Whether your car or battery is old, or you simply forgot to turn your lights off, at one point or another we've all let our car batteries die.  Jumpstarting a car battery is a very useful and essential technique that every car owner should know how to do, and having a pair of jumper cables in your truck is a must have before you ever hit the road.  Lucky for you, it's very easy learn! 

What you'll need:  A pair of color-coded jumper cables, a wire brush to remove corrosion from the battery, and a second car with a charged battery that you can recharge yours from.  

Step 1:  Move your "booster" car close enough to the vehicle with the dead battery so that you can connect the cables easily.   Turn off both car ignitions, as well as anything else connected to the battery, such as headlights, interior lights, and radio.  

Step 2:  Open the hood and locate the battery.  Remove the battery covers, and remove any corrosion from the battery with a wire brush.  

Step 3:  Clamp the red positive (+) cable onto the disabled vehicles's red positive (+) battery terminal.

Step 4:  Then connect the other end of the red positive (+) cable to the booster vehicle's red positive (+) battery terminal.  

Step 5:  Now do the same with the negative clamps.  Connect the black negative (-) clamp to the booster vehicle's black negative (-) battery terminal. 

Step 6:  Connect the other end of the black negative (-) cable to a large, unpainted metal surface in the disabled vehicle's engine bay, away from the battery and the engine it self.  

Step 7:  Start the booster vehicle.  Then try to start the disabled vehicle.  It may take a few minutes to start up.  Once it starts, allow both vehicles to run connected for 3-5 minutes.  

Step 8:  Without turning off the jump-started vehicle's engine, disconnect the cables in the reverse order they were attached... Negative first then the Positive and close the hoods of the car.  

Step 9:  Let the jump-started vehicle's engine run for several minutes, but do not turn the car off.  Drive it to your destination first, because it may not be able to restart on its own, depending on how drained the battery had become. 

Step 10:  Get your battery tested or replaced depending on whether or not the battery is still useful.