Ladies, don't buy the cheap jumper cables

I had to give a friend a jump tonight. I was glad I bought good jumper cables. I had a pair of cheap ones and I swear they didn't have enough juice to jump a jumping bean. When you buy jumper cables they come in different lengths. Buy at the very least the 12 foot ones. Because invariably when you need a jump you can't position the 2 cars side by side or the batteries are on opposite ends of the cars. If you buy 12 foot or longer cables then you can be 2 parking spaces apart and still get jumped.

Also they have different grades of wiring. Make sure you buy at least the mid grade one if not the best one. It really does make a difference!. Of course if you can get a jump box and keep it in your trunk, that is the gold standard.

For those of you who are married and want to say, "oh, my husband takes care of that." We all know there are times the man in your life is out of touch and you don't want to have to depend on strangers to find a set of cables for you. Also, remember the red cable goes on the positive side of the battery and the black goes on the negative side. Always hook up the negative side and then the positive side and hook up the car that needs to be charged first. Not the car that is doing the charging. It is very important not to let the cables touch each other once you have hooked them up too. You'll get a big shock that way at the very least and you can do damage to your cars wiring and or battery.

My dad made sure I knew how to do all the minor maintenance of a vehicle. Of course he took care of it when possible but that all changed the weekend I drove home from Ohio State and was laughing when I told him what fun it was to round the curves and watch the oil light come on in the car. Trust me when I tell you that he put a stop to my laughter instantly! He couldn't believe that I didn't have enough sense to stop and put oil in my car. I could have blown the engine because the oil was so low. After that he made sure I could safely change a tire, put oil and brake fluid in the car, and check the radiator fluid. He also taught me how to put air in the tires.

Of course there has usually been a man around to do that stuff but I have been grateful many times for that little bit of education in my life.