storing cash - is there a better option?

[chrisdm8]

Hi, looking over our home insurance it appears they don't cover much "cash" lost to theft/robbery. Seems like most plans are $200-$500. Assuming I want some spendable "money" on had but limit our exposure to theft ...any recommendations for something that spends like cash but has some recourse if stolen? ie. travellers checks, prepaid debt cards, etc?

[cheryl1]

If you are storing cash for emergencies, then traveller's checks or prepaid cards won't work. You might as well just leave the money in your checking account. I would invest in a good floor safe and hide it well.

[cpf240]

Perhaps you could ask your insurance agent about an insurance "rider" policy that would cover items above and beyond what the general policy covers. Might also see what an umbrella policy covers.

[cohutt]

umbrellas are for liability only

[Joe_Nobody]

I use one of my gun safes. It is rated to 1800 degrees for some minutes, and is bolted to the floor.
If you have many weapons, a gun safe is a wise investment anyway. Put a little cash, gold and silver inside and it will be secure.

[chrisdm8]

I checked with my insurance and there is no rider for additional cash. And their umbrella policy looks like it only covers liability.

My in-laws were burglarized recently and the thieves broke open their safe with a pry bar. After researching, I know my safe isn't secure (youtube record is under 30 seconds to break it open) ... and to get a safe rated for burglary security enough to make me feel secure would be way out of my price range.

If you feel your safe is secure ... put the name and model into youtube and see if it shows up. It was an eye opener for me.

That's why I'm looking for options in-case all the other lines of defence fail. 

[Joe_Nobody]

My safe didn't return any Youtube hits (or I did it wrong).

It weighs almost 500 pounds and was about $600.00.

I wasn't suggesting you went and bought a big safe just to store cash. I've talked to a lot of people who overlook their gun safe as a place to store other valuables.

Best of luck.
 

[endurance]

One solution is diversification so if you do take a loss, it's not the whole enchilada.  You could put some in a mayo jar painted white on the inside in your refrigerator, some in a belt, some in your gun safe, some in your car safe, some in your electrical outlet... That way if you lose one stash of $40-100 you're not hit too hard, but you still can keep several hundred dollars around. 

[fred.greek]

There have been a number of discussions about having boxes of nickels as an inflation hedge, well, it’s also a lot less-easy for someone to run off with your $100 box of nickels than your paper money (the nickel box weighs around 22 pounds)... and they don't burn... and they supply weight inside your gunsafe... 

[chrisdm8]

I like the idea of diversification. I've been meaning to find hiding places for the fire chest but hadn't put much thought in stashing cash in odd ball places as well.

I also like the idea with rolls of coins. I understand why nickles as an inflation hedge... but nickles might be a pain if you had to go pay for groceries. Quarters/half-dollar/dollar coins could work well though.

More for reference than anything ... here was the train of thought that lead to me posting here.

YouTube makes everything look easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBhOjWHbD6M&feature=player_detailpage#t=158s

UL ratings ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe#Class_TL-15

UL rated safes ... yikes $$$.
http://www.securitybase.com/safes/tl-15-safes

Thanks for all the ideas so far.

[ygodnik]

One option you can look at is locating it outside.  You can fit a roll of 20 bills in 3 inches of a 1" diameter PVC pipe. That tells you a 6 inch pipe will hold 40 bills. You can clue a cap on the bottom and use a threaded connector on the top with Teflon tape. That could give you $800 in 20's to $4000 in Benjamins in one 6 inch long capsule.  There are a lot of places you could bury one if you are looking at it for super long term emergency storage. If you are reasonably discrete, you could put it someplace no one would dig and that would not suffer any fire damage.  If you have a fence post in your garden area or a corner, you could put it down a foot when you plant.  They can't look everywhere. You just have to be very discrete when placing it. You could throw some silver in pipes like that was well, and bury them near metal objects (window wells, fence T posts), so metal detecting wouldn't help.

Good luck, I agree with diversifying to different places. Just don't make it too many, or you will forget over time. When my dad cleaned out my step-grandma's house when she died, they were finding 40 here, 80 there all the time. Also, if someone is burglarizing and they find four stashes, they will be driven to keep searching. Have a stash in your drawer as a gimme and for convenience, and hide the rest very well. Remember that all but the best safes just keep honest people honest and kids away from guns.

[endurance]

I like the pipe idea.  If you had exposed plumbing anywhere in your house, like the basement or utility room, you could run a number of false pipes in the wall.  Of course with the increase in copper theft in some cities, you might want to stick with PVC sewer pipe rather than copper.

[Shaunypoo]

Growing up my a friends dad was into preparedness at the time, and one day the friend pulls a stack of cash in a ziploc bag out of the freezer.  Had nothing but 20's in it.  He said his dad had stuff like that hidden all over the house.  Used drop ceiling, vacuum sealed bag in the gravel at the bottom of a fishtank, etc.  Find places no one would look, it would be too much trouble to look, or that there is so much real estate that it could be hidden in (like the drop ceiling), that it wouldn't be worth the ROI to look there.

The friend evidently got a good talking to about not talking and the cash from the freezer was moved.

[osubuckeye4]

Gun safe is a good idea, hide the safe as well though (for example, put it in the corner of a closet and bury it underneath your spare sheets/bedding).


The biggest tip that I can give though, is to not raise any "red flags" that are going to make your home a target to an invader.

Things such as:

- Don't post on Facebook when you are going on vacation.

- Don't post pics taken at your vacation destination with tags like, "enjoying the view!".

- Make sure you always lock your door when you leave.

- Make sure your windows are always locked.

- Keep your garage closed during the day (even if the access door to your home is locked... lots of criminals are hitting up garages these days for powertools and many will try the door as well to see if it opens).

- Never tell ANYONE about your plans to store massive amounts of cash within your house 

- Always deadbolt your door when you are going to sleep

- Don't "brag" about upcoming lengthy vacations to people you don't implicitely trust (don't tell co-workers or neighbors you don't know very well)

-  When you do go on vacation, invest in light timers so that it gives the appearance that you are at home

- When you are on vacation, have a trusted relative/family member/neighbor (preferably one who doesn't know that there are piles of cash stored all over your house) drive by your house at least every few days just to make sure everything is ok.

- If you have TONS of cash and are legitimately worried, invest in an alarm system.


If you do all these things and your home is still broken into... that's just bad luck. If you hide your safe (and own a good safe) and it's broken into, that's REALLY bad luck and most likely your house wasn't just randomly broke into... it was a targeted burgurly.

End of the day, if someone REALLY wants to get into your house, they are going to be able to do it. Then again though, there are so many idiots out there who make themselves targets, that your average burgler (especailly one that is going to know how to break a top of the line safe) isn't going to randomly kick your door in while you are away and rummage through your house looking for a safe loaded with cash.

That's just my .02 cents on all of this. I'm not saying I'm right or anyone else is wrong, just my opinion.

[Roundabouts]

If the idea is to have access to CASH for some reason.  Safe deposit box might work.  yes you still have to go to the bank but the cash is in the box if for some reason you can not get cash out of your accounts. 

[PorcupineKate]

I worry about safe deposit boxes.  If they are in a flood plane they will fill up with water.  Happened to one in Richmond VA.  It was in a basement in a low lying area. We got 7" of rain that evening and nasty flooding. 
Put anything in a safe deposit box in a zip top bag or other water proof container.

Also thanks to the one of the versions of the Patriot Act the National Guard can control access to the boxes in and emergency.   They could be a great place to put a back up set of documentation but I would not put all my eggs in one basket if you use a safe deposit box.

[XtraBright]

Hello

2 ideas for safe storage i consider pretty safe.

The first method could be used if your are renovating a part of your home and i call it the

Drywall service door:

There are service panels for drywall (those white hinged doors) available in every store to access valves or other things behind the drywall.
Over here drywall is mostly made with metal profiles (and not wood) so it can actually be used for storing metals inside the dry-board wall.

When anybody opens the service door all he will see is some valve and rock-wool.
In reality a small part of the wool can be removed to be able to grab a hook where a string is attached leading to the bottom of the wall with a sack and the money you want to store inside.

Could be found with thermal imaging though (missing rock-wool)
But if thieves bring thermal imaging ...


2: Insane and best method for real long term storage inside the house:

You have a model rail road ?
How about building your track-bed out of bars above one of those steel girders supporting the layout ?
Glue down with water-solvable glue, add bedding, let it dry, done.

And if your stack of gold and silver is enormous you can always switch to a G-Scale layout.

I think no thief will ever consider stealing that huge railroad setup .. maybe the rolling stock but never the whole layout.

[fritz_monroe]

In the past, I've stored small items inside the posts of a chain link fence.  Take off the cap, attach a wire to the inside of the cap and the top of the small waterproof container. (i.e. film container)  Drop the container down in and put the top back on.  I wouldn't want to store something extremely valuable in there. 

And no, I have nothing stored that way anymore.

[Shaunypoo]

When my paternal grandmother died years ago, my dad and uncle were doing cleanup and found old GE stock in a cardboard tube, Krugerands in various containers, etc.  She was born just after the depression so her parents hid everything of value and she had the same habit.  They ended up finding almost $150,000 worth of valuables.  She wasn't hurting for money anyway, but they can only imagine what they missed.

The key isn't finding a spot where your money is hid from others, it is remembering where the spot is for yourself.

[Adam B.]

I have a lot of cash hidden inside of baby formula containers. The way I see it, the people who would want to steal my valuables do not want ANYTHING TO DO with a can of baby formula and will run away from it.

The comedian Chris Rock had a similar thing to say about hiding your money in your books. However, as a little kid we even had hollowed out books to hide things in. 2 jars of Baby formula in your pantry is probably a better choice.

[livinitup0]

I have a lot of cash hidden inside of baby formula containers. The way I see it, the people who would want to steal my valuables do not want ANYTHING TO DO with a can of baby formula and will run away from it.

The comedian Chris Rock had a similar thing to say about hiding your money in your books. However, as a little kid we even had hollowed out books to hide things in. 2 jars of Baby formula in your pantry is probably a better choice.

I dont know... baby formula is one hot item in any sort of disaster response scenario. I could see it being widely used as a bartering item if things got bad enough.

personally.....I think the false wall outlet with a little container or something behind it is a genius idea. Theres typically at least a dozen of them in a small house, usually many more... unless someone specifically knows one of them is false and theres valuables behind it I dont think anyone would take the time to unscrew all those outlets....even if they had several hours to do so.

[Thomas Johnson]

I would go with the money in the freezer option! Often the most unlikely place will be the best! i.e. bag the cash, so that it is completely watertight. Put the bag into another bag and fill it with a stew or caseroll of some sort. Then keep it in the freezer. No mugger would go figure that one out. :-)

But for prepping I would focus more on bargaining items rather than cash and metals.

[fritz_monroe]

But for prepping I would focus more on bargaining items rather than cash and metals.

I think that really depends on what you are prepping for.  The vast majority of disasters that could fall on you, cash would be a huge asset.  Barter items are fine, but don't lose track of the most common personal disasters, lost jab, family illness, power outages.  Cash is what works in most situations.

[Adam B.]

Yeah, but by the time the situation has gotten bad enough people are breaking into your house for baby formula instead of your gold and silver, my gold and silver will have been spent and they can have the empty baby formula cans!

[cheryl1]

I would go with the money in the freezer option! Often the most unlikely place will be the best! i.e. bag the cash, so that it is completely watertight. Put the bag into another bag and fill it with a stew or caseroll of some sort. Then keep it in the freezer. No mugger would go figure that one out. :-)

But for prepping I would focus more on bargaining items rather than cash and metals.

Just don't forget which casserole has the cash and accidentally take it to a church potluck

[CBP]

Ya, be careful where you stash.   AND be mindful when going through a relative's home.  My MIL needed to go to a nursing home and, while cleaning out her house, did find quite a bit of cash tucked away.  A neighbor was helped us sell of some stuff for us and sold a fold-up bed.  Not thinking that way, he just mentioned that they should open it up to make sure it was in good condition for the buyer and. . . out popped an envelope with a significant amount of cash.  Geez. 

I have a have a 4" piece of PVC fitted with both an end cap on one side and a screw out plug in the other.  Then I make use of my food sealer. . . .

[Texas Sawduster]

If the idea is to have access to CASH for some reason.  Safe deposit box might work.  yes you still have to go to the bank but the cash is in the box if for some reason you can not get cash out of your accounts.

Very bad idea. If you claim the box on your tax return the IRS has the right to take an inventory of it. !!!!!!!!!!!

Unless that deduction has been taken away.