Agree that was once common knowledge isn't very common anymore...
Truly believe people like my grandparents and a lot of my very senior neighbors have these skills and they just are not being passed on.
My 90+ year old neighbors know how to light a pilot light, where to turn off the utilities... heck... all these women have little tool boxes with all the basics...
That said... unless you have at least conversational Spanish in California... you will have a very hard with many entry level or trade jobs.
I work in a Hospital and conversational Spanish is a requirement for employment in all of the private practice physician offices...