Recently I saw where someone had posted a request looking for ideas for hiding valuables around the house. The responses she got back made me decide I needed to post my own response in a whole separate post.
Everyone of the responses that she got back were good ones, until you sat down and gave it a little thought. For one thing, every one of them were places I have seen in the news before where thieves have looked and found valuables in homes. For another thing, and to me even worse, what if the house burns down or is flooded out? Every one of the places that were posted such as inside books (one woman had several thousands of dollars in them!), in canning or other jars, in the hamper, and fake wall sockets, among others. Can you imagine what would have happened to any of these homes if there had been a fire? Every bit of their well-hidden valuables and cash would have been totally lost!
I have a better solution. I keep several fire and water safe boxes in my home. One is a large one for larger size valuables, although I make sure I don't have many of those. In the others, I keep copies of important papers, photos (along with any pertinent info on the backs) of all my valuables. This includes TVs, DVD players, and anything else like that around the house.
I do try to put these boxes (not all in one place) in different places around the house that, maybe a thief would find if he had time, but he'd have to do some searching. But even if he did find them he wouldn't be able to get into them. And (OMG) if we had a serious fire or flood, my stuff would still be safe.
As for keys to the boxes. Each one came with 2 keys. The first set of keys I sent to a well-trusted family member (in my case my in-laws). That way if for some unknown reason, I can't get to the ones I have at home, I can call them to send them to me. The second set of keys, I take all the keys except one (usually the one with the cash and jewelry in it) and put them inside one of the other boxes.
I came up with an ingenious way to hide the last key. Maybe a thief could find it, but he'd have to really search, plus he'd be seen by my neighbors. I used to keep it on my key ring, but what if someone breaks in and takes my purse along with the boxes? So I put the key into a plastic bag, then put this bag into a small hard plastic container. I wrap a long plastic wire tie around the container and have the end of it poking out of the ground near a plant. By putting the wire tie on it all I have to do is pull on it and my container comes up easily. I planted these in my garden in the front of the house. This way if some stranger is digging in my garden my neighbors will see. If I should ever hire someone to come and do gardening, I would dig them up and keep them inside till that person is done.
Inside the house I keep a piggy bank and that's where I put my $10 a week. Then whenever I go out to do any gardening I get the key, then go in and add the contents of my piggy bank to the box and re-bury the key.
This way, if we do have a fire or are broken into, the most I've lost is maybe $30-50 at most.
This sounds like a lot of trouble, but it's actually not. It's very easy to keep up with.
By Cricket from NC
This page contains the following solutions.
Disguise Valuables As Mayonnaise. A good hiding place for your valuables or money is to spray the inside of a mayonnaise jar white and store in the refrigerator or pantry with your valuables inside.
A few weeks ago while I was with my husband at the dentist, our back door was kicked in and cash and items were stolen. Like many, I am sure, I had jewelry in jewelry boxes and cash in my china closet.
Instead of leaving your valuables out in the open, you can use household recyclables or items to create a little safe for your essentials . I used a cylinder container with a tin cap as my safe. This works perfectly because it could fit my essentials and there is only one opening.
Headed to the beach? Clean out an old chapstick, sunscreen bottle, or other container! Then you can store valuables in it like phones, money, without making it obvious that there is a valuable in it!
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Any ideas on where I can hide jewelry so it would be difficult for a thief to find, but still convenient for me to get to on a daily basis? I used to keep things in my bathroom medicine cabinet in empty makeup and face cream containers, but when we had a break-in, those items were taken.
By CD
Either the theif knew you kept your jewelry there or they were looking for drugs. I don't know how many people live in your house but the bathroom is a bad place to put anything you don't want taken. Some peole snoop and take things. I can tell you where NOT to keep it, in places where other people look.
Hollow out an uninteresting hardcover book and place it randomly on a bookshelf or other inconspicuous place like under another book on your nightstand.
www.ehow.com/
I like food containers. No one is going to steal pringles or soup cans. Here is another cool idea for you to make out of things you have in your house.
www.google.com/
I have put things in the bottom of my hamper. Nobody wants to rifle through dirty clothes.
Or put an empty paint can on a shelf and use that.
It's become so popular to hide things in containers like food cans & fake books(you can even buy them now), that's one of the 1st places thieves look now, just like those fake rock to hide your keys that are so popular now. They also go through bottles in your medicine cabinet & on the sink because a lot of women hide things there (& in the freezer).
I've hidden things in the laundry hamper also, put regular dirty stuff on it, then topped it off with my teenage boys dirty socks & underwear!LOL!
I've seen it suggested (if you're really serious) to cut a hole in your wall & install an unwired outlet plate, air vent, etc., over it. Put a narrow ledge over the inside of the door in your closet(people don't normally look up & back when going through your closet).
Try to think of places in your home that you don't think are common places to hide things. I have some hidey-holes around my house that I know would never be found & even have favorite places in hotel rooms to stash things & I'm pretty positive they wouldn't be found. But I'm not going to publicly announce it ;D
Just remember though, if you stash stuff & something happens to you, your family needs to know where to look. And God forbid you move away & remember too late that you hid something & forgot to retrieve it!
What Lyonpridej posted reminded me of something. My grandmother, God rest her soul, died quite suddenly. Afterwards my mom was going through her things and only by chance happened to find some heirloom jewellery that Grandma had taped to the underside of her dresser drawer! The dresser was due to be given to Goodwill and if Mom hadn't found it they would have been lost forever. If you do hide valuables around the house make sure someone knows where you keep them, for you just never know.
I bought a safe some years ago and keep things in there. I know where they are, and if we should ever have a fire or a flood they're protected too.
I would put it in a safe, take it with me, or leave it with someone you trust.
When our house was burglarized, they dumped out the clothes and used the hamper to hold the stuff they stole.
First, let a trusted family member know that you have valuables hidden and where, in case something happens to you and it wouldnt be found. A good hiding place is to place jewelry in a ziplock sandwhich bag and place inside pet food container. Also, inside a tampon box.
Creating a hollowed out space inside a hardcover book is one way to make a hiding place for jewelry or other items. This is a page about how to use a hollow book for hiding items.
One way to hide your jewelry is on the backside of a framed painting or photo on the wall.
