Caleb Sharp, Student Writer
The college experience comes with its own sets of perks, such as frequent exposure to new ideas, being able to meet new people of various backgrounds, and the enrichment of one’s own knowledge. The lack of adult responsibilities is a seldom considered perk of most students’ college experience.
From car insurance payments to full-time jobs, college students generally don’t deal with the day-to-day responsibilities of adulthood. Despite this, it is beneficial for students to graduate with a basic understanding of how to approach and deal with a wide range of issues they may encounter during their adult lives.
The number of possible challenges and issues a college graduate may face is near infinite. However, for the sake of brevity, only two issues will be covered. These are:
- How to do taxes
- How to change a tire
Doing one’s own taxes may seem, at first glance, like a daunting task, as manually filing personal tax income is a confusing and convoluted process. Luckily, tax filing software such as TurboTax, H&R Block, and TaxSlayer smoothly streamline the experience. All that is required to begin using these programs are the specific tax documents associated with one’s line of work. The most common tax document employers dole out to their employees are W-4 documents, which contain information like total annual income and tax exemption status. From here, all one has to do is simply plug these pieces of information into a tax filing program. Easy as pie.
What may not be so easy or straightforward to understand, as is the case for filing taxes, is automobile maintenance.
Knowing how to address automobile issues is crucial when a mechanic or mechanically inclined buddy can’t lend assistance. One such situation would be swapping out a flat tire for a spare tire in a pinch.
Before changing the flat tire, defer to your car’s owner manual for additional information, as different makes and models of automobiles may require different tools or steps in order to change the tire. For most cars, only three tools are needed: a jack, a lug nut wrench (sometimes referred to as a tire iron), and a spare tire. Use the wrench to loosen, but not fully remove, the lug nuts attaching the tire to the car. Once the lug nuts are loosened, align the jack beneath the car’s jack point and begin rotating the jack’s handle to lift the car off the ground. Next, use the wrench to fully remove the lug nuts and remove the tire from the axle. The last step is to put the spare tire on the car, screw the lug nuts back on using the wrench and lower the car back to the ground (making sure to tighten once more once the car is lowered)).
And those are the basics of how to do taxes and how to change a car tire. The next time you find yourself doing taxes or changing out a flat, remember these basic instructions and get the job done!
The Belltower 