eating well doesn’t have to break the bank. Sadly, most of us only know this after several expensive grocery bills! A class on how to prepare meals without spending a fortune would’ve been beneficial since it would’ve saved us a lot of empty calories. Learning to shop smart & eat meals that are good for you? Now that’s a class we could get behind.
Time Management
Adult life involves a lot of juggling—and not the fun kind you see at the circus. Balancing work and your social life (along with some hobbies) is hard. High school could have made it easier by teaching us how to manage our time effectively. This way, we wouldn’t be constantly running late or forgetting important stuff.
Emotional Intelligence
Knowing how to understand your feelings and others’ is quite important. Who knew? Emotional intelligence helps to build strong relationships & deal with social situations without awkwardness. A little heads-up on this in high school would’ve been nice! It would’ve made a huge difference in both personal and professional settings. Better yet, knowing how to deal with conflict properly would be nice.
Basic Home Repairs
The first time you have to deal with a home maintenance problem, you realize how useful it would have been to learn a bit about basic home repairs. Not everyone has a family member who’s a DIY expert. Just imagine the money and time we could’ve saved if we knew how to unclog a drain without calling a plumber! Even fixing a loose hinge without a handyman would be rather nice.
Communication Skills
Emails & presentations, along with just talking to people without getting tongue-tied, are all part of adulting. High school should’ve spent more time teaching us how to communicate effectively, not just how to write an essay on Shakespeare. Yes that’s important—but so is being able to communicate clearly & concisely. Ultimately, communicating is important in all aspects of life. It doesn’t matter if you’re negotiating a raise or explaining your point of view in a debate—you’re talking.
Basic Car Maintenance
It’s a rite of passage to be stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire and no clue what to do. But it shouldn’t be! A little knowledge of basic car maintenance, like how to change a tire or check the oil, would’ve made us feel a bit more prepared. Better yet, we’d save ourselves a call to AAA. It’d empower us to take better care of our rides so they last longer and run more efficiently.
Job Interview Preparation
Landing your first real job is certainly exciting but the interview process? Absolutely terrifying. High school should help us by giving us interview tips. These could’ve included lessons on dressing the part as well as how to answer those difficult questions employers love to ask. Just being prepared reduces interview anxiety. This would give us the confidence to deal with even the hardest questions.
Understanding Insurance
Insurance is one of those adult things that’s both incredibly important & incredibly confusing. So why don’t we get a primer on it in high school? They could’ve taught us what insurance is, why you need it, as well as how to choose the right plans. At least then we wouldn’t sign up for the first plan we come across!
Basic Legal Know-How
Unfortunately, most of us don’t know much about the law until we have to—and then it’s too late. But understanding basic legal rights & responsibilities is something schools could teach us. We should learn how to sign a lease and what to do if we’re in a minor car accident. It would’ve saved us from a lot of trouble—and confusion.
Personal Safety Basics
Ideally, we wouldn’t have to worry about personal safety. However, knowing a few basic self-defense moves would seriously help in uncomfortable situations—yet not all high schools teach us. They could’ve taught us about the safety risks of walking home at night or even how to be more aware of our surroundings. Either way, we’d feel prepared, no matter where we are.
Self-Care Techniques
Last but not least, knowing how to take care of your mental & physical well-being is rather important. High school is stressful enough! It would’ve been great if we had learned some strategies for self-care that we’d carry into adulthood. Beyond everything, understanding the importance of sleep and recognizing when you need to take a break are priceless skills.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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