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Best places to hide money at home

Everyone should have a disaster fund. Here are some tips for choosing the perfect secret spot to stash your cash.

By MSN Money Partner Jun 4, 2012 9:49AM

This post comes from Len Penzo at partner blog Len Penzo dot Com.

 

Most people who have emergency and rainy-day funds use banks to keep their cash safe.

 

Image: Woman and refrigerator (© Photos.com/Jupiterimages)However, it's also wise to keep a home-based readily accessible disaster fund in the event a situation arises that makes it impossible to withdraw cash from those accounts -- especially if merchants become unable or unwilling to conduct credit card transactions too.

 

The trick is in finding the perfect secret place for hiding your cash from burglars and, sadly, even dishonest friends or relatives.

 

Of course, some places are more secure than others. For example, workmen fixing a broken water pipe in an El Paso, Texas, home last year were more than a bit surprised to find almost $1 million stashed inside a wall. (While nobody needs a million bucks to tide them over in the event of a local disaster, everybody should have enough cash on hand to cover at least a week or two of living expenses.)

 

Burying your cash outside is never recommended because it's not only easy to forget exactly where you buried it, but it's also prone to decomposition over time.

 

Inside the house you can always "hide" your money in a fire-resistant safe along with your other important papers and documents. But those safes are fairly easy for a burglar to find and, unless they're bolted to the floor, the smaller ones can often be carried off with minimal effort.


Post continues below.

A few years ago my pal Linsey Knerl proposed several good -- and not so good -- unconventional locations to stash your cash. Some of the better ones included:

  • Fake return air vents.
  • Fake drains.
  • Fake electrical outlets.
  • An empty box of frozen food.
I particularly like the idea of hiding money in the freezer because it reduces the risk of losing your disaster fund in a fire. But if you're not impressed with any of those, there are other options.

 

For instance, a website called Brickhouse Security offers a panoply of products that allow you to hide your money in plain sight of would-be thieves, including safes that look like cans of soda and shaving cream, peanut butter jars, hollowed-out books and CD cases, landscape rocks, sprinkler heads and even scented candles.

 

No matter where you keep your disaster fund, just make sure it is made up of mostly small bills because merchants may be unable to make change in a crisis situation. The majority of my fund consists of $5 and $1 bills.

 

Now I know what the cynics out there are thinking: Why bother? A determined thief is going to find your money anyway!

 

True. But that logic still doesn't justify making the job easier for them. I mean, if that's how you really feel, why bother putting locks on your doors?

 

Besides, I'm not advocating that anyone should be hiding their entire life savings at home -- just enough cash to get through a natural disaster or other adverse situations where, say, the power is out for a relatively long period.

Anyway, if you have a favorite hiding place for your disaster fund, I'd love to hear about it.

 

Then again, I guess the burglars would, too. Never mind.

 

More on Len Penzo dot Com and MSN Money

Tags: home insurancehome safetyhomeowners insurancehouseholdinsurance
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56Comments
cardfamily
Jun 5, 2012 3:41PM
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For 50 years we have not kept money hidden.  We use credit cards.  We have carried about $25.00 with us but we rarely spend any of it.  If credit cards are stolen the credit card company handles any

spending thieves do.  We pay the card off monthly by draft so there is no interest. 

QueenBee79
Jun 5, 2012 3:33PM
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If you own your home, have a fireproof safe installed in the wall of your closet  or behind that picture frame in the livingroom (sometimes the obvious is overlooked. Or heck you can even have one in your concrete floor in the basement.  This way weather they find the safe or not, they cant get to your stash (wether gold or money or whatever).  Chances are if you have an alarm on your house they dont have time to fuss with a safe so they wont even stay long enough to try.

 

But my best advise is to put the safe where NO ONE would find it (like in the boiler room..LOL)

Sandra (Wanna2Step)
Jun 5, 2012 2:51PM
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Others have commented, so I'll add my "ditto" to this ...  Great article, but just like those articles that talk about shortcuts around my morning commute -- it ruins the secret !!  *taking my stash out of that electrical outlet* as we speak.   LOL

actorboy
Jun 5, 2012 2:43PM
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Cash to hide? If I had some!
Toldin
Jun 5, 2012 2:11PM
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What good is A LOT of extra money if the stores arent open or they have sold out??

Keep at least 4 weeks of food, water and supplies on hand at all times

I have enough for the two of us for at LEAST a month and i keep enough medication on hand for 6-9 months each

You never know when you might lose your insurance

i do keep $40 in each car and $200 at home  and we both usually have between 40-80 bucks a piece on us

tenn. gamers
Jun 5, 2012 2:00PM
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i'm sure any thief reading these comments really appreciates all you revealing other idea's for places to look that they would not even have thought about while they're out robbing people.
just cause they're a thief don't mean they cant read or use the computer they stole, kinda ignorant ya think...
NeroNJ
Jun 5, 2012 1:47PM
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In an envelope under the Kitty Litter Pan.  If the theif is that desperate to look there, hes welcome to the money
Will (Will K.)
Jun 5, 2012 1:46PM
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This might work for money too, but I cemented in the ground a fake sewer clean out trap, a 4 inch tube about 12 inches long, to hide an extra pair of house keys.  I figure nobody will stick their arm down a sewer drain.
ashleyaddams
Jun 5, 2012 1:03PM
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DO NOT put money in CD or DVD cases Druggie Theives pawn those items and so NOT a good idea Tampon box or Monostate is the best place ....
919
Jun 5, 2012 12:44PM
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I sure wouldn't ask George W. Bush, he has been bankrupt twice, and he has bankrupted this country, and he would just spend what ever you have left. Never let a Republician know where you hid your money, he'll rob you blind.  All we have inherited from them is Trillion's of dollars in DEBT,  Millions of Jobs lost, and bankers running wild and stealing or money, homes, and cars.  No where is safe as long as a Republician is around.
Mister Manners
Jun 5, 2012 12:42PM
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This is pointless and stupid. The last run on an American bank was 80 years ago. Your odds of getting that stash stolen, no matter how good your hiding spot, are way higher.

 

Keep some cash on hand, yes. SOME cash. ON HAND. But leave the fearmongering and burying of wads of cash to lesser minds.

Brian Kohn (awol)
Jun 5, 2012 12:25PM
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3 can keep a secret if 2 are dead.
FireEmALL
Jun 5, 2012 12:25PM
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Safe Deposit box at a bank! Banks do not monitor what you put into them. They are not insurred either- but neither is putting it in a hole outside.
Glen Lewis
Jun 5, 2012 12:20PM
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The only way to keep a secret location secret...is don't tell it!
ThemsTheBreaks
Jun 5, 2012 11:47AM
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For Wayne, actually you SHOULD hide some metals, coins and such, around your property. The more you hide that intruders can hunt for, the more you are keeping them from finding your real stash. Personally, I am in the process of getting rid of as much things as possible, so if ever the shtf, there will be little of value for anyone to take. I don't NEED expensive things that I would feel compelled to endanger my life protecting. I plan to keep some supplies, not a lot as in hoarding them, for possibly a month of disaster, plus if possible some for neighbors and passersby. Hard because we keep using it all, and average maybe 2 weeks food and water. I'll keep trying.
ThemsTheBreaks
Jun 5, 2012 11:27AM
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Any place articles suggest you hide cash and valuables makes those places targets for thieves, even if you don't use the ideas. That's why so many homes are trashed when burglarized. They look EVERYWHERE. Keep a small stash at work if you live in a questionable area, and not in your cubicle or anything, just where only you know to look. Hide it under something at your favorite fishing hole. Hide it on a neighbors' property, like in a hole under a big boulder in their wooded lot. Hide it in the neighborhood park. You shouldn't be accessing this money over and over, as in an emergency you would just go get the whole stash, so no one would see you continually going to your spot. I don't hide money period, nor have any stashed. I do keep supplies on hand for emergencies. Why hide money to get food, etc., in an emergency, when you can just keep 2 weeks or a month's food on hand? Remember, in a real emergency, you couldn't go get gas, as probably the power would be out and no stations open that could pump. Make sure, when hurricanes or tornados are coming to your area, that you pay your bills ahead of time so they are not coming due if you get hit with these disasters. Cash on hand is only good for limited uses. Having food, fuel, meds, etc., is more useful. In a real bad disaster, you can't bring your cash to the store for food because the store would be closed or destroyed. You don't need to worry about running a payment to your power company because you probably wouldn't be able to travel, nor will places be open for you to make payments. People need to quit thinking money is valuable in real emergencies, supplies are the true value. Having wood and tools to fix a compromised roof is far more valuable than having money but waiting for an honorable person to come do that work. And in martial law, everything you have can and most likely will be taken by house to house searches, and you can't leave the house, so you will be sitting there starving and cold but with your useless wad of cash. IF the people didn't get that from you, too. It is a very false sence of security you have if you think stashing money is a good thing to do.
robert813
Jun 5, 2012 10:14AM
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best place to hide your money ! don't  stick your money , in the big banks


just donna
Jun 5, 2012 7:48AM
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Over 25 years ago, my mother's house was burglarized while she was out of town.  The thieves ransacked everything, including the freezer.  They pulled out everything, and left it on the kitchen floor to go bad.  They left a stinky mess after taking the the only thing of value, an old bank full of pennies.


Musilini
Jun 5, 2012 6:46AM
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I would hide my cash on my own, but Obama and big government know how to hide cash better than the average tax payer so they hide it for me.
hair stylist very ellegant love it
Jun 4, 2012 9:29PM
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    I agree with putting some money in a secret place in your house.   If anthing would ever happen and the banks would not allow us to get our money we would be up a creek.  And don't think that could never happen.  Before the depression people thought their money was safe in the bank.  My grandmother told me too  many stories about that time. How you couldn't buy or get banannas, chocolate, even shoes were rationed ect.  I could never understand why she kept so many supplies on hand.Until we have to live through something like that then we'll realize.I hope and pray this never happens to us.     The way things are going I think that it may be possible.  It's better to be safe than sorry.   In this time it is hard for any of us to save extra cash.  Let alone put it away in hiding places. All we can do is try to save. 15 years ago it seemed alot of us were doing o.k. finanially.  I hope we  as America get back to the way it used to be . It seems we should be so much further than this.  But..  All  we can do is do our best.  Especially for the next generation.   
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