Introduction 1Part 1: Shifting from Surviving to Thriving 3Chapter 1: Experiencing the Thrill and Fear of Running Your Own Life 5Chapter 2: Knowing What You Want and Getting It 19Chapter 3: Keeping up in a Changing World 35Part 2: Dating, Relating, and Communicating 43Chapter 4: Making New Friends While Keeping the Old 45Chapter 5: You'll Always Be Their Kid: Family Dynamics 55Chapter 6: Bumbling through the Dating Scene 67Chapter 7: Saying What You Mean 77Part 3: Earning Enough to Live On 91Chapter 8: It's Called Work for a Reason 93Chapter 9: Impressing the Boss and Succeeding on the Job 111Chapter 10: Champagne Tastes, Beer Budget: Saving and Spending 121Chapter 11: How Much?! Paying for Housing and Buying a Car 145Part 4: Maintaining a Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body 163Chapter 12: Eating for Fun and Fuel 165Chapter 13: Exercise: Good for You in the Long Run 183Chapter 14: Loving Yourself with Healthy Habits 195Chapter 15: Minding Your Mental Health 213Part 5: Completing Household Jobs 225Chapter 16: Keeping It All Clean 227Chapter 17: Stirring Things Up in the Kitchen 247Chapter 18: Preparing for the Unexpected 267Part 6: The Part of Tens 277Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Be a Responsible Citizen 279Chapter 20: Ten Tips and Tricks for Car Maintenance 283Chapter 21: Ten Rookie Mistakes 287Index 291
Gencie Houy teaches the Adulting 101 class at Texas Tech University and helps students learn how to live independently while teaching them the real skills they need for real life. She has many years of experience teaching Family and Consumer Sciences at the secondary and post-secondary levels and earned her PhD from Texas Tech University.