Hiding Valuables – Sneakier Uses For Everyday Things
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When you think of sneaky you usually think of something that is secret or hidden from you. Actually, the most common sneaky-use application is hiding your valuable belongings from others.
Sneakier Uses For Everyday Things
- Hollowed-out candle
- Figurine
- Tissue container
- Trash container base
- Video or audio cassette shell
- Pen
- Watch case
- Inner pocket
- Shoestring
- DVD case
- Between magazine pages
- Inside a candy box
- Ironing board padding
- Bag within a bag
Source & Image: From the Book “Sneakier Uses For Everyday Things” by Cy Tymony
I myself would forget about the DVD/CD case idea (as well as VHS and video game cases). If kids are breaking in, they love to scoop those things up to sell for quick cash.
More Ideas For Hiding Things
- Store items in food containers to keep in the fridge, pantry or freezer. This only works well if you regularly have a lot of items and containers for them to go through.
- Cut a hole behind a floor baseboard and stash valuables in there. Make sure that the baseboard is back in place perfectly.
- Pull off the rubber ends on the ironing board leg and voila! a tube for hiding.
- Money envelope hidden behind or tucked up inside wall calendars.
- Feminine Napkin or Tampon Boxes (keep them full of product).
- Inside rolls of toilet paper, the bottom ones kept stacked in packaging.
- A toy box filled with toys.
- Fill a sock and put in the dirty clothes hamper.
- ‘False’ Shampoo or hairspray bottles (just clean and empty a used bottle–not a clear plastic one!)
- Spice & herb bottles: empty out and wash well, paint glue all over the inside then fill the bottle with spices again. Dump whatever the glue didn’t hold. You want the spice bottle to look like it’s full of spice. Fill the bottle with valuables in a plastic bag once the glue and spices are completely dried.
- Used deodorant stick containers and toothpaste tubes (cut the end, clean well, roll up).
- If you’re handy, build a false ceiling, wall or floor in a small room.
- In amongst the Christmas decorations
- Buy two cheap, thin identical floor mats, glue together but leave a pocket edge open to tuck money envelopes in. Seal the pocket with double sided tape.
- If you live in a warm climate where it doesn’t freeze over winter–bury your stash in the backyard
Places That Aren’t Really Safe To Hide Things
- The master bedroom. Everyone stores their valuables in there.
- The medicine cabinet. Thieves typically love prescription pills.
- Inside and under dresser drawers. Too common.
- Underneath mattresses and along bed frames. Again, too common.
- Bedroom closets and clothes pockets–one of the first places to ransack.
- A locked fire safe or locked briefcase–both can be picked up and left with to be broken into somewhere else. If you have a safe, make sure it’s bolted down tight.
A Good Idea
- Have a ‘secret’ jewelry box or box of some kind sitting on the dresser or tucked away in a dresser drawer. Put some cash in there and cheap jewelry, maybe even a small key that doesn’t open anything. This is your decoy and will hopefully let the thief think he found the stash he’s looking for. Have it full of ‘junk’ that looks valuable, the more the better.
Also have a few different hiding spots. That way not everything will be stolen if only one or two spots are found.
Did You Know
- Some thieves break into homes looking for spare keys to the house, garage and car to steal or break into later? Don’t leave spare keys in an obvious place.
Wherever you hide your stash–keep it to yourself & make sure to remember where it is!
Here are a few places I have used in different houses…
1. In the middle of a bag of cotton balls.
2. Between loose recipes in a recipe box.
3. Behind books on a bookshelf.
4. In a printer (usually empty space on right or left of cartridges you can find by lifting up lid to replace them.)
5. In bottom of paper shredder basket (only works if basket is solid color and not c-thru, and if you always have full of shreds)
6. In a empty bottle from multivitamins kept somewhere inconspicuous but not hidden (because you wouldn’t hide vitamins)
7. Water reservoirs of coffee makers.
8. In amongst makeup in makeup case/bag/drawer.
9. In a baggie hidden within coffee in a coffee can.
10. Battery compartments not used in things such as cheap contertop radios (things electronic, but not worth stealing)
11. In a cereal box in a cupboard.
12. In coffee travel mugs with lids attached in a cupboard amongst others.
13. In empty laundry detergent bottle on laundry-room shelf.
14. In empty boxes from dishwasher soap or steel-wool pads.
15. Taped under a bed, table, desk, etc.
Wow! Great list you shared Justin, thanks!
Another good place is behind a false electrical outlet. Make a hole in a wall like you are in installing an outlet, and buy the face plate, box, etc., and put everything together. You can pull the whole thing out of the wall and hide stuff in there.
Inside your bread maker.
In the bottom of a bag or box of maxi pads under the bathroom sink.
In a baking powder tin.
In a coffee cannister.
Open a can of vegetables on the bottom, empty and wash, stash valuables inside and set it toward the back of your provisions.
Ditto with a cake mix box.
In the toe of shoes or boots.
In a hollowed out hard cover book.
Under a layer of dry clothes in the dryer.
Inside a coffee mug turned upside down in the back of the dish washer.
In a cookbook in the bottom of your drawer.
This is a great list, now the thieves know where to look
Allison this is quite an extensive list for thieves to go through. By the time they get through each item in the freezer (for example), either the alarm company has the police on their way or the thief is in danger of being discovered at any moment since they’ve spent so much time in the house.
Here’s some places that probably no thief looks, and this is after years of being my own MacGyver and reading several books on the topic of hiding crap.
-Non-transparent lightbulb. If you drill a small hole in the bottom of the bulb for air to rush in and replace the vacuum, then (carefully) remove the metallic end-pulg, you can store small things inside the bulb. Simply put back into the box, or even make it look like a dead bulb and screw it into your chandelier or lamp.
Speaker box- And Im talking about the boxes that the actual speakers are housed in. There is a tremendous amount of empty space, since the driver (speaker) itself only takes up a small amount of the actual space. Simply (and carefully) knock off the backing, and then stuff it with your valuables, being careful to allow some space, not touching the back of the speaker.
-Stuffed animals, taxidermy’d animals.
if a theif reads this =will know are secret hiding places bad idea
newsflash for the people who think that these lists are gunna make it easier to steal your sh*t, WRONG in most(80%) situations where a house is getting robbed its an in and out within 10 mintues kind of deal, which means no time to unscrew every outlet or flip ever can, unless you have an alarm then ull most likely be shit outta luck. cuz most reasons for an alarm are expensive valuables, and the only theives that are gunna break into your house are gunna be the ones who know what theyre doin and will disable the alarm(which sorry to say is not hard to do) the smartest move is to get the added feature where if power is cut to the system a battery operated radio signal is sent out alerting the authorities. this feature is not noticable and will protect your stuff. you want a good hiding spot how bout a safety deposit box.
My mom used to hide her money for the month(back in the day, before bank machines/ direct pay) outside, she would put it in a plastic bag, drape it over the clothes line, then put the ugliest rag on top, secure it with clothespins, who would ever think of looking there?
i cut a whole in my matress and stuffed thing in it
How paranoid must one be to stuff their valuables in a toothpaste tube?
once helped clear out the “stuff” of a friend’s aunt, who had died. found 1000′s of dollars, in twenties, hidden in the most bizarre places. bet a lot of it had been thrown away over the years….
it is great to hide a few things… more than that becomes counterproductive!
were did the lady hide her money
just asking out of curiosity??
Be careful about burying something in the yard! If it’s in a container with air, it will work its way up and float away during a rain. I know from experience, found what I buried later in the bushes!
These are all great ideas. But, valuables in these secret hiding places could end up getting thrown out when someone passes away, or prossibly donated if hidden in usable items. Maybe a family member should know about it to avoid this problem since eventually, everyone will pass away. Sad but true.
Just something to consider….
I just keep my apt. so messy, no one can find anything except me. I keep some cash in a box that used to have replacement bank checks, and it’s in a drawer in a plastic cabinet of several drawers which is in my closet along with three other units of various sizes to organize papers, first aid stuff, bus schedules, etc. It’s even hard for me to find sometimes, I need to turn on the light first to see anything in there and then pick out the right drawer. Recently it seems someone did get into my apt, but they just got some tools, and I don’t think they even got as far as the closet because it was too crowded for them.
Keep all your valuable in a safe, lock it and keep the key inside an ink bottle.
Sew your money (bills only) in the hem of your curtains. I found this to be the best place for me.
A few of the ones your listed worried me. The watch case, I would think thieves would look into jewelry type places, therefore this would be someplace they would look.
The DVD case. Electronics are easy for people to sell after stolen, so DVD’s, CDs etc., are something that thieves may take if they have time or don’t find anything else.
Between magazine pages. Please be very careful with this, as many people declutter their homes and throw magazines out frequently.
Any ideas of where I can hide my keys? Both the ones inside the house and the one outside incase I get locked out.
hide the key at a neighbor you trust and they can do same–anyone finds the key will find out it does not unlock the doors and they are not going to go door to doorto try and find the door it fits..I did this for years. I do not keep much cash at home but behind a photo in a frame works esp if you have lots of them. I only keep emergency cash rest stays in the bank
a good place to hide your spare keys are to take an old medicine bottle and glue a rock onto the top. hide your keys inside and bury the bottle with only the rock showing.