It's happened to everybody, sometimes you forget to turn off a light in your car after you've parked it for the day. When you come back, it doesn't start. What happens next? You get a jump start. Make sure you know the proper procedures though, because a misplacement of a jumper cable could cost you the entire car battery.
Open the hood of your car and locate your battery. Make sure the key is out of your ignition and your car is completely off. You need a friend or neighbor to drive their running vehicle right next to yours (but not touching). They have to open their hood and locate their battery as well. Then they too must turn off their car completely. It's always a good idea to keep some cables stored in your trunk for emergencies.
Jumper cables have two colors, one side red and the other side black. They have two clasps at each end, two for the red side and two for the black side. The red side is for the positive end of the battery, and the black side is for the negative end. When you locate your battery, you'll notice two posts labeled (+) and (-) (+ for positive, - for negative). Take one end of the red clasp and attach it to the dead car's positive battery post. With the live car still turned off, attach the other end of the red cable to its positive battery post. Now attach the black clasp to the live car's negative battery post. This should leave one clasp hanging free, the other black clasp near the dead car. Do not attach this clasp to the dead car's battery. Attach it to a metal area of the car (one that does not have any paint on it, like the manifold).
Now that all four clasps are in place, start the live car. Let the live car run for a couple minutes, and then you can start your dead car. Once it's started and running, carefully disconnect all of the cables (never let the metal of the clasps bump into each other if some clasps are still on a battery). Start with the black clasp on the formerly dead car, followed by the black clasp on the live car. Now disconnect the red clasp on the live car, finishing with the red clasp on the formerly dead car.
But don't shut off the engine of the formerly dead car too soon. Make sure it runs for about 15 minutes before you turn it off. Otherwise, the battery may not charge itself and you'd have to do another jump all over again.
