Everyone that rides a bicycle should be able to patch a tube with a common centerline puncture from glass, thorns or wire. I practiced at the side of the rode until I realized that practicing in the living room was much easier and productive.

Carry a tested, new or patched tube or tubes with you when you ride. Patch punctured tubes in the comfort of home.

I bought a 100 Rema patches for15 USD and gave quite a few away as Christmas presents last year.

Test new and patched tubes by inflating them in the comfort and warmth of living room to a little over 1.5 atmospheres of pressure. Your eyeball is the pressure gauge. Let tire rest by hanging on convenient doorknob for a few days. If it is still springy and looks like an inflated innertube, it is. Hey, fire departments test their hoses to ridiculous pressures on a schedule whether they get used or not.

There will be tubes you don't want to begin to patch, those with multiple punctures from a single object. The tubes with very offcenter punctures near the sidewall/rim area. Long gashes etc. That's my experience.