LAL Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 From a personal finance website: The Best Place To Hide Money: Conversation With A Burglar I had quite the interesting conversation this weekend with a person who happened to be a former burglar. It was great timing because I was wondering if something like the skid mark underwear for hiding money would really work. I also figured that if you wanted to know the best place to hide your money from a burglar, a former burglar was the person to ask. I started off simply and was not surprised by the answer to the question “where is the best place to hide your money?” “At the bank,” he said with a sly grin When I rephrased and asked where the best place to hide money and valuables in the house would be if you had such items there, I was taken a bit by surprise by his answer: “It doesn’t matter how clever you think you are or where you hide it in your house, if I have enough time, I would be able to find where you stash your valuables,” he said bluntly. He then explained that what was much more important than the actual place where you hide your valuables is that you understand a burglar’s motivations. Basically, he has two: 1. To steal your money and valuables 2. To get out of the house as quickly as possible with these goods When you begin to think of it from this perspective, how you should hide your money changes a bit. Obviously, you don’t want to leave all your money in the places where the burglar will first look: dresser drawers, drawers by phones, desks, closets, a safe (if not bolted down), boxes, jewelry boxes, purse, etc.). That being said, you also don’t want to hide all of your money too well for the following reason: “If I can’t find money and valuables in the normal places I usually find them, I would continue to tear the house apart until I found something. Remember, the first rule is to to steal money and valuables. We’ll keep looking until we find something.” Your best strategy, then, is to actually leave some money in obvious places for the burglar to quickly find (the same applies if you keep all your money in the bank). This can not only save your other stash of money, but may actually keep the burglar from destroying your place as he looks for where you have hidden your money. If they believe they may have found the cash that you have in the house, they are much less likely to keep looking (remember, they want to get out asap). In the end, if you hide all your money well, you may win a moral victory in not letting the burglar find the money, but you’ll likely have much more damage done to your place that will end up costing you more in the long run. The next obvious question was “How much money should you leave for the burglar to find?” “It depends on the area where you live. If you are in a upscale community and only leave $100, I would assume there is more and keep looking. In a different part of town $100 would convince me I found all the money that was there and leave.” When it comes to hiding valuables, his suggestion is to mark an envelope in an easily accessible drawer or with files by your computer with “Bank Safe Deposit Box” on the outside and a list of items on the inside. This will tip off the burglar that your most valuable items are stored at the bank and will discourage him from tearing up your house looking for them. So the question of where is the best places to hide money still hadn’t been answered? His number one recommendation for money was in toys in a young child’s room. As he explained, young children don’t have money, they have an abundance of toys and most parents don’t trust a child around money. Therefore, parents will rarely hide money there. In addition, when money is hidden, it is usually hidden away neatly and securely — a child’s room is rarely a neat place making it an unlikely place for money to be hidden. Plus with all the stuff in a child’s room, it is not someplace that a burglar can search quickly and get out (rule #2). If you have a safe, it should be professionally bolted down so it can’t easily be removed. If you leave some token money for the burglar to find in the places they normally look for money, then anyplace you wouldn’t normally consider a place to hide valuables will usually keep those valuables safe. The underside of trash cans, inside laundry detergent, inside false packaging (but only if the packaging appears real and is in the appropriate place - “When you find a Campbell’s soup can in the bedroom, you have a pretty good idea there is money inside”) were some examples he gave. And my question of whether the skid mark underwear would be a good place to hide money? He laughed. “I haven’t heard of that, but I doubt I would have touched something like that had I seen it.” You also need to be smart about where you hide the money. He related one time a person had left wads of money inside the empty battery areas of electronics around the house. The problem was that although he had not found the hidden money at first, the electronics themselves were worth money and he took those to sell. Only when he got home and was checking that everything worked did he find the hidden cash. The person hid the money well, but not in a good place. One last tip from a personal finance angle - if you do hide money someplace around the house, make sure that your significant other (or someone close) knows where your hiding place is. If something unfortunate happens to you and nobody knows where your hidden stash is, it’s unlikely that they will be able to find it if a burglar isn’t able to find it. Worse, it could very easily be accidentally thrown away depending on where it is hidden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 (edited) Thanks, I don't have toys at home, but I could hide money in some of my 4000 CDs' jewel cases My neighbour's appartment was burglared last year. She (an elderly woman) always keeps money at home. It was in an enveloppe on a desk. The burglar didn't take it, but he searched all the drawers of the desk. He also missed an expensive piece of jewelery that she had received the night before and that was lying open on table in a spare bedroom, whose door was open. The only thing he took was an old wedding ring of her parents, which had mainly emotional value and some very cheap jewelery. I never keep larger sums of money at home, but the idea of leaving a smaller sum for a burglar to go away quickly and not search the whole place seems like a good idea. Edited February 21, 2007 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 I never keep money in the house. What would be the purpose of doing that? If I gots any left, it stays in the bank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 (edited) I never keep money in the house. What would be the purpose of doing that? If I gots any left, it stays in the bank. Well, as the article says, the thief may still think you have money at home, and will destroy the place until he finds it. If that's the case, leaving a small token amount in your home for a thief to find may actually prevent alot of damage that might cost $$ or be a major hassle to get repaired/replaced. I haven't done this in the past etiher, as mine's in the bank like you, but it's certainly something to think about. Edited February 21, 2007 by Aggie87 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 I don't have toys at home, but I could hide money in some of my 4000 CDs' jewel cases Good idea, and since they're jazz CDs, it's not like anyone is going to steal them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alocispepraluger102 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 jazz people have money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Maybe some of you remember the movie "Man Bites Dog". I don't keep money at home. And the most valuable thing is the home itself, so I think they would have some problems to move the whole building. Laptop, cameras and Tv are usually the most valuable things they could steal from my house. That's why I keep a back up of my work on cds. About hi-fi, my dealer told me a story about one of his customer: he had at home 100K of hi end gears, the thieves stolen the microwave, washing machine, tv, fridge almost everythingh and left hi fi. Over there professional thieves are well informed about what kind of value you have at home: carpets, paintings, furnitures so I am not really scared about it. And usually we haven't got firearms at home, so who cares? It just things. Today one famous football player was robbered in the middle of the street, they stolen his 20 k wristwatch. My wristwatch worths 100 dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 I don't have toys at home, but I could hide money in some of my 4000 CDs' jewel cases Good idea, and since they're jazz CDs, it's not like anyone is going to steal them! But: I magine a thief taking all the jewel cases apart to find the bills hidden in the booklets or between tray and tray card ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Anybody who burgles my house won't find much to their liking. What they may get is more than they bargained for since my next door neighbor is an investigator for the district attorneys office and the chief of police lives not too many doors down from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Strangely, I fear somebody stealing my vinyl collection! Apparently, it does happen... and that's the only investment I really have at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 The best place I've found to hide money is to give it to Barb. I never see it again; I assume it must be really well hid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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