The Dos and Don’ts of Hiding Your Valuables

Most of us have items that hold special value to us, from family heirlooms to expensive collector’s items to jewelry to photographs. It’s natural to want to give these items extra protection–but have you given it serious thought? When you’re protecting your valuables from potential thieves and intruders, there’s undoubtedly a right way and a wrong way to go about it. There are obvious hiding places that criminals will check first, and you might be surprised at some of them! Check out these helpful tips, then contact the experts at Advanced Lock & Security to help you create the perfect hiding space for your valuables.

You may think you’ve found a perfect hiding spot for your valuables–a spot so great that nobody would ever look there. But you’d be surprised at how good thieves can be at locating valuable items in seemingly unlikely spaces. If you’ve ever hidden valuables in places like these, you should probably rethink your hiding spots:

• Your Underwear Drawer.
  While it might make sense to you that a thief wouldn’t dig through your undergarments in hopes of striking it rich, the simple fact is that many, many people store their valuables in their underwear drawers. It’s the real-life version of using “password” as your computer password: it seems clever at the time, but enough people have done it that it’s one of the first things someone will check.
• Your Master Bedroom.
  It’s true, your master bedroom probably has many excellent hiding places. But we can assure you, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a place that a thief wouldn’t check. Criminals can be frustratingly clever, after all, and most people hide their valuables somewhere in their master bedroom.
• Your Child’s Bedroom.
  We understand the thinking behind this one: who’s going to put valuables in a kid’s room? It’s the perfect hiding place! Unfortunately, many other people have also thought this, making children’s bedrooms a frequent search target for criminals. What’s more, you always run the risk of your child accidentally coming across your valuables and treating them carelessly. Better to avoid this situation entirely.

This list might seem discouraging; perhaps you’ve discovered that your valuables aren’t as well-hidden as you might have thought. There’s no need to fear! There are some wonderful places you can hide your valuables, and the locksmiths at Advanced Lock & Security can help. Check out some of these solutions, then give us a call to talk about hiding your valuables better.

• A Mounted Safe.
  When you use a mounted safe, an invader will know where valuables are–but they won’t be able to get to them. Since the safe is mounted, it can’t be as easily removed as floor safes. A criminal who sees a mounted safe knows that this house isn’t one that will be easily burglarized, and may simply move on.
• Built-In Hidden Drawers
  Let’s face it: hidden drawers are undeniably cool. What’s more, since they’re hidden, a thief would have to be incredibly lucky to stumble across one. It can be a good idea to hide things in a place that’s undetectable to anyone who doesn’t know that it’s there.
• Concealed In An Empty Spare Bedroom
  Concealing your valuables can work surprisingly well. You can use something like a hollowed-out book, an old cleaning supply can, or many other places. However, when you do this, we recommend you hide the valuables in an empty spare bedroom; these rooms aren’t checked nearly as frequently as others, and will often be overlooked entirely.