You might already have a 72-hour disaster kit or even a longer-term Doomsday survival kit, but what if you're caught at work when disaster strikes? If you don't already have one, create a survival kit that will help you get home from work and keep you safe for at least 24-hours.

Why do you need a Get Home Bag (GHB)? Most of us spend more time away from home than at home, and as The Art of Manliness points out, "just getting home can be a survival journey in and of itself"—whether the disaster is caused by severe weather, a blackout, terrorist attack, or other event.

Creek Stewart, author of Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit, outlines all the supplies he keeps in his GHB. Not surprisingly, these include water, energy bars, and a multi-tool. Some items you might not have thought of are a paper map, paracord, small signal mirror, and headlamp. His list is more extensive than the office survival kit we've noted before. Check out Stewart's list to make sure you don't miss any items that could make all the difference when you need to get home safely.

What's in your Get Home Bag or office survival kit?

How to Build a Get Home Bag (+Book Giveaway) | The Art of Manliness

Hopefully you'll never find yourself in a situation where you have to combat a deadly toxin running through your bloodstream thanks to some creature that decided to be an asshole. But if you do, hopefully you'll have memorized this infographic from illustrator and blogger Yumi Sakugawa. It might save your life.

The infographic reminds us to ignore some false information that's often spread with poison-related survival Tips. For example, do not try to suck the poison out of a snake bite. Also, most scorpions in the U.S. are not lethal. In most cases, taking an antihistamine does the trick. In multiple cases you'll want to wash the bite with soap and water and pay attention to the appearance of your wild creature assailant for when you inevitably call for help. The most important thing to remember is that when you have a deadly bite, you can do things to help the situation but ultimately you will need medical attention. Make getting that attention your first priority.

Hit up Yumi's blog for the full post or check out the infographic below.

How to Survive Deadly Bites and Stings from Wild Animals | Secret Tips from the Yumiverse

We feature a lot of do-it-yourself projects here at Lifehacker, but oftentimes they seem undoable because they require a skill you don't have. Thankfully, there are quite a few DIY skills out there that are much easier to learn than you think. Here are our 10 favorites.

10. Coding

Instead of waiting around for someone to build the exact program you need, knowing how to code means you can make it yourself—so no matter what your computer needs, you can make it happen. To get started, check out our Night School lesson on learning to code. It'll introduce you to the basics. While you won't be writing the next Spotify within a few weeks, you could easily get started on making your own web site or putting together a Chrome extension. And, after tackling your first coding project and doing a bit more research, you can move onto something bigger.

9. Working with Electronics

A lot of the coolest DIY projects out there require working closely with electronics like an Arduino. If you're trying to create a house of the future or just put together your own ambient lighting setup, you'll need a basic knowledge of electronics and (probably) soldering. Luckily, there are simple how-to comic books for getting started with both, not to mention our own feature on making your own electronics with Arduino and someone else's code. Not that you need someone else's code since you read #10, right?

8. Sewing

Stereotypical gender roles aside, everyone should have a little sewing knowledge. Whether it's just so you can sew a button back on or fix size issues in an otherwise perfect shirt, knowing how to thread a needle can come in handy pretty often. Best of all, it's super easy to learn the basics—this illustrated guide is a good place to start.

7. Auto Maintenance

Car repairs are actually pretty easy to perform, and pretty hard to screw up. You'd be surprised by what you can pull off, and the kind of money you can save doing things for yourself. Check out our list of car repairs that anyone can do themselves, despite their abilities for more info. That way, when you see the check engine light, you'll break out the tool chest rather than heading to your nearest dealership.

6. Home Repair

Everyone should be able to patch up a little bit of their house, whether it's fixing a hole in the wall, filling a hole in the floor, or even just fixing a stripped screw hole. You should also know a few basic things about plumbing, like how to unclog a drain. None of these things are very difficult, but knowing how to do them saves you a call to a repair man (not to mention a bit of money) when something does go wrong. Photo by Sharon Pruitt.

5. Cooking

If you're still eating cereal and ramen noodles 3 meals a day, it's time to learn a few things about cooking. You don't need to be Mario Batali to pull off something that tastes good. Check out our 10+ dishes and drinks everyone should know how to make at home, plus how to eat healthy when you hate cooking. And if you're on a budget, don't let that stop you—you can still enjoy great food without blowing a lot of money, too.

4. Photo Editing

So maybe you've got the basics of photography down, but you've always wanted to learn how to make those photos look even more awesome with software like Photoshop. We've taught you how to touch up photos with color correction, whiten teeth, remove blemishes, brighten an image, change a specific color, and more in our learn the basics of Photoshop Night School, so check that out to get a primer on everything you can do to edit a photo. If you don't want to pay for Photoshop, though, it's worth noting you can do all those things in the free, cross-platform GIMP as well. While you're at it, check out our #photoshop tag to see all the Photoshop tips and tricks we've shared over the years.

3. Building a Computer from Scratch

If you're still buying Dells, it's time to take the leap into custom computer building. You'll get a lot more out of your machine, being able to control what you put in and get the perfect machine for your needs—plus, if you're lucky, even save a little money. Check out our night school on how to build a computer from the ground up to see how easy it really is, and if you're having trouble picking out parts, we've created a few awesome builds that should help you start your search.

2. Jailbreaking/Rooting Your Phone

You've heard us talk about it constantly, whether we're sharing the 10 best root-only Android apps or talking about how to remove manufacturer-installed junk like Carrier IQ. If you still haven't rooted or jailbroken your phone out, it's time to take the plunge, because it's super easy. We have always up-to-date guides for both Android and the iPhone, plus a whole host of information on what to do after you've jailbroken or after you've rooted, too.

1. Emergency Preparedness

It's hard to argue that survival isn't the most important thing on this list. If you don't already have a 72 hour emergency kit and some basic survival skills, there's no better time than now to learn. You never know when disaster might strike, and when it does, you may very well be left on your own, so knowing how to help yourself can make a big difference—even a strategically placed phone can be part of a good emergency plan. And, as always, none of this is actually very hard—it just requires a bit of forethought. So check out our top 10 emergency and survival tricks to stock up your knowledge now.

Got any easy, useful DIY skills we forgot to mention? Tell us about them in the comments.

Title photo by 3355m (Shutterstock).

One item that we often mention should go into your emergency kit is some way to start a fire. Even if you're in the woods and kindling is plentiful (or worse, it's not and the old kindling around is wet), it always helps to have something that will give your fire a boost, whether you're out camping or you're in trouble and waiting for help. This simple trick involves a couple of cotton balls and some plastic drinking straws—in a few minutes, you'll have tiny fire starting kits that fit into any emergency kit.

Making them is easy—just cut a segment of drinking straw, pull off a little cotton from a cotton ball or pad, and stuff it into the straw. Seal both ends with a little heat so your cotton won't get wet if your emergency kit does, and you're all finished. If the technique looks familiar, it should—the same person built this pill bottle emergency kit we mentioned earlier this week, and this item is included in that kit. Some of the commenters at Instructables note that you have to use the right kind of straw, or else the plastic may not melt and seal easily, or you can dip the ends in wax to get the same effect. When you need it, just break or cut the straw to get at the dry cotton inside and light it.

You could even go a step further and add a dab of vaseline or chap-stick to your cotton to make it easier to burn. If this isn't up your alley, maybe some char cloth is a better addition to your kit, but it's a high-maintenance option. Aside from a lighter or some matches, how do you make sure your emergency kit can always start a fire? Share your survival tips in the comments below.

How to Make Mini Straw Fire Starters | Instructables