IN THIS POST:
– False Bottoms
– Between the Cracks
– In Food Containers
– Under the Stairs
– Buried Treasure
– Pillow Stuffing
Every homeowner wants to secure their home against theft, and most of us make conscious efforts to do so. From installing burglar alarms to hiring security guards for the front gate, there is a lot that you can do to protect your home from an intruder on a budget, but what if someone actually finds a way into your residence? Once inside, will they be able to make a quick and easy getaway with the loot? Have you chosen the right spots for hiding valuables in your home? Or are your valuables being kept in the most obvious places for thieves to run away with?
Best Spots for Hiding Valuables in Your Home
Home security measures can prevent the entry of an intruder, but you always need a backup plan for the worst-case scenario. This includes stashing your valuables in places that most opportunist robbers would never consider checking. Want some amazing ideas for hiding valuables in your home? Well, we’ll share a few of the lesser-known hideaways below:
- False Bottoms for Drawers and Cupboards
- Between the Cracks
- Hidden Among the Food
- Under the Stairs
- Bury It with Your Plants
- Sleep on It
False-Bottom for Drawers and Cupboards
Do you have a chest of drawers in your room with a wide gap underneath? Are you custom designing your wardrobe? If that is the case, you can use the gap between the floor and the bottom drawer as a hidey-hole. Just get a carpenter you trust to place a wooden door on the space, with a lock or catch in place to open it and stash your belongings easily.
Alternatively, if you have important documents that you want to protect from theft, put them in a brown paper envelope and tape them to the underside of a pull out drawer. Most thieves do not have the time to check under individual drawers for valuables, as they want to be in and out of the property within minutes.
Between the Cracks
If you have placed two cupboards side by side in your home, you will probably find a gap of about half an inch between them. Got documents or even cash to store away for emergencies? You can place them inside an envelope and use binder clips that are too big to fit the gap, to hang the envelope inside the crack, with just the clips sticking out. No thief will be eager to climb a chair and search the top of your cupboard for valuables.
Hidden Among the Food
While a thief with time on their hands might go through your kitchen cabinets, inedible or healthy food items are rarely touched in most cases. Thus, if you have jars of pulses, sugar, rice or flour in your home, empty the pot and place an empty toilet roll tube at its centre before pouring in the contents of your jar all around it.
Make sure that the contents cover up the sides of the tube, so it is not visible from the outside. You can now use the empty space inside the tube as a storage space for jewellery or even a roll of cash. Place your treasures in a zip-lock bag before storing them, so they do not get damaged.
Under the Stairs
Many homes have a storage compartment for supplies under the stairs, but that’s not what we mean here. If you want to hide your precious goods, create a hidden compartment within one of the stair steps. This is a lot easier for wooden staircases but is doable for concrete alternatives too. However, be warned, hidden compartments that are built in spaces where they see frequent foot traffic will give off a hollow sound, which can give a hint to an intruder about the presence of a hollow cavity under the steps.
Bury It with Your Plants
If you have potted plants in your home or a garden that you maintain regularly, you can make the most of it by using it to hide your precious belongings. For this method, you need to find a watertight container. An old medicine bottle can serve the purpose well.
Just roll up cash or place your jewellery within the container and close it up tight. Then dig a small hole in the dirt and put the bottle inside the hole. Now, fill up the hole with soil, making sure that the container is completely covered.
For potted plants, it is easy to remember where you’ve stashed your goods. Within a garden, mark the location of your hideout with something that does not look out of the ordinary in your yard, like a rock or a bench. The sign needs to be recognisable to you so you don’t have to dig up your entire garden while looking for your belongings but should not be obvious for an outsider.
Sleep on It
Many people tuck their treasures under their pillows while they sleep in an attempt to keep them safe, but we have a more sure-fire way of hiding valuables in your home. Rather than placing stuff under your pillow, why not put your goods inside it? The process is simple.
Cut a small incision in your pillow, take out some of the stuffing and place a pouch of valuables in the middle of the remaining stuffing. You can add a zipper or a strip of Velcro on the opening to make your treasure easily accessible when you need it. Then add your pillow cover to hide your stash completely. You can do the same with throw pillows too.
While storing your treasure in a bank locker is always the preferred method, you might not want to or be able to do so for a variety of reasons, including the fact that you want to use the valuables or sell them off in the near future. If that is the case, you can use the above-given ways to effectively hide your valuables at home for the short or long term and ensure that your belongings are safe in case of an attempted robbery.
Stay tuned to Zameen Blog for more helpful posts. Check out some of these easy ways to protect your home as well or hire one of the top home security companies in Pakistan to secure your premises. You should also consider these tips to secure your home if you live alone. Send us your comments and feedback at blog@zameen.com.
