Burglars broke into my apartment. I stood on the threshold in shock, looking around the mess: cushioned furniture ripped open, books scattered, and in the middle of the kitchen lay a broken jar of jam - the same one in which I once hid my stash for a rainy day, rejoicing at my own ingenuity.
Sergey Antonov
journalist
As it turned out later in a conversation with an investigator, many secluded places that seem original to us are checked by thieves first. But it is knowledge of this fact that can make it possible to preserve savings and protect housing from destruction.
It is clear that it is better not to store large sums at home. It is much wiser to take the money to the bank, where it will not only be safe, but also generate income. However, there are situations when you need to hold over a large amount of money at home - say, before a major purchase.
Where thieves will look first
It only seems to you that the freezer or cistern in the toilet - the place where intruders will look last. In fact, it's the other way around.
First of all, thieves search the bedroom - chests of drawers, wardrobes, feel the mattress and pillows. Can shake the earth out flower pot, tap the laminate. In addition, everything that hangs on the walls comes under suspicion - carpets, paintings, mirrors.
In the kitchen, thieves check cans of bulk foods, the refrigerator and freezer, oven and microwave, as well as the trash can.
Tanks, cabinets, jars, containers, books - no
Don’t even think about hiding money behind the ventilation grill: Mikhail Bulgakov long ago told everyone about this hiding place in The Master and Margarita.
It's also a bad idea to hide money in books, even if there are a lot of them. They are viewed very quickly. The same goes for CDs.
Having delved deeper into the search, thieves may begin to open expensive equipment - a TV, set-top box, computer, etc.
Where can you hide money?
Before you think about setting up a cache, figure out how often you yourself will have to reach for your stash. It's stupid to move a heavy wardrobe once every two weeks before going grocery shopping. Naturally, if your stash is intended for a purchase postponed for the distant future, then it makes sense to have such a hard-to-reach stash.
The main rule when choosing a secluded place is non-obviousness. Stand in the center of the room and look around. There are a lot of surfaces and objects around you - in almost every one you can actually make a hiding place:
- The inside of the cornice is hollow; a stack of banknotes rolled up into a tube can easily fit there.
- You can drill holes for banknotes in the top and bottom edges of interior doors.
- Cavities inside any shelves, walls, window sills are good places if you came up with these cavities yourself. Thieves won't be able to check every facet of every piece of furniture, especially if they don't know where to look.
How to prevent destruction in your apartment
A good hiding place also has its downside. Imagine that you are on vacation, the thieves know about it. Consequently, they have nowhere to rush and are ready to search until the last minute.
The attackers may not find a well-hidden stash, but they will search thoroughly - they will break the furniture, throw all the clothes out of the closets onto the floor, turn over cans of bulk products in the kitchen, and tear off the baseboards. Everything that you hid and put aside, you will eventually have to spend on repairs and furnishings.
However, such an outcome can be avoided. Divide the money into two, or better yet, three parts. Hide the main amount more securely. Place the smaller portion in a place easily accessible to thieves. Let's say, between the clothes in the wardrobe.
Make a false cache that is easy to find and you don’t mind losing
He will be one of the first to be searched. They will find your pseudo-stash and think that this is all the savings stored at home. The most you will lose is these few thousand and some digital equipment that is easy to take away and sell.
Install a small safe at home. A compact model costs about 2000-3000 rubles. Place a smaller portion of the money in it, and hide the safe itself in the same closet. To make it even more convincing, screw the safe to the wall of the closet so that thieves will be interested in tearing it off.
Thieves are unlikely to open a metal container on the spot; they will simply take it with them. And even if they open it, they will be satisfied with what they find.
How to protect yourself from thieves
Security. In all major cities There are quick response services: a magnetic sensor is installed in the apartment, which must be deactivated when you return home. If the sensor is not deactivated for some time, armed guards go to the apartment. The very presence of a security system can deter thieves.
Security camera. Install an Internet camera in your apartment. This device sends notifications to your smartphone if it detects movement. If thieves enter your apartment, you will immediately know about it.
Neighbours. It makes sense to know your neighbors in the stairwell and be on good terms with them. You shouldn’t give them the keys during your vacation, but it makes sense to warn them about the vacation.
Friends. But you should give close friends a spare set of keys, so that if something happens you can call them and ask them to come with a police squad.
“Why, exactly, hide them?” - you ask. Indeed, at first glance, it would seem that only a person prone to paranoia would do this. But no. This question is quite relevant in real life.
Every thief strives to find and take with him from the house or other object he is robbed as much as possible. more money and values.
But even more, he strives to get away from the crime scene as quickly as possible. After all, the longer he stays there, the greater the likelihood that he can be captured.
Therefore, you need to hide the money so that it takes the thief as much time as possible to find it.
But many places in the apartment that seem nice and secluded to us are checked by thieves first.
Here is a typical case of burglary. A resident who set up a hiding place for her money in a ventilation pipe did not suspect that this is where thieves usually look. Especially if the location of the cache is immediately revealed by a poorly fitting lid or tile, fingerprints in the dust, etc.
First, thieves check everything in the bedroom: wardrobes, mattresses, pillows. The paintings on the walls also raise suspicions - what if there is something behind them? Then they look at all the kitchen jars, climb into the stove and refrigerator. In the bathroom, they will definitely check the drain tank, the space under the sink, behind the mirror, and also rummage through jars of cosmetics. By the way, hiding money in books is also a bad idea, because they can be shaken up very easily and quickly.
Where you don't need to hide money
I found out where not to hide money.
These are places where access does not cause any difficulties, both physical (opening a desk drawer, looking into a sugar bowl) and mental. Difficulties for a thief are caused by those places for money, access to which is associated with heavy physical activity. Thieves do this as a last resort if they haven’t found valuables and money in standard places.
And, of course, if they still have time!
Where should I hide it then?
This should not be an obvious place. For example, you can easily hide rolled up banknotes in a hollow inside cornice. You can also hide money in cavities inside racks, window sills or shelves. Thieves will not check every facet of all pieces of furniture in the apartment. They do not like to move cabinets, pianos, sofas, sideboards and similar large and heavy furniture. It is behind it (or under it) that you can hide money. The risk that they will be found (will be found immediately) is reduced. And if the thief does not have enough time, patience or brains, then the money and valuables will remain where you hid them!
You can make several hiding places. Divide the money into several parts: hide the main part more reliably, and put small amounts in visible places: for example, in a closet with clothes or between books on a shelf. Then thieves may consider that this is all your savings and will not destroy your entire apartment. At most they will take away some money and some electronics.
How else can you protect your home from thieves?
You can install a security system that must be turned off every time you come home. You can also install a camera at home that will send you a notification to your phone if it detects any movement in the apartment.
Another way to hide money and valuables is to put them in a safe safe.
Of course, it will be difficult to hide the safe itself somewhere, especially if it is heavy and large. But they usually don’t strive for this. It is enough that it is securely mounted into the wall, screwed to the floor, or, at worst, chained with a thick chain to the central heating radiator.
In general, you need to strive to make as many obstacles as possible for thieves if they decide not to break into the safe, but to take it (along with the money and valuables in it) with them.
Naturally, the lock on the safe itself must be good and reliable.
By the way, British thieves, for example, have long come up with and use their own apartment coding system called the “Da Pinci code.” This is a kind of communication system between thieves, which allows you to determine whether a particular house is worth robbing or not. Thieves' signs, usually drawn in chalk, can also tell a lot about the owner's character. For example, a crossed out circle means that there is nothing valuable in the apartment. And flower petals are a good sign for criminals, meaning that there is something to profit from in the house. A sign in the form of an open book may indicate that a fragile and vulnerable woman lives in the house. The cross means "good goal". Three parallel lines can indicate that the house has already been robbed. Two intersecting rectangles may mean that the owner of the house suspects something is wrong. Thieves leave marks on the walls of houses, sidewalks and curbs.
In Russia, burglars use similar methods of work. Russian thieves first try to find out as much as possible about the daily routine of the residents, and only then pay a visit. Frequent calls on the phone or at the door, as if there was a mistake, can also indicate that thieves' intelligence is operating. There are also marks, but in our case they are different depending on the nationality of the burglars. However, in many cases there is one thing in common - the one who gives the tip most often lives nearby.
Accumulation Money“for a rainy day” is perhaps our national feature, however, it is lost over time - many are hooked on loans, and cannot not only save up, but also cannot pay off their debts. It’s another matter if your income allows you to save part of your earnings, then the question arises: Using the above link, we tried to answer it and develop the topic, and in this article the topic of preserving your hard-earned money at home will be discussed. Unfortunately, no one is immune from theft, and besides, it makes sense to take a more responsible approach to choosing storage locations - money should not fall into the eyes of a child or a friend. Below we will look at options for where to hide money so that no one steals your stash, and where you don’t need to hide your savings.
A gift to a thief, or where you can’t hide money
No matter how funny it may sound, most people use the same ideas (storage locations), which are not original at all. Naturally, the first thing criminals will do is inspect banal hiding places, proven by years of illegal activity - it’s difficult to ordinary apartment come up with an original hiding place, all of them have been, as they say, heard for a long time.
The list of unreliable caches looks like this:
There is an opinion that money (various valuables) should be hidden in the most visible place - where no one will check. But doing this is quite stupid and impractical: you still can’t hide a large sum like that (your hand will tremble to put it in a visible place), and they can find it by accident (your child). And finally, thieves are not fools either - they know this very well.
If we are already talking about where you shouldn’t hide money at home, then you can resort to a simple but very effective trick. Place a small amount in the “unreliable” storage facility described above (of course, not 100 rubles, but a more impressive amount, at least 5,000 rubles), this will distract the criminal from the main cache, and possibly reduce the amount of losses from property damage. It depends on your luck: an experienced burglar will break into your place and rummage through the whole house, or a novice thief will grab the first valuable thing that comes to hand and let it go.
Hiding money in an original way
The most obvious answer to the question: “Where to hide the money?” sounds like this: Don’t hide them at home at all, but, no matter how trivial it sounds, entrust them to the bank, putting them on a deposit or in a regular savings account. At least a dozen stable banks can be found without problems (if you don’t want to bother, you can immediately limit the list of banks to institutions with state participation). For example, there are deposits that provide for the replenishment and withdrawal of cash at any time without losing accrued interest. However, when circumstances force you to keep funds with you (or a large amount for a while), you should protect your money from theft as much as possible. So, where should you hide the money so that the attackers are left with nothing?
Making niches
A secluded place can be a door, a cavity in the cornice, a table top and other wooden (chipboard) surfaces. To make a hiding place in a door, you can hollow out a small recess in the upper part of the door leaf, which will be invisible to the eye of a criminal. The recess must be closed together with the adjacent surface, because gaps between different materials The storage will be issued immediately. You can do similar tricks with other surfaces, the main thing is that no outside interference is visible from above.
Unusual storage methods in standard places
You can refresh old ideas - for example, use the toilet cistern a little differently. The float itself will act as a cache here. To prevent thieves from finding valuables there, you should carefully place them inside the float. If the narrow entrance is not enough, you can make a cut along the seam or on the back side, put money there and solder or glue it back. Make sure that the money does not get wet if the integrity of the seam is damaged.
You can give the refrigerator a chance to become a hiding place, only to do this you should hide the money under the elastic band along the edge of the door.
Sockets
Even an experienced burglar is unlikely to risk his health and will not want to climb into live wires. To successfully hide valuables, you need to turn off the power to the wires, remove the socket cover and put the “treasure” into the cavity. To prevent fire, wrap valuables in non-conductive material. electricity. You can make a dummy socket, the main thing is that it is located in a normal place and does not arouse suspicion.
Water pipe
A bathroom or toilet is a worthy candidate for hiding money and more. The installation of a bathroom requires the presence of pipes and tubes, and the installation of another one will not be noticeable. You can put a stash inside the pipe and carefully screw it next to the rest. The thief will have no time to look for the necessary pipe, much less unscrew it.
Where to hide money: interesting ideas
There is still something to add to the previous caches. When looking for a suitable place, use your imagination; every detail of the interior can become the most the best option. You can hide money using ordinary objects:
- photo album, where bills are placed under a photograph glued to the edges;
- legs of chairs and tables, sealed at the bottom;
- working materials for needlewomen - skeins of yarn, jars of acrylic, floss, etc.;
- stationery with cavities - pens, markers, staplers, etc.;
- flower pots with a double bottom (it’s better not to hide money in the ground, it’s discovered once or twice);
- children's toys, preferably not soft ones - a car, the result of children's creativity, etc.;
- Christmas tree decorations;
- the base of a chandelier or table lamp.
When setting up a place to store banknotes, remember that paper money is susceptible to damage, especially in a humid environment. Wrapped in cellophane, dollars will be covered with fungus within a year, which will reduce their real value. The disadvantages of complex caches include difficult access: for the next replenishment you will have to try hard. However, for attackers, it is the time factor that is decisive, so for the sake of greater reliability it is worth suffering some inconvenience.
When looking for suitable hiding places, it is important not to overdo it. For example, installing a heavy cabinet in place of a hiding place is questionable if you intend to use your stash at least once every few weeks.
How to protect your home from thieves?
It is strictly contraindicated to store large sums without an installed security system that is under round-the-clock monitoring by a specialized security agency (an agreement must be concluded with such a company for the security of a house/apartment, which provides for the dispatch of a rapid response team in the event of unauthorized entry into your home). This is certainly not a cheap pleasure, but it is worth it. It’s hard to imagine what thieves can do to your apartment during your long-term absence. The damage may be significant, which can be prevented for 1 thousand rubles, which you will pay for security services monthly. By the way, even a sticker on the front door with the logo of a security agency can scare off uninvited guests.
A budget option– installation of a camera with motion sensors or home alarm(all this in bulk on Aliexpress) with the possibility of independent remote monitoring through an application on your smartphone. Let’s say a motion sensor is triggered, and you receive a signal via the Internet and via SMS message to your smartphone. You immediately open the application and watch video from the camera or listen to the signal from the installed microphone. If your apartment has been broken into, call the police or your neighbors yourself. At the same time, the alarm will probably scare away the thief, leaving no time for further searches for the cache.
The most common place where money is stored are various drawers and bedside tables that are “at hand”. That's where thieves first look for their prey.
All kinds of figurines, boxes, vases are also not suitable for the role of reliable hiding places.
Oddly enough, some people still hide valuables under the mattress or in furniture, on mezzanines or in ottomans, chairs, or sewn into pillows.
It is worth understanding that there are cases when not only money and valuables are taken out, but even clothes, shoes and small household appliances. Therefore, it is unwise to hide money in these things. Some people think that it will be difficult for a thief to search among the mountains of clothes and linen in the closet. But for this he will need only a couple of minutes to shake everything out of the cabinets and probe in search of prey.
"Original" places that thieves know about
It seems that the thief will not search in auxiliary premises, like a bathroom or kitchen, but this is not the case at all. They are well aware of such places as the toilet cistern, ventilation windows, and will not disdain to look in the trash can or dirty laundry basket.
Some people store valuables in cereals or in the refrigerator. This is also not reliable.
It seems that the surest thing is to hide valuables at the renovation stage. However, this is a misconception. If the thief is sure that he has a lot of time before the owner returns, then he will check under the baseboard, knock on the walls, and tear off the wallpaper.
Reliable protection
As for safes, this is a controversial place. If the burglar is a professional, he will find a way to open it. Also, some of them can be easily carried out due to their light weight and size. A safe can be reliable protection if it is installed in a hard-to-reach place, which will prevent removal and require time and effort to open it.
Based on the above examples, we can conclude: popular places are the most unsafe. That's where thieves will look first.
There are two types of thieves: random robbers who couldn't pass up easy money, and professional burglars who act on a tip and carefully study the object before robbing it. Pros will quickly find a hiding place in any apartment.
You can think about where to store valuables outside the home, or provide your home with maximum security. For example, bank safes are very popular now. But the downside of safes is that this is also not a 100% guarantee of reliability, since the bank does not know what is in the cell and cannot be responsible for its contents.
It is logical to place money on: in addition to reliability, there is also interest.
How to limit time
A thief's main weapon is time. Given enough time, a thief will find any hiding place. Therefore, when creating hiding places, take care to limit the time a thief will spend in your home.
Can be installed home system alarm system, connect it to the security company's remote control - this will not bring large maintenance costs, but you can count on a reaction when entering the home.
Install door opening sensors that will turn on a loud siren: turning it off quickly is difficult, for beginners it creates panic, for professionals it is a signal to hurry up.
The most basic protection is high-quality locks on front door. This is something you can't skimp on. They will be able to detain a thief if they are difficult to open. Unfortunately, most locks and locks you find in hardware stores are very easy to pick. There is only one piece of advice here - take a closer look at the products of famous brands; although their locks are expensive, they usually come with a guarantee; each lock has a certificate.
Finally, there is another method of protection: insurance.
10 ideas for hiding places for money
Several ideas where you can hide money in your apartment.
- Toy. You can sew or invest your savings in it. Suitable for families with children. A thief will not tamper with all the cars in a child's room. The main thing is to explain to the child that this is daddy’s toy and cannot be played with!
- Behind the closet. If it covers the entire wall and you can climb on it, you can put the money in a bag, lower it behind the cabinet in the center and secure a string along its length arm's length so that you can get it.
- Pot with plants. We pack the bills in waterproof cellophane and arrange them in a circle. We take care of the flowers as usual.
- Writing materials. You can roll up the money into a tube and place it on empty markers or felt-tip pens. Put it away in the desk.
- Aquarium. We also use waterproof material and place the treasure on a sunken ship or in an underwater castle.
- Album with pockets for photos. We arrange the bills under the photographs. Even if the thief nervously starts shaking the books, nothing should fall out.
- Bottom/top wooden interior door make a hole on the surface parallel to the floor/ceiling the size of a small stack of bills. You can always slip in some riches and seal them with tape.
- Threads. We twist the money and wrap it with woolen threads in the form of a round skein. We store it with accessories for cutting and sewing.
- On the ceiling. We remove the chandelier, put money through the hole at a possible distance and hang the chandelier back. Labor-intensive and suitable for those who know how to handle electricity.
- You can also store banknotes in Christmas tree toys. And in winter, decorate the New Year tree with these “rich” balls.
They robbed the apartment but did not find where the jewelry was hidden
A reader's story.
My husband and I lived and didn’t bother in our one-room apartment. But then we decided to give up on a week at sea. They saved up money for this and asked for a vacation. A cat for a neighbor and flowers there too. The tickets were purchased, the door was locked and we flew to distant lands.
Of course, we have not divorced ourselves from reality. We enjoyed our vacation, but did not forget to sometimes call our neighbor and find out how things were going. She assured that everything was fine, the cat was diligent, the flowers were growing, the apartment was in place.
But a week has passed, we come home and what do we see?! The apartment was turned upside down, some things were missing, and the door was not locked.
I have tears, my husband is furious, and my neighbor is sincerely bewildered. It looks like the thieves managed to break down the door without anyone hearing or seeing them. Of course, they called the police, and they took a report of the theft.
But at least we had one consolation - the thieves could not find the cache of money and jewelry. We live in the city, so we knew that anything could happen.
They made a recess in the floor, in the screed, and put an iron box with jewelry there. A piece of plaster was placed on top and covered with parquet. It will be difficult for a stranger to find this hiding place.
This is how we have at least some savings left safe and sound.
Editor: there are many more in our section interesting stories about how to protect your savings.
A professional thief can find and open any cache in a matter of minutes, but following certain recommendations you can still try to save your money. We’ll tell you where to hide money in an apartment or during a long trip in this article.
Where to hide money at home?
Here are some of the most successful, in our opinion, hiding places that can be equipped in a city apartment or private house:
Attention! If you hide money “seriously and for a long time,” then you risk forgetting about the location of the hiding place. Often, forgetful people hide their money so securely that they later don’t know how to remember where they hid the money. Be careful!
TOP of the most unsuccessful hiding places:
- linen closets, drawers chests of drawers, etc.
- under the bed mattress
- behind a mirror or a picture
- in books
- in cans of cereal
- in your pockets outerwear
- in ventilation ducts
- V rear walls large household appliances
- in the toilet flush barrel
- dirty laundry basket
Where to hide money on a trip?
When preparing for a long-awaited trip, many of us ask ourselves a far from idle question - where to put money on a trip? I immediately want to remember about plastic cards.
If you are not already using by bank card, we strongly recommend that you get yourself this convenient payment instrument. Having a compact card in hand, you can pay for goods and services around the world, and, if necessary, withdraw cash from ATMs. If you follow safety precautions when using cards, they will become the main method of payment when traveling around the country and the world.
However, today you can’t live without cash, so we recommend that you always have a certain amount with you. It is unwise to keep all your money in a purse or bag; it is advisable to hide it away from prying eyes and hands. Let's consider the most interesting options:
- swimming trunks with sewn pocket
- women's bra (again with a small pocket)
- front pocket of jeans
- shoes are also considered a good hiding place - you can simply put banknotes under the insole
Of course, it is unlikely that you will be able to hide a large sum in this way, so it is advisable to keep your money in large denominations.
Where to hide money on the beach
It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to hide money on the beach (don’t bury it in the sand!), but today you can put it in a storage locker almost everywhere. Such services cost mere pennies, but this is a great way to save not only money, but also your phone and clothes.
There is another option. Today there are many different waterproof wallets for money, smartphones and documents on sale. You can attach them to your arm, belt or chest. You can find them in specialized sports stores.