–In your garden, buried under the border (where you’ll never rototill.
–In a windowbox, planted with lovely petunias.
–Inside a hollowed-out fencepost.
–Fake, hollow trim around a door.
–In a photo album, between the pictures.
–Behind a fake outdoor vent on your shed.
–In a jar in a bag of fertilizer or potting soil.
–In the handle of a plastic snow shovel.
–Clean out a spent caulk tube well, insert valuables and keep in your caulk gun or with other tubes of caulk.
–Behind pegboard in garage.
–Behind insulation.
–Inside legs of shelves of plastic garage shelves.
–Inside a fake duct in the basement.

etc.

And I’d also like to see them go through my books, I have thousands (literally) :P (though if I was on holiday then they would have time).

My biggest fear for someone stealing stuff is a “friend”, someone you let into your house and they’re in one room while you’re making tea, going to the bathroom whatever…

1) Everything in the house – EVERYTHING – gets stolen. Including the appliances, furniture, anything not nailed down.

2) Everything which IS nailed down is then smashed with hammers, crowbars, you name it.

3) Then the house is set on fire.

Did your hiding place survive intact?

If you have rolls of bills, tuck them inside an empty toilet paper roll and tape over the edges. The tape is meant to keep stuff out – not keep the money in. Then place the roll in the center of a much larger (and preferablly plastic) jar and ‘fill’ the jar with misc items… loose screws/nuts/bolts, leggos, etc. Put that jar up with several other similar collections of crap – and it’s hidden away in plain sight.

True – thieves tossing the joint might stumble over your jar when they attempt to smash it – but then again, they may be too busy rummaging through books, outlets, and ceilint tiles.

1) Keep them out. Security lights, lights on timers, radios on timers, and so on will help give the impression that the dwelling is occupied.

2) Security cameras, labels, signs, all tell the thief that it might be better to look elsewhere.

3) An alarm system AND service may not prevent a thief from doing a quick search, but it will be a QUICK search, as that buzzing alarm is telling him that his time is limited.

4) Imped the thief. Safes, lock cabinets, lock closets, put anti-theft cables on TVs and computers and electronics, use quick-ties to bundle cords and cables.

Nothing will stop a determined thief, but dealing with each problem cuts into his time clock.

Hasn’t anyone seen “To Catch a Thief?”? A pro can can thoroughly ransack a huge home in 5-10 minutes. They’re not there to take it easy, they’re smashing and thrashing and grabbing anything light.

They’re in and out while you run to the gas station for a quick fill up. And if you’re gone for longer than an hour, forget it, your stuff is bye bye.

Get a safe and bolt it down!

In fact, you’re probably better off never leaving home, and having tons of valuable stuff, just so a thief can’t possibly have the time to take everything. So invest all your cash in mountains of big screen TVs. ;)

Inside curtain rods, in bicycle tires (between the tire and the intertube), in an envelope inside a box of blank envelopes, behind photos in frames, in an empty pill bottle in the bottom of a big bag of dogfood or a big bag of rock salt or kitty litter.. all good places.

A fake water or gas pipe or conduit that looks legit but is actually false.. very hard to find. I used to keep cash in a small peanut tin up in the attic, under the insulation. I kept my Playboys there too! Pull up the corner of the carpet in a closet and put the cash in an envelope under the carpet, then tack it back down with staples or a few small tacks. Cut a thin 1/8th thick panel and cover it with contact paper to match a kitchen drawer and put the cash down in the empty drawer, put the false bottom on top, then put in a stop that prevents the drawer from being pulled out, then fill the drawer up with whatever. You could even supplement the false bottom with inlaid magnets to keep it from coming loose if the drawer was dumped out.

Drop (unscrew) a light fixture and place the cash in the gap in the ceiling, then put the light back up.

I like the idea of hiding several bogus house keys in the yard. My spare house key is duct taped to the bottom of MY NEIGHBOR’S gas meter.. 2 or 3 doors down!

2) Do you still want to hide the money inside the house? Find a place in your house where you don’t need the electricity mains, unscrew the electricity mains socket, cut all electricity calbes (if needed) and put your money in there. now screw the socket again and plug an iron there just to show the socket is being used.

3) another method is to hide the money in the floor.
remove a tile, open a hole and put your jar in that hole. then build the tile on the floor again in a way that doesn’t show it has been removed.

in cases 1 and 3 I am talking about big amounts of money where you don’t want to have access regularly but want to keep the money there for years.

1) I use a soft flexible cloth purse just big enough for currency. Braid dental floss and create a tiny rope about 2′ long attached securely to the bag. Open light switch and slip bag between wall & light switch using an existing screw to hold dental floss for retrieval.

2) Pick a fence post (not a corner one) that can be lifted straight up. Place tough plastic container that can easily withstand weight in the hole. Determine where post has to be cut to make it level with other posts and cut from the bottom. Excellent for storage of cash, etc. that requires infrequent access.

3) Inside the tire of a inflatable wheelbarrow tire. A wheelbarrow you commonly use is best.

4) Request a locksmith to make dummy keys to your home. Ones that resemble your lock but wont insert into it. Scratches on your lock indicate an attempt by someone to use one of these keys. Place these in hiding spots for thief to find. I have a horse that was abused so cannot be caught by others but runs to me. Real key is sewn inside her halter. It takes 2 keys to open my door, the keys are not hidden together.

Hope this tips help someone.