Getting older should mean getting wiser, and for me, the most valuable forms of wisdom that come with age are being more confident in yourself, taking care of your body and home, and loving yourself and others just the way you (and they) are!
All of those forms of wisdom are well represented in the list I’ve put together to share to day. It’s a list of fifteen things that I think every woman should know by the time she turns fifty. (And if you’re over fifty and there are things on this list you haven’t conquered yet, there’s no time like the present!)
15 Things Every Woman Should Know How to Do by 50
1. Say “No” Without Feeling Guilty
This is number one for a reason! If you always prioritize other people’s needs over yours, your productivity will suffer and resentment will mount.
2. Laugh at Yourself
Laughter is the best medicine, and learning to laugh at yourself is a surprisingly effective way to deal with negative circumstances. Studies have shown that being able to laugh at yourself is linked to better mental health.
3. Whip Up a Signature Dish
Having a recipe that you can whip up for get-togethers or family dinners is valuable skill for any homemaker. And keep in mind that your “signature dish” doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be yours!
4. Take Yourself out to Dinner or a Movie
Going out alone means having time to enjoy yourself and do exactly what you want (or see the movie you really want to see) without feeling like you need to defer to what others want. Give it a try—it can be quite freeing!
5. Look Good in Photos
It’s time to stop shying away from the camera! There are plenty of resources online that are full of great tips about flattering poses and positions that can help you look and feel your best in every shot.
6. Defend Yourself
You don’t have to be a black belt to defend yourself—there are many simple moves that can help you get away from an attacker. Look for a self-defense class near you, or look up self-defense moves online (and don’t forget to practice!) Here’s a resource to get you started.
7. Operate Your TV
Easier said than done? Maybe, but it’s empowering to do this yourself. Dig out that manual, search online, call the technical support line, or whatever you need to do to figure it out. You’ll be glad you did!
8. Light a Grill and Cook on It
Don’t leave all the fun to the men! You can cook an incredible meal on the grill with no pans to scrub, and cooking on the grill isn’t difficult once you master the basics.
9. Find a Bra That Fits Correctly
If you’ve never had an expert bra fitting, you may be in for a shock. Most women are wearing the wrong size — I was too! Wearing the wrong size bra can make it hard to look or feel your best, so it’s worth taking the time to get expert advice.
10. Examine Your Own Breasts
At any age, self breast exams can save your life. According to the 2003 National Health Interview Survey, 57% of breast cancer survivors found their own cancer. If you don’t already do so, start examining your breasts every month.
11. Sew (at Least a Little!)
Sewing is practical and a great way to save money — and mending things makes you appreciate them more. Knowing how to sew on a button and do up a hem can get you through any number of “wardrobe malfunctions”.
12. Graciously Accept a Compliment
A smile and a sincere “thank you” when someone gives you a compliment can make their day. Instead of shying away, accept compliments and bask in your achievements.
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13. Strategize for Retirement
Make sure you understand your financial future — get involved, ask questions. Your bank or brokerage firm has a lot of resources you can use.
14. Walk Away From a Bad Situation or Relationship
This is a tough one, but so important. You are in control of your life, and you set the terms for what is allowed and acceptable. There comes a time when giving someone or some situation the benefit of the doubt starts to do more harm than good, and that’s when it’s time to walk away.
15. Exercise in a Way You Don’t Hate
Exercise doesn’t have to be all about losing weight. Regular exercise can help you sleep better, improve your mental health, and help you get stronger and live longer. You don’t have to turn into a fitness buff overnight, but you should at least have an exercise routine that you can and do stick to.
What would you add to this list?
I just wanted to say that get around a foreign country can also be get around in a different city another Provence or even state. Keep a broad mind when reading this because there can be so many variations of each of these such as open a bottle of champaign it can be wine or even a beer. Lol can also be that damn jar that’s been in my fridge for 2 months.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am of the mind that there are a few people that woke up today with a low supply of oxygen. How else can one explain someone being “offended” at this list? How easy it is to offend people these days. If a list saying that everyone woman should be able to do certain things by the time they are 50 offends someone then that someone is just looking for a reason to be offended. This list doesn’t say that you should do these things every day or even on a regular basis, how often does one really need to change a tire, certainly not every day. I am really at a loss as to how anyone can find this list sexist. But then again I am comfortable enough with who I am that I don’t feel the need to rant and defend myself when someone says something that differs from my views. The list is meant to be light hearted and fun, take it as such and cool down.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.All this whining about “the list”!…it’s a GOOD list! Get over yourselves – add and subtract your own things and call it a day. The people of this world are so unappreciative, it’s sad. Stop complaining and be thankful for a place to start! Thanks Jillee, it’s a GOOD list!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.At least half of these are bogus. Not every woman needs to know how to do all these things. Depends on your lifestyle. Frankly, many of these are once-in-a-lifetime things that may not even happen that many times (I’ve never had the need to “hail a taxi”-just saying). Guess I was hoping for a more general list not something geared toward career-oriented city women. (There’s nothing wrong with being one of those, but there are others out here in the world who don’t fit that mold)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I read this list and immediately thought of those items that I haven’t done yet. Challenge accepted! If you are offended by the list, you might consider adding “get a massage”, “practice meditation”, or “seek counseling” to your list. This is just for fun. Life is short. Let’s enjoy it! Thanks Jillee!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No reason for ugliness. You are showing the unhappiness in your insides. Not all of these things apply to me, but the idea of it is lovely, fun, and encouraging. Women need to encourage each other to know how to do a wide range of things at any age. Stop being such haters! Hurting people hurt people. Get a little happy!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.http://lifehacker.com/5921655/the-snarky-voice-in-your-head-is-killing-your-productivity-heres-how-to-stop-it
I loved the thought behind this list. And the fact that there are so many people finding fault with it is SO telling a big problem in our society today. Everyone is too sensitive and easily offended and PC to an extreme. If you have a problem with it, move on. Oh, and I’d also add to the list ‘learn to use a firearm’ but I’m sure someone would take offense at that too.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No offense taken here, and learning to use a firearm is a necessity as far as I am concerned. With the way this country is headed we will need them to hunt for our food, I mean the zombie apocalypse is fast upon us and we will need to know how to defend ourselves. :-) I learned how to shoot a gun when I was kid so if you need any help in that area let me know, I would be happy to help you out. :-) Hope you have a glorious day!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This list is so stupid. I don’t drink or travel. I have kids and am a stay at home mom. Also, I’m married so I don’t need to learn how to change a tire. Please.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m married so don’t need to know how to change a tire? Your husband always with you, is he?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Your married for now.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Holy Jeebus people… can we all relax? I think a lot of commenters are completely missing the entire point of the post – it isn’t meant to be a list that every single woman in the world must have completed by age 50… I took it to be more of a post about how we should make it a point to learn to do certain things on our own! Some things won’t apply, some things will seem “backwards” to certain people, but depending on what country you live in and what age you are, the skills a person should learn throughout their life are going to be very different.
I can change my own tire, but I know plenty of women of all ages who would be lost if they had a flat. On the other hand, even though it’s an integral part of my job, I very rarely can tell you what direction I’m facing without a compass! I’m 26, a lot of these things I already know how to do just from being born within the last 30 years, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important things to know.
Nothing on this list is explicitly sexist – it says “Carve a turkey” not “Know how to carve a turkey in a manner that pleases your husband”. It says “Apply makeup without a mirror” not “You must wear makeup every day and know how to apply it without a mirror so you can always look good for the menfolk.” What it is is a list of things that are fairly common for women NOT to know how to do. My own mother, who will be 50 in a few years, can’t do several things on this list, that doesn’t make her less of a woman. She had a baby at 17 and another at 21, has been married to the father of both for 22 years, finished her degree in teaching while being working full time, and runs her own small business in addition to teaching. But even though she’s a wonderful woman, my brother and I still worry about she’ll do if anything happens to my dad, because there are certain things she just never learned how to do.
As to it being a list specifically for women… perhaps it should have been titled “50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do Before 50”, but realistically the audience of this blog is overwhelmingly female, so it’s not out of line to address a list like this to women specifically.
Can we just take this post as it was actually meant and stop attacking each other (and Jillee, who runs a great blog and who I’m not even sure wrote this post)… please?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.As for things I’d add personally:
Drive a stick shift (my fiance is currently teaching me)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Speak one foreign language moderately well
Forgive someone
Light a fire (sometimes I can, if conditions are good!)
Know how to fix basic tech problems
Be able to do minor home repairs
Change your own oil (should be taught right along with changing a tire)
Know how to budget within your means
Be able to read a map
Excellent point Angela, and very well said. I also love the things that you have added to the list. Speaking a foreign language is also on my list of things to do as is the house repairs and the budget thing, which I am horrible at right now. Thanks for you positive feedback. And when your fiance is done teaching you perhaps he could come give my daughter a lesson, I have not patience for it. :-) she gets mad at me and gives up. Ha ha ha I am such a mean mom. I have got her to the point that she can manage it if I am in the car but does not feel comfortable enough to do it on her own. Good luck with your list I am sure with such a positive attitude you will have it accomplished in no time.
Amen Angela :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I enjoyed the list and it gave me things to think about and maybe some goals to work toward since I have two and a little more years to go. I took this list as a “pre-bucket list” and obviously not to be taken verbatum. If things are really not within your realm of practicality, or environmentally or morally stressful for you, then please omit and try making your own list that applies to you. It just reminds me to not get into a rut. Please “eat the seeds and spit out the shells” with this one. I like the idea of being able to get around in a foreign country by myself – it would be a great challenge. Sometimes the person we think will be with us forever simply won’t be, it’s good to practice being on your own too.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Love the list!… and it’s just a list. I am a big city (6M+) convert to a small, north woods town of less than 2,000 and the things I didn’t know until I moved up here, astound even me. I used to only know how to fillet a fish, now I can clean and skin a deer (and other wild animals).
I would add:
~cry for no reason (in case you have to talk your way out of a ticket)
~build a fire
~drive a stick shift
~operate a chain saw
Fun Reading!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jeepers, people need to lighten up! This is for fun. Stop taking everything you read on the Internet so literally. I am pretty sure Jillee didn’t post this to offend anyone or insult women. With this post and most others on this blog and others I frequent, I use it as a guideline and apply it as I see fit. I don’t take every post as gospel.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hail a taxi, foreign country (not alone, yet), mow a lawn (never had the opportunity). Well that’s only 3 missing from the list. I actually don’t drink but I can make a mean cocktail on the fly (Peach fuzz being the specialty). Peach slices/pink lemonade/vodka/ice (blend up).
Happy Weekend and Loads of Love
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I thought the list was fun. Some of the things I have accomplished in my 47 years, others I have not and probably never will. I loved the comment about being independent. I watched my mother have to learn to pump gas at age 78 simply because my father always did it and he died suddenly. “Drive a stick-shift” is a great addition to the list, as are computer skills.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I wonder what this list would have looked like 40 years ago? Credit was given to a writer from the Huffington Post, and while her list isn’t a perfect fit for me, it is thought provoking and I appreciate that Jillee shared. I love reading what others would add! It is still amazing for me to see that comments can be so aggressive. If one of the items on the list doesn’t fit your life, let it go… Just let it go. Create your own list- borrow some thoughts and include some original ideas, then share them! It’s all about feeling confident and capable. Quite possibly, your list might inspire someone. It’s all about strengthening each other and Becoming Better!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sorry–I forgot my additions to the list.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.How to respect/love yourself and others.
How to deliver traumatic news.
How to effectively communicate.
Have realistic expectations of yourself and others.
How to forgive and forget–especially yourself.
How to stand by your values without be judgmental or apologetic.
This was a great list…to give you an idea of things you may need to know in life later. Do they all apply to everyone? Nope. But we’re all different & our own lists will vary.
I guarantee I can accomplish more on this list than my spouse, but there are things he can do that I can’t/don’t want to even mess with! Does it mean I’m dependent on him? A little. But he depends on me as well, so this list isn’t aimed at saying these are things men do that we need to learn ourselves, it’s just some things that need to be brought to our attention as something we may use someday…and let us decide if we want someone else to do it for us, or learn how before we NEED it!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I think there is a difference between knowing how to do these things and doing it. I can hail a cab, but prefer and allow a consierge or porter to do it for me. We need to remember that in the US a huge part of our economy is services based. Millions of men and women depend on providing these services to earn a living. Who cares if you can’t________. There is always someone out there who can and in a pinch we can learn (especially with the internet). If we all knew this stuff we would know how easy it was and not be willing to pay others to do it. We would stop needing each other.
Sorry to the men who were left out of this forum.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I was the oldest of seven children. I was taught to iron, sew, do dishes, laundry, mop floors, cook, bake, work of cars, lawn and do some minor house repairs. Also I learned how to hold a baby, feed, burp and how to change a baby. The kicker is I thought everyone did this until I went to live in a dorm. My point is that everyone is a product of their environment.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.To your list I would add, learn how to iron. how to put out a grease fire in your kitchen, how to use different fire extinguishers. How to change batteries in your smoke detectors. How to find a stud in your wall. How to use power tools.
This list applies to men also. I know men, who can’t do much of this list.
The key ingredient is to learn. Sometimes you may think you know, but you really don’t until the opportunity manifests itself. Peace
Personally, these things I have all done, well before 50, but I might add some other tougher things: make a minor repair, do your own laundry, prepare a holiday party from start to finish… say please and thank you in a foreign language (always a must!)
Or we could go with a list a hair more self-sufficient: How to properly dress a chicken. Butcher a live chicken. Choose the right cut of beef for a meal, Plant a garden and grow (at least some) of your food for your family.
Are the ones above considered essential or just good to know?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hmm things to know by the age if 50?heres one, learn that one persons opinions are not always going to be the same as yours, there is no need to get offended,any person with common sense would realize that there is no such thing as “one size fits all”.(heck you should know that by 20!) jillies list is her opinion it does not have to apply to everyone.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I loved the list. IN my opinion it is to be read and looked upon as “how many do I know”. Growing up on a ranch I can do almost all of them. My parents were strong (second world war era) role models of “You can do it”. M y dear husband encouraged me to do so many things If I asked how to do he took the time, showing me and if it did not turn out he assisted in redoing to make it right. (he passed in Jan). I ever so grateful for these lessons. As a Mother of two grown men -their wives are thrilled they are very capable of doing /fixing/building almost anything I am proud to say I can do many things not on this list as well. Run a snowblower, drive a tractors- semi trucks (stick shift manual transmission) , paint houses etc. I look upon this list as “Never be afraid to try”. Alas I can not play a video game on my phone and champagne don’t know a thing about. I can make homemade wine. thanks for making my day.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I can’t believe how offended all you women are getting with a post like this. Seriously – some of you are just looking to be offended. Sexist? Really – woman are not the weaker sex but travel the world and we are obviously viewed as such. We can tout that we can do all – but in my circle (which is a very independent group of varied women) ALOT cannot do some of these things..
Yes some of you don’t wear makeup or eat turkey or live near cabs..BUT the ability to pass this onto someone else. Seriously – I have 2 daughter and influence a whole lots of girls (girl guide leader) and I may not be interested in activities like fishing or carving sticks but I sure as heck are going to learn it so I can teach those girls to give them the opportunity to learn something new. So where makeup or turkey carving or whatever is concerned – knowing it to pass on properly is a skill – I want my children to not just be carbon copies of me but to be offered the opportunities to choose what they like…should they choose makeup or eat turkey or live in a big city to hail a cab or nail something together.
Swim – critical LIFE skill. You can save lives with this skill.
Thank you for this nice, entertaining list – will pass it on. One to be included is :
**not get easily offended and be able to determine the difference between offensive and non-offensive
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I loved the list. Although I don’t neccessarily agree with everything on the list, I think it makes for a well-rounded person! There’s nothing wrong with having a variety of skills in a variety of areas.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.In Jillee’s defense (not that she needs one), this list is so old that I received it via email over 5 years ago, if not longer.
So this seems all encompassing and mainly “for the city”. I have been on my own almost my whole life, whether married or not, and even though so of these sound trivial, they can be true. I was SHOCKED when my mom just told me LAST YEAR that she’s never had to fill up the gas tank. She’s 71 now. Granted, it’s great that my dad always did it for her but there are some things that both sexes should know how to do.
My ex had no clue how to do some of the above until I taught HIM.
Don’t get on her case, just add some like she asked. I hope she’s not kicking herself for posting it because as we all know, you can’t please everyone all of the time…hey, there’s one!
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