Storing Valuables with Diversion and Concealment Safes

Common household items are chosen as concealment safes because they will blend in with everything else in your home.

Many people prefer to secure cash and jewelry in a diversion safe instead of using a heavy wall or closet safe and the reason is you hope by disguising your valuables in this way, a burglar will bypass them.

Most often, the item chosen to be a concealment safe is partly functional or looks functional, so even if an unsuspecting person picks up the concealment safe, they will not realize what it is, because by weight and use, it appears to be exactly what it looks like.

As an example, I have a Cheetos can which is about 10 inches tall, and has a plastic lid. The bottom of the can unscrews and inside I can hide small items like family heirloom jewelry or a roll of cash. The cool part is that the plastic lid on top also pops off. The middle of the can is securely divided. I can store Cheetos in the top of my safe and jewelry in the bottom. If someone picks up my concealment safe, it is likely they will only see it as what it appears to be: junk food.

Refrigerators are a great place to conceal valuables as long as they can stand the low temperature and don't accidentally get mistaken as food or drink by those living in the house.

Soda cans are a good choice for your refrigerator and come in many different brands such as Dr. Pepper, Coke, and Sprite. If your family never consumes soda there are other options available in bottled water, tea, or energy drinks.

Tips:

• Choose something that will blend in with the rest of the items in your fridge.
• Cash, silver, and gold are okay in the lower temperatures.
• Pearls and some gemstones are not okay and need to be stored in a warmer location.
• Store the safe towards the back of the fridge, a hungry burglar will grab whatever is in the front first and has less of chance of accidentally finding your valuables than if you store it towards the front.

You can choose to buy a canned food concealment safe in the same brand your family normally eats for supreme concealment, or choose a different brand to avoid confusion.

No matter which way you go, canned food is a great place to safely store your valuables. Something like the wrong brand of canned fruit will blend in perfectly and yet be easily identified by family members as the can to avoid choosing.

Most canned food safes are weighted correctly, so that even if a person picks up the item, it will feel right in their hand.

Tip:

Stuff paper or bits of Styrofoam around your valuables so they don't rattle around when touched.

The most important thing to remember when choosing a concealment safe is that it should blend in with its surroundings. It should not draw attention to itself in any way.

Having a diversion safe that blends in with the bathroom is an excellent choice, possibly the best one. There are two great benefits.

First, people don't generally store valuables in their bathroom, so a thief is less likely to go in there than other rooms. Why should they, when they can hit your bedroom for jewelry, living room for your entertainment system, and office for your computer?

Second, a bathroom is generally considered private in most families. That means you can visit the bathroom and access your safe to add or remove items while at the same time you are away from potential prying eyes of family members. No one is going to ask you what you were doing in there. If you want to have a safe concealed from potential thieves and family members both, this is the place for you.

Yes, of course they do. They can read this page just like you can.

Someone robbing your house is probably in a rush to get in and out as soon as they can. They don't have time to go to your kitchen and try to twist the bottoms off your 72 cans of food.

They're going to hit your obvious valuables first, which is the whole idea behind having a concealment safe: to be less noticeable than the obvious.

If you are a reader, and especially if you are the only reader in your house, you might like a book safe. It will camouflage well with your other books.

Some have a key lock on the front (not visible on the spine at all), while others simply fall right open when you pull them off the shelf. A locking book safe might be be an excellent place to secure your handgun.

• You just want to, darn it!
• Yours won't look like a typical, commercially sold diversion safe which every burglar on the planet already knows about.
• You want several concealment safes and creating your own is more cost effective.
• You feel like torturing your kids next weekend with another Family Project Day.

Another option for chemical diversion safes besides under your kitchen or bathroom sink is a shelf in the garage. Be aware of the fluctuating temperature in your garage when deciding to store your valuables there.

Besides Ajax, other cool concealment options are WD-40, tire pressure sealant, and oil cans. These are good for when several small safes are needed to store a variety of items that just won't fit in one safe. These not only hide themselves well, they also blend in with each other.

It's big, it's obvious, and they are going to steal it anyway!

• A concealment safe is very cost efficient. Nearly anyone can afford to drop the $10 to $50 it will cost them for one or more safes.
• Having a big safe is pretty much announcing to the world: hey guys, steal this!
• A burglar will just steal the entire safe, they can crack it at their leisure once it's out of your house.
  
• If you rent your home or apartment, your landlord may have rules against bolting a large safe to the floor or walls.

Concealment safes are ideal for items that are small, but have great value.

Rolls of cash, silver or gold coins, and gold or sentimental jewelry are items you can easily protect with a disguised safe.

Stuff the remaining space of your safe with something like wadded tissue or small pieces of foam to prevent the hidden items from rattling around if the safe is picked up by someone other than family.

The possibilities here really are endless. Options include a candle, a stack of CDs, or a fake wall socket. A fake wall socket would be great if you already have a plug that doesn't work. Simply pop out the existing box and insert your new concealment safe. Be sure to consult a qualified electrician if necessary.

Also available are clocks which really do tell the time, just add some AA batteries and no one will ever guess it's a safe.

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