I know I’ll have to scour my mom’s house when she dies - she is someone who would DEFINITELY be a hider!!!
Would have never thought that we would get a security system. However a sharp increase in break-ins in the neighborhood - one next door where they apparently fleed through our yard - was enough to get us on board.
Let me tell you, we have mistakenly set ours off a couple of times - the noise is PIERCING and unbearable to be in! Of course, thieves probably wear ear protection. 
My dog barks all the time. My dog is barking right now!
Remember putting the important thesis or term paper or dissertation in the freezer–both for theft and fire?
No cloud backup then!
My Builder puts a hiding place in each of his houses–all different. We keep cash there for convenience.
I do have a few nice pieces of jewelry but do not keep them anywhere but where they are obvious.
A few pieces of art work would be as important–and that is on the wall.
While we have a security system and do use it We are looking in to buying a system that allows me to
see who is at the door and to talk to them. This can be done from anywhere using a smart phone.
We get tons of solicitors in the spring and fall–even with super duper steep hill–and I do no like opening the door.
Do not really want a security door either. Recently had a house a few blocks away broken into while the
owners were sleeping. The new security systems can be seen at Best Buy and online. Thinking that can be H’s project today!
When we built our current home almost 20 years ago, we made our master closet a “safe room” of sorts, with a reinforced door, deadbolt on the inside, panic alarm button, and stairway access to the attic. There are built-in shelves and cubbies, and I kept my jewelry there - very convenient and safe. A few years later, we had some work done on the house and the electricians needed to get into the attic…these were the electricians who worked on the house when it was built, so we knew them very well. Right before they arrived, I hid my jewelry in dresser drawers in the bedroom and in the laundry room (I keep everything in the original boxes). This was very foolish on my part, and I don’t know what I was thinking, but I had three small children and was very harried that day.
The next day, when I was putting the jewelry back, I opened one of the ring boxes and saw that a cocktail ring was missing. I called the head electrician and the police - turns out one of his workers stole the jewelry (was ransacking my dresser while I was downstairs). He had already traded it for drugs. The head electrician, along with the rest of his crew, took the guy’s girlfriend and new baby and put them in a hotel room under “guard” until he took them to the drug dealer. They bought the ring back (he also took a small necklace belonging to my daughter, but we never got it back). I didn’t learn any of this until later that night when the head guy brought back the ring. He traded a $10K ring for $500 worth of drugs. Afterward, we had a safe put in – embedded in concrete.
Oh wow, @Gourmetmom. What a story. You are very lucky you got it back.
I usually just keep my jewelry in a locked jewelry box on my dresser. Awhile back I had painters in my house for an extended period of time. I noticed that my engagement ring from my first marriage was sitting in plain sight on a ring holder on my dresser. So I hid it. I intended to have it made into a necklace for my D for her 21st birthday. I’ve looked for that ring for months now and can’t find it. I don’t remember if I took it out of hiding and put it back on the ring holder, in which it’s been stolen (maids?). Or whether it’s still where I hid it. It’s driving me crazy.
Who needs to hide their few pieces of really special, moderately expensive jewelry when they have a husband who will absently throw away the hidden vessels in which the jewelry has been placed? (Sigh)
Wish I was in on the beginning of this discussion but have been away on winter vacation for the last week. We go away a lot. I do not want to read the whole thread, so forgive if I repeat. But this subject is of particular interest.
I love jewelry and worked in the field for many years including several at Cartier in NYC. I have some decent jewelry. Not great because I could not afford the Cartier jewelry, for example, as an employee. But I do enjoy quality and did acquire some jewelry that is worth, not a lot, but enough for a burglar.
Also, we have been having a bathroom renovation done on our second floor for the past 4 weeks with many workers, contractors, plumbers, electricians, coming and going. So have needed to hide the jewelry.
So yes I have done the bathroom tampoon hide. But apparently that is common per thread that I did read. I put a lot of my jewelry at the the bottom of a closet in the family room that the workers do not go near.
My problem is, and I now know how to take care of it. I need to remember where I put everything. The way to take care of it is to keep a record. And then I need to remember where the record is.
So the problem is how to remember where I put the list of the list of where I hid the different lists of stuff of in different places. It’s pretty simple I quess
i keep records of all important info on my Iphone, which needless to say is always with me- some written in short hand “code” in the notes section, sometimes by taking pictures with my iphone.
works for me. I dont have to try to remember passwords anymore- one glance at my "encrypted"notes and that does it.
Regarding the safety of purchasing and installing an in-wall safe, ours has a combination lock and the combination was set by me. But in terms of safety, it’s not different from the person who installs your exterior (locking) doors, your garage door opener, your keypad for the garage door, etc.
Except the in-wall safe can be easily uninstalled and carried off by someone who knows where it is. No need to ransack the house - it is all in there. So unless the safe is entombed in cement…
wow…hadn’t thought of that BB! We happened to use a handyman who was an employee of a contractor who did a major remodel on our house so I trusted him (or, in other words, he’d had access to our house for months and had ample opportunity to show any dishonest traits) but I definitely would not have considered that! So far, so good!
Our friends who own an antique jewelry store had a safe installed. Cement installation…two weeks later, with his safe filled with products he picked up the latch and…safe gone. Our safe was installed by one of our kid’s friend.
We were have been burglarized 4 or 5 times. Once we got rid of full time live in help…no more burglaries. Amazing…
Well…I either need to get some pricey jewelry…or I need to be grateful I don’t have any to hide!
I feel a more urgent need to keep an eye on my valuables when my sister visits than fearing a break in at my home.
You know, to be honest, I’ve had workers in my house and I never thought of hiding my jewelry box.
I am a fortunate woman. My husband has given me a few unique and irreplaceable pieces of jewelry. I keep whatever I’m not wearing on a daily basis in my safety deposit box. Anything else is just too confusing for me. If I have a special occasion, I go get out what I want, and then put it back afterwards. I’m a lot more worried about fire than burglars.
comma- Your bedroom (unless you have a safe that is bolted or otherwise not able to be lifted) is the one place police have told our neighborhood watch group NOT to leave your valuables. Burglars who have little time will ransack the master bedroom before moving on to other rooms. Our house was burglarized many years ago in the morning while I took the kids to school. The thieves were in and out quickly though a sliding glass door that wasn’t locked. They went through my closets, dresser drawers(dumped everything) and emptied my jewelry box into a pillowcase, took my camera and a few other small things. They didn’t disturb the other rooms.
I called the police as soon as I got home, and while they were interviewing me at the house, they got a call that the suspects had been caught! A fireman living on a nearby street noticed an unfamiliar car slowly cruising the neighborhood, called the police with the license number, and the car was stopped by police several miles away. My stuff was in their trunk along with several other victim’s valuables. The two thieves did go to jail for awhile. It usually doesn’t happen that way, however. We were lucky to get everything back.
Now I only keep my inexpensive jewelry in my bedroom, and nothing sentimental. When we go on vacation, we have house sitters that I trust stay and take care of the dog, and I also lock my valuables- electronics, good jewelry- in the trunk of one of the locked, alarm activated cars in the garage if we’re gone overnight, even with house-sitters.
A paper towel on the kitchen counter appears to be a bad location for jewelry
If I had a 12.5 carat diamond ring, there’s no way in hell I would want that fact, along with my name, published in the paper. Congratulations, you’ve just made yourself a target for a planned robbery. People are stupid!