People have constantly expressed their concern about domestic burglary. However, most people fail to take some serious actions to deter burglars. Burglars are slinking into your homes with a primary motive for stealing valuables. Most burglaries happen in minutes, and in some of the cases, it becomes easier for the burglar to locate your valuables, kept in the most obvious place. Keeping your valuables in plain sight and thinking that you are invincible is your biggest mistake.

Some of the most common stolen items are:

  • Cash
  • Jewellery
  • Personal identity documents
  • Bank cards
  • Electronic devices
  • Car keys

Let’s just admit that we all have the habit of keeping these items in common places that are easy to spot. In fact, burglars are experts who have years of experience and know exactly where to find these items. There are plenty of creative ways to hide your valuables and trick burglars. After all, they are humans too!

We have listed 11 ways to hide your valuables in your home.  

1) Never use common places to keep your items

Avoid keeping your items in the prime spots like your master bedroom, bedroom closet, desk drawer in your study room, your Jewellery box, cabinet in the hallway. These are the most common places where burglars search for these items.

2) Library or a Study Room

Library or study room with bookshelves. It is a brilliant spot to hide your valuables, especially when you have loads of books. It becomes a tedious task for burglars to search between the books, especially when they have a short span to execute the burglary. 

3) Floor Safe

A floor safe is a prominent place to hide your valuables. However, burglars would not like to approach it as it requires a lot of time, effort and creates noise. Because they are usually made of heavy metal, it is quite cumbersome to break it in a few minutes. They would instead invest their time in exploring other places that are quick to search.

4) Garage

Most of us must have a garage or a storeroom in our houses. It is quite a general practice to dump old stuff in these areas. Many homeowners have stuffed these places with spare boxes and paint cans. However, you can empty and clean some of the discarded boxes and hide your valuables inside it. Since it is one of the least expected places to find valuables, burglars won’t suspect it. 

5) Safe or a Locker

Keeping a safe or a locker in your home is a great idea. You can keep your essential documents, your expensive Jewellery items or any other valuables inside it. Make sure that it meets insurance standards. If possible, keep it in a less obvious place, other than your bedroom.

6) False-bottom Drawer

False-bottom drawer is an intelligent way to create secret places within your house to protect and hide your critical items. If you don’t have one, you can always look at upgrading your furniture. It’s a smarter way to fool burglars who might slink in your house to look out for valuables.

7) Kitchen cupboards

Have you ever thought of choosing kitchen cupboards as a hiding place? It’s a brilliant idea to use food boxes as a secret cash stack. Since your kitchen cupboard is full of food boxes, therefore you can randomly pick and select some boxes and stack it with stuff like cash. Burglars won’t even think of checking these boxes.

8) Back of your Drawer

Drawers inside your home are one of the most common places to find valuables. However, have you ever thought that you could go a little creative with your drawers? You can put your stuff in a plastic bag or an envelope and stick it to the back of the drawer. Even if burglars reach out to your drawer, they won’t be able to see anything attach to the backside.

9) Attic or a Loft

Most of the houses do have an attic or a loft. You can also utilise this space to hide your items as burglars might not target it as the access is a bit tricky. Use storage containers to keep your valuables and put your old stuff on top of them so that they won’t be able to locate amidst your regular items even if they get access.

10) Kid’s room

You can use other rooms to keep your valuable items. The bedroom is the most expected room burglars go for; however, the kid’s room is usually not searched. Try to find clever spots within your kid’s room and hide your valuables creatively.

11) Hide your spare key in random places

Never hide your spare key under your doormat; instead, you can keep it under a rock or a flower pot in your backyard garden. Ensure it is not too evident for a burglar to spot it if they slick into your premise.

Additional tips to protect your valuables

Some smart tips that will help you take an extra mile to protect your items.

1) Register your valuables online

You can create an account on Immobilise, the UK National Property Register, and register the valuable items you want to protect. This way, police can track the stolen items and return them to their owners. It is a free registration and doesn’t charge you anything upon the creation of your account. You can list unlimited items and flag whatever is stolen within your account. 

2) Be aware of your social circle and people you know 

Never post your pictures on social media about the expensive items you have recently bought. Or about your vacations, especially when you are still out and not back. Burglars have gone creative with time and have started using social media as a tool to find their victims. It is shocking that sometimes these people are from your social circle or are connected to you somehow. Be wary of your social circle and the people around you. Never try to give too much information to anyone about your schedule. You don’t know what the other person has planned for you.

3) Don’t leave your things in open

Never leave your items in plain sight, especially close to your windows or doors. Burglars often inspect properties before they decide which one to target. Spotting valuable items by sneaking into these homes through windows or doors helps them choose a property to target. Never give an open invitation to these people and create problems for yourself.

4) Insurance

Ensure that all your expensive jewellery and other items are insured and digitally recorded. Because in case they get stolen, you will able to get your insurance as per your policy.

5) Keep a record of your valuables 

You can also keep a record of your valuables by taking pictures when you buy them. It will help the police authority to track, retrieve and return it to you. You can possible take photos of the hallmarks, make, model or serial numbers of your items. In fact, you can mark your property or items with a permanent compound; a lot of these products are readily available on the market. This might warn the burglars who are planning to take it off with them and sell it.  There are a lot of products available on the market

6) Install a tracker device

A brilliant way to protect your mobile phone is to install a tracker device on your mobile phone. It will enable you to track your phone if it is stolen. Moreover, you can also record your 15-digit IMEI number unique to the device and register it on Immobilise along with your other items. You can find your IMEI number by dialing *#06# on your mobile phone.

Conclusion

Protecting your home and loved ones from these situations is a priority for us. There are plenty of ways to deceive and deter burglars. While the above-listed tips might put-off burglars, but it could be difficult for some of you to keep following these tricks every day.

FHA offers a complete range of security services, from no-nonsense, unbiased advice on home security, to customised CCTV systems and quality alarms from Infinite Prime, Risco, Qolsys, Visonic and Yale, featuring the latest smart and infra-red motion sensor technologies.

Our teams are available 365 days a year, and we are proud to say we have an excellent rating by our customers both on Google and Trust-pilot.

Whether you want to upgrade your home security or look for professional security advice for your property, keep your worries aside as you are in safe hands.

Get in touch with us at hello@fhasecurity.co.uk or 020 3137 8727, 0800 193 8727. Or visit our website and take a tour of our products and services before you contact us.