Keeping your stuff safe from potential burglars is important. Whether you have a security system installed in your home or not, there is nothing wrong with a bit of extra protection. Instead of heading out and buying the most expensive safe on the market, you can actually hide your things strategically around the house and burglars will never find them.
If you have jewelry, cash or any other valuable that you want to keep extra safe, there are many DIY ways to hide those things from burglars. Incidentally, you can use some of these ideas to hide Christmas gifts from the kids as well. If you want to keep certain things out of sight, take a look at our collection of easy DIY hiding places for your stash.
Some of the ideas are products that you can purchase from most hardware stores or Wal-Mart. Others are things that you can do yourself to create a secret storage area in your home.
Table of Contents
Stash Cash in the Door?
You can actually create a great hiding place for cash in the top of any interior door. You just have to drill a hole and insert a metal tube that will keep cash and smaller items out of view. This is a great place to hide jewelry and anything relatively small and you can stash away some extra cash to save for a rainy day.
Via: Makezine
Make Your Own Hide-A-Key
You can buy those little hollowed out rocks for hiding your spare key but you don’t necessarily have to spend money to keep that key secure. You can just glue a real rock to the top of a small plastic bottle, like an old prescription bottle and then bury the bottle so that just the rock is showing. Plastic rocks look so fake but this one will fool even the most intelligent criminal because it is actually a real rock.
Via: Zakkalife
Oversized Art Storage
You can create great looking art on your walls and hide your electronics at the same time. You just have to cut the hole to make the storage area and then drill holes for the cords. This is a great way to keep those wires and cords hidden and gives you the opportunity to add new art to your walls as well.
Via: Apartmenttherapy
Floating Shelf with Secret Storage
This shelf looks great because it seems to float on the wall. That will impress people enough but when you add the secret drawer for storage, you get something that is impressive and a great place to hide your stash. The bottom of the drawer drops open to give you room to store just about anything you want.
Via: Instructables
Picture Frame Hidden Storage
Whether you want a picture of your child, a celebrity or anyone else hanging on your wall, you can use that large picture to hide a hidden medicine cabinet. Just install the medicine cabinet in the wall and then cover it with the picture. No one will ever believe that you have storage behind the print and you can use this anywhere in the home.
Via: Apartmenttherapy
Hidden Jewelry Box
Make your own hidden jewelry box to keep those valuable gems safe. You just have to have or build a small jewelry holder and then hide it behind a relatively large picture. You can build up the frame on the picture so that no one knows there is actually jewelry hidden behind it.
Via: Designsponge
Lettuce Storage?
You read that right. You can actually buy a small safe that looks for all the world like a head of lettuce. You just keep it in the fridge and hide your most prized possessions in it. Even if a burglar looks inside your fridge, he is not likely to think about looking inside the lettuce. The bottom of the lettuce snaps off to give you a hiding place for valuables.
Via: Bimbambanana
Hidden Bookcase Storage
No one would ever guess that behind that built-in bookcase is a storage area where you can keep your valuables safe. You can easily create a storage space that you hide with a bookcase. When you need into the space, you just pull the bookcase out and then push it back when you are finished.
Via: Reddit
Secret Storage Sofa
You can build your own sofa and put some extra secret storage in it at the same time. Whether you need a new sofa for the living room or you want something for a sitting room, this is a great sofa and the fact that it has secret storage is just icing on the cake.
Via: Ana-white
DIY Hollow Book
You’ve seen those old hollowed out books in movies that people use for storage. Well, you can make your own and it is really easy to do. You can pick up an old book (if you don’t have one to use already) at most bookstores really cheap and then you just have to hollow out the inside for keeping your valuables safe.
Via: Vividplease
Bathtub Hidden Storage
If you have a tub that is encased, you can use the encasement to create hidden storage. No burglar would ever think to look under or around your bathtub for valuables and this is a great way to keep things organized as well. You just create little storage areas in the wooden base of the tub.
Via: Bornrich
Hidden Stairway Storage
Whether you have a small landing on your staircase or not, you can use a step or the landing to create a hidden storage compartment that is perfect for storing safes or just about anything you need to hide. Depending on where you choose to build your storage, you may have room to hide larger items in this one.
Via: Imgfave
Computer Keyboard Storage
There is a great hollow keyboard that allows you to store things underneath. Of course, this won’t help during burglaries if your burglar takes your computer but it is a good place to hide certain items from the family and a good way keep your desk a bit more organized. Jewelry and extra cash will fit perfectly inside.
Via: Geekologie
Hidden Outlet Safe
Okay, we have all seen these cute little fake outlets that act as safes so you just know that a burglar has seen them, too. Of course, no burglar is going to go around and check every single wall outlet so they do offer a bit of protection. You can keep smaller items like jewelry and cash in them and they install very easily into the wall.
Via: Misdefenseproducts
Bathroom Tile Storage
You can create hidden storage in your bathroom by simply remove a tile or two and making a hole. You then replace the tile and you have the perfect place to hide valuables that no burglar would ever think about looking in. You just have to remember which tile is the secret hiding place.
Via: Dornob
Beth says
If you have valuables that you don’t want to risk having stolen and don’t need often, you can get a safe box at your bank.
For things that you want to have around (extra cash, jewelry, etc) there are lots of places to hide things in your home. In the bottom of a plastic baby wipe container, put your belongings in a plastic bag and puts wipes on top of them.
My parents hid an extra key to their house under a table on their porch; you couldn’t see it but we knew where to find it.
My husband and I kept an extra key to the house in an outside storage building after our very young children locked me out of the house one day and couldn’t unlock the door.
There are a lot of great ideas on this site. With a little thinking, everyone has a few places to hide valuables. In the back of your freezer under a bunch of bagged vegetables.
ism says
don’t put them in a safe in the master bedroom. our safe left through a smashed sliding glass door. it was a damn heavy safe too. only sad about the sentimentals.
Stephen says
Need to bolt the safe securely to the floor so it cannot be moved, even though it is heavy.
D. Brissette says
Put your valuables in a safe deposit box and your money in a savings account…
don’t leave valuables in the house……
Liz says
Absolutely right! – except in my house, I must have some emergency cash that sometimes I cannot even find. 🙂
Gina Cox says
But we all have valuables that can never be replaced with money, like jewellery gifts, or precious mementos, insurance docs etc. I wouldn’t pay out for a box at the bank for those – not sure if I can even get one at a surburban bank in Australia, and I just love the idea of secret compartments – they are so cool! Especially if you can make them yourself, like adding a secret drawer to a desk to put wills in, that is so cool, I plan to do that on the desk I am renovating. Great article ??
Andrew says
A professional burglar will quickly find places where people usually hide valuables. Hidden place in the picture, wall clocks or books, it’s common thieves know about the most popular places. And in support of my words an interview with a professional burglar here http://simplisafe.com/blog/burglar-reveals-15-trade-secrets-look-mind-burglar
However, if you have a small apartment, then you have almost no places to hide the values, and in this case you can use the ready-made things, and I found a couple of ideas here https://secretstorages.com/17-best-concealed-gun-storage/
I do not know, it seems to me that a good shelter should be designed during the construction phase of the house. And it should look really unnoticeable, the thief should not have any suspicions. And, for example, you can open this shelter with a pin. I like how these guys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nv21kNrY3c&feature=youtu.be do it. It really looks invisible, the only problem is that not only the owner knows about these hidden places, but other people who built these shelters also know about them. Therefore, there are no ideal hidden places.
Sadie says
If possible make your home look bad on the outside or at least the cheapest house on the block. Drive an older car..the inside can look very nice but keep curtains closed if not home..
most importantly can you grab the money and run if you have to evacuate? I can thick of lots of places to hide things but they may not be accessible if you have to leave in 10 minutes. Think: bad weather hurricane, tornado, mudslides, fires.
Bree says
Sadie, your comment is the most intelligent one posted here. Grab & run in an emergency is the #1 consideration for valuables, second consideration is what would happen in the case of death – most of these hiding places would hide the valuables like FOREVER (if no one else knew about the hiding place)! I wouldn’t want my hard saved cash to be lost forever until the day the house gets torn down, if it could benefit my loved ones. A bank safe deposit box is about the most secure place (a tornado blew away our local credit union except for the vault & safe dep boxes which stood strong & secure) but keeping $ in them is illegal, if you die then it all goes to probate court, it isn’t easily accesssible (my vintage family Bible is my most prized possession but i’m not going to lock it away where i can’t read it frequently!)
I guess a lot of this depends on just what is valuable and what is replaceable.; what we want/need to keep with us and what we want stored away.
FeNiX says
Both of your comments are true Sadie and Bree, which is why I think it’s good to have somewhere to hide valuables in one’s home, since having to make a quick run for it in an emergency situation doesn’t give one time to get to the bank first.
As for not wanting hidden items to be lost forever in the event of death, I’m sure those details could be added to a will… or if one doesn’t trust their lawyer I’d imagine a note can be sealed in a tamper-proof envelope and kept together with the will. If that will is left in the trust of a lawyer or whoever is guardian of it then (if checking up on it every now and then) it’d be apparent if the envelope’s been messed with (mind you, I have no idea where/how or with whom people typically leave their wills for safe-keeping, other than perhaps in a safety deposit box).
Bob the Burglar says
Being a professional burglar I thank you for this valuable information. It pays to browse :p
Julia says
Bob the Burglar, will you come to my house and help me find the good stuff I hid and now can’t find. It was a good idea at the time I thought.
Anonymous says
haha Bob the burglar
secretstorages.com says
Hidden stash in the door is a very smart idea.
Bree says
mattresses?? seriously?? thats like the LEAST secure place to hide valuables! … a lady went into the hospital and while she was there her daughter lovingly threw out her old mattresses and bought her new ones. the woman was devastated because she had hidden like $30,000 in her mattress, that the daughter didn’t know about!
Bree says
… and the first place theives look is in between mattresses!
Lily says
I have a can of foot spray that has a removable bottom. Even my passport fits inside. I just keep it in the bathroom cabinet. I’ve also heard of keeping cash etc in a Tampax box. Ha!
QWERTY says
Don’t forget to hide your Passwords too!
TroppoBellaonEtsy says
Obviously burglary have access to the internet, so none of these ideas are truly safe. Come up with your own. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to think of a clever hiding spot.
k8fearsnoart says
This list isn’t even a newer (less than ten years old) one. It’s been traded and published on many, many sites…hell, even the same pictures are used! Still, it’s a good springboard for one to become inspired and make their own spots for hiding things.
k8fearsnoart says
Something people always forget with stuff like this is to always keep things even. By that, I mean either evenly dusty/dirty, or evenly clean and shiny with the space around the hiding spot.
My husband does estate clean-outs, and I’ve found hidden things simply because everything else around the spot was dusty or grimy, except for the oddly clean bit where there was access…or, oddly grimy from being used so often over the years! Not just there, but also check the flooring around the spot; most people don’t have worn carpeting right up against a bookcase or a seemingly flat wall!
One time, while helping some friends move their mother’s belongings from one home to another, my husband discovered $14,000 that was hidden! It was wonderful seeing our friends’ eyes when presented with it a few moments later. My husband gave the cash to their pre-teen son to give to them, and it was just really awesome! (So was the lunch we were treated to following that discovery!)
One last tip: try going around your house on your knees, or scooting around on your butt as you are trying to think of good hiding spots. Seeing things from three feet up is a LOT different from standing at 5-6′ up. The majority of burglars are going to be taller than 3 feet high, so won’t be thinking to look inside of baseboard registers or under the very back of a sink; they will presume valuables to be hidden in a spot they can see while standing, not behind the toeboards of your kitchen counters or taped underneath your dining room table. That’s all for now, I need to sleep! Take care, and I hope that none of you will ever need to be grateful for hiding your valuables cleverly! Take care.
craftygirl32 says
these are great but did you ever think about the fridge? you should try some string art it is so fun and cute thanks!!
Bing says
My password is the last six numbers of Pi.
Bing says
Put cash in a plastic bag and place in the bottom of a dirty cat litter box. Yuck!
Instigr says
That’s the best one I ever heard! I’ll have to use that!
Icecream53 says
I’m a kid and I need a place to hide my money from my broether got any suggestions?
rJ says
What does your brother dislike? Maybe try to hide your money in a particular food box, or game box that he wouldln’t be interested in?
Icecream53 says
Thanks!