65 replies to this topic

[cookiejar]

Hiding Places for Your Secret Money Stash
By Amber Seber, published Dec 14, 2007

I have lived in bad neighborhoods and because I waited tables at night and could only deposit my money one day a week, I often had hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars in cash in my apartment. I was always afraid that a burglar might find my money if it hid it in obvious places like in the sock drawer or a cash box. Here are some great hiding places that I have used over the years that you can use to hide your car keys, house keys and money.

For a while, my favorite hiding place for cash was in the front pocket of a dress shirt hanging in my husband's closet. Burglars might think to check shoes, but who would go through a huge pile of clothes hanging on a rack?

Another of my favorite hiding places was folded inside a towel in the bathroom cabinet.

If you have cats, hide your money underneath the litter box. No one will think - or want - to look there.

Dog lovers can use their furry friends as cohorts as well. Simply seal your money inside a zip-top baggie and bury it in your dog's bin of dry dog food.

Do you keep old letters? I keep all of mine in a shoebox in the closet. Simply place your cash inside an envelope and hide it at the bottom of the box of letters.

The phone book is also a great place to hide a stash of bills. I once filed mine under "finances." Unless the burglar wants to make a local call while ransacking your home, he will never think to look in the phone book.

Storage boxes also make great hiding places. Drop your stash into one of the boxes in your closet marked "Christmas decorations" or "clothes for charity."

My mother once gave me a neat little gift when I was in college. It was a perfect replica of a Campbell's soup can, completely indistinguishable from the real thing in every way. It was even weighted perfectly to feel as though it had soup in it. The secret was that the bottom screwed off and there was a small secret compartment inside.

Do you like to carry a little emergency cash in your purse? Clean out an empty lip balm tube and store rolled-up bills inside. If your purse is stolen, the thief will not find your money and will dump the purse. If your purse is found and returned to you, the money will still be inside.

[Vlynn]

Great ideas! I like the lip balm idea. Here are a few I know of:

1. Swish white paint inside an empty (clean) mayo jar. Let it dry, then put your cash inside. Replace the cover and stick in the back of your cabinet of fridge.

2. Wrap valuables in freezer paper, label it "liver" and stash in the freezer.

3. Pry off a strip of wood floor trim inside a closet. Carve out a strip of drywall that was behind the trim. That gives you an empty space between the studs to hide small items or money. Then put self-stick velcro on each end of he wood, with a matching piece on the drywall, so you can stick the wood back on. You can just pull the wood off again when you need to get at your stuff.

[Prudy]

Inside the toilet paper holder (rolled and tucked inside the spring)

Inside a gasket put around the pipe under a sink (works best inside a cabinet under the counter.

Inside photo envelopes full of pictures.

Inside balloon valances. Put in a plastic zippy, blow full of air, seal and stuff in the valance.

Under a closed window sash. Truly safe would be hollow out a groove, seal with a metal strip, close and then paint it shut.

Inside the lining of an old baseball style hat. The brim is usually lined and rigid. Cut the lining, put whatever it is inside the brim, super glue shut. Sweat stained is good.

Inside the mechanical part of an out dated printer in a storage area... lots of room to hide stuff and no self respecting robber would touch it.. and a metal detector would go off anyway. Any wretchedly out of date electronic item would serve the same purpose.

[michelle]

behind the switchplate of an unused plug in.. there's a small box there for the wire to come in. use it to stuff money in. Roll some old yarn around a ziploc bag of valuables and stick in a basket.. what burglar will take your yarn. inside an old stuffed animal in the kids room. under the carpet.

[Jakk]

LOL
http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2007/01/2...f-it-works.html

[susie]

Just hope you don't get a thief who tortures you to find the location of the loot.

[Crazy4Canning]

One of my first postings on here I think was about hiding places...I had an auntie who was a jeweler and at any given time would need to do a bank run.

She used an old bra and put pockets in the under-cup, along the straps and band. Between that and a 'support' (i.e. girdle) She could easily and safely stash around $10,000 *on her person*. My dad said she always carried the bank bag with a few hundred in it and then used the restroom to 'withdrawal' the rest when she arrived at the bank.

In her home, she had envelopes taped to the back of paintings for cash, envelopes in certain books, in a collection of salt & pepper shakers, taped envelopes to the back of drawers in the kitchen and bath and bureau, and left cash in pockets of old coats and purses.

After she died, we found a few thousand in her closet alone.

Many like to hollow out furniture legs the size of a film canister and store cash there.

[Grace&Violets]

Between the lining and the bucket of the diaper pail. Put in an envelope and tape it on the bucket.

I like the lip balm idea. I'm going to have to try that. Although, when I had my purse ransacked, the thief took my hand lotion and lip gloss, as well as my coin purse and wallet. He (or she) left most everything else.

[Andrea]

Originally Posted By: Jakk

LOL
http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2007/01/2...f-it-works.html

So wrong . . . but I bet it works!

[michelle]

oh no the skid mark panties!

[Genoa]

Many years ago, when my husband and I had been married just a little over a year, I came home from work to discover our home had been broken into. Everything in the house was rifled thorugh, turned over, etc. All drawers were removed and dumped; they even upended things like the butter dish and other food.

At first, I thought someone had vandalized our home. Only later did I realize they were looking for hidden cash and were, literally, leaving no stone unturned.

Ironically, my husband had always had the habit of taking out cash for each pay period and keeping it in one of his dresser drawers. We discussed this quite often, as it didn't seem safe to me to keep our entire $60 (!!!!!) for each two-week period in a drawer, but he always assured me that's what he'd always done and it had always been fine. The thieves broke into our home the day before payday, and our ''cash drawer'' was empty. They did find the jar where we kept our stash of quarters which we used for exact change riding the bus to and from work every day.

Never underestimate the determination of someone who wants to rob you of your belongings---if you think of a hiding place, so can they. Also, they have no qualms about destroying your property, so they won't hesitate to pull apart everything they possibly in the hope of finding something of value.

[stacey]

I made a "treasure chest" with my church kids one year. Take a plain jar or plastic container, glue beans (or macaroni, or rice, or "whatever") inside the bottom and up the sides, making it look as "real" as possible. Leave the very core hollow. Then, put the lid back on, and set it on your pantry shelf with all the other beans, rice, or "whatever". You could use buttons and put the jar in your sewing room, use cotton balls for a bathroom "safe"...

[arby]

i used a bit more than one pint of seashells on a pencil holder of a glass jar, using a glue gun to secure the shells. Added the rafia on top. Maybe I will make some more! Colored tissue and those foam cut outs like stars and suns and such can also be useful. Stashing them in the kids rooms might dissuade a robber... they would tend to look more in parents room, office, den, at the computer site in your home.... You could roll alot of bills into a jam jar size pencil keeper.
I covered mine entirely and you cannot see it in at all.

[Kevin B 123]

Some older houses have High moldings that cover a "hollow" between walls. If there is ANY room behind a wall, where the molding has a natural break, such a place is an ideal place to make a "drawer, that is hidden to visitors eyes.

Heavy curtains, have High seams at the floor, theres a LONG pocket !!

The spring loaded tennsion rods, are hollow!!!!!! Some closet metel dowels are also hollow......


ceiling lamps have hollows between the base & the celing, Often there is aa space in the celing where maybe a Lanp has been moved and covered then painted.........



We talking horses have all day to think of these things! ! !

[Kevin B 123]

A few more ideas hit me, as I sit here waiting on a late night phone call.

Every house has a drain under the kitchen sink, Older homes may have a variety of old, Un-used, capped-off pipes. An Extra capped off drain pipe on the floor of a cabinet under the sink would look natural. Especially if that Pipe was OLD/rusted looking. Its hollow interior could hold a lot of cash. Cement could hold a pipe in place .

All houses have “Stack Pipes” the large pipe that goes up threw the roof, and reaches to the basement. These pipe often have a “Y” in then somewhere, at such a “Y”, an extension could be added, ( the Higher up the better), and a chamber ( sealed off from the rest of the pipe) could hold lots of cash too! A finishing touch could be “Rust paint” like the “antiquing paint” we sometimes see in craft stores, to give an “old” un-used look to the pipes.


Many Cabinets meet the neighboring cabinet, leaving a double wall. One could easily find a matching piece of wood, & place 1 inches stipes of narrow wood, at intervals in the width of a dollar bill, up the height of this piece of wood, that will be screwed to the interior wall of a cabinet! None one would even suspect. At 23 inches height ( the average distance between a cabinet’s floor & the level cabinet drawer, - inside) could hold 8 rows of bills, 1 inch thick X’s the width of that cabinet ! Do this to 2 or three cabinets, you have lots of hiding places.


If you sew : : : : : make a purse using several layers of QUILTED material, ( inserting some cash between each layer of QUILTING. Embroider a name ( full name) on it, ( who’s going to steal an purse so easily identified?) Place some OLD worthless jewelry, dried up make up, lint, in it, maybe some infant pacifiers, a person might think it a child’s purse, or maybe a passed-on loved ones keep sake, and worthless at that. Plastic on the outside. ( fingerprints ya know!)


Do you make candles? Have a mold the size of a coffee can/tall can of baked beans/something that could hold a roll of bills? Make a candle ,using remnants of old candles so their many colors and shapes obscure what lays with in. A Baggy with cash!

Do you “QUILT” ? Make one that hangs on the wall, with inner lining of say bubble wrap, with some of the patches to hold some bills in-between layers of quilting, hidden by “patchwork. Make “piping of fabric with bills in its center wrapped in BATTING. No one could feel the bills with-in.

Can you upholster furniture? ( of make a fair imitations thereof). Many kitchen chair have fabric pads as part of the chair. There’s often cardboard ( or paper) on the underside! Remove the “old Fabric/paper/cardboard and BATTING, replace with 1 dollar bills, 2 batting, 3 a bit more batting, 4 fabric to fit-stapled on, 5 replace the paper/cardboard, with staples..... Whalla your sitting on a fortune!




Some Older homes have “window Seats”, some of these have a space for storage under the “seat”, other Don’t have that space. If you install a chest/seat beneath a window, but secure the lid ( after placing an valuables/cash in the storage area) screw it shut, ( using 2 or 3 KINDS of screws) . Paint it with several layers of different paint, ( to make it look older that it is) the overall effect will be and old piece of junk.


My hooves are tired, Il going to the stall to lie down!

[cookiejar]

If you have an index card file box of *recipes* in the kitchen.The older the better. Folded inbetween (filed under stash pie? ).

Tape flat bills to the back of children's art under magnets on the fridge.

If it's $$$ your not going to go for soon, inside the tube of christmas wrapping paper and put it back in Christmas bin.

Seal $$$ in a snack zippy bag. Empty frozen orange juice concentrate. Enjoy juice. Carefully rinse concentrate cylinder.
Put in bag. Stand upright in freezer without lid. Fill rest of tube with water. Freeze. Then use ordinary glue to replace flat lid. This will give the frozen juice concentrate tube *weight* when touched. "Cold Hard Cash".


Please take care of those hoofs...

Keep em coming folks!!!

[arby]

Hey I love those ideas!

[ArmyOfFive4God]

In vac sealed baggies, between the planter & the water saucer

Inside old dubbed VHS cases, even inside an emptied out tape

Under a lamp, you know the felt ones? Remove the felt, place $$ & reglue or attach felt

Under a small aquarium (any aquarium actually)

In doll clothing, a teddy bear's hat, etc.

[michelle]

heck yeah the bigger the aquarium the better! If you aren't going to access it soon. Awesome ideas!

[Campy]

Go into a closet. Above the door you can tape a package to the wall.

In SOME houses there is a hollow space above closet doors (check by tapping the sheet rock). If you have a hollow space above the door, CAREFULLY use a utility knife to cut a section out. Put your stuff in (the wood frame at the top of the door is going to stop it from "disappearing") and put the cut out piece back in.

How many people are going to think to look above a closet door ?