Money Matters
hoffse
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Jewelry
Hi everybody,
I mentioned in another thread that I have a "Boring things to do before I turn 30" list that I'm working my way through. I only have a couple months to go!
One of those things is getting a safe deposit box set up + figuring out a better way to store my valuables at home. Our most valuable tangible items are our musical instruments and some jewelry. I suspect most thieves wouldn't be smart enough to realize how valuable our instruments are, but jewelry is obvious and I currently store everything in a massive jewelry box on my dresser (yes I know, not secure at all).
Without divulging your precise hiding places - does anybody have a creative idea when it comes to storing things like jewelry? I'm mostly concerned about 4 or 5 pieces that I inherited and have as much sentimental value as monetary value. Our insurance coverage on my jewelry is adequate, but I would be devastated to lose some of it, especially pieces from my deceased grandmother. My H wants me to keep some of it in the soon-to-be-opened safe deposit box, but I don't think I would ever wear it if I did that.
Ironically, if we lost our musical instruments to theft or fire I would probably be less upset than the jewelry even though our instruments are worth a lot more. We actually have a separate musical instrument rider, so our insurance coverage of those items is adequate, and we could replace them with a very similar make/model. The jewelry is more unique and harder to replace IMO.
TIA
I mentioned in another thread that I have a "Boring things to do before I turn 30" list that I'm working my way through. I only have a couple months to go!
One of those things is getting a safe deposit box set up + figuring out a better way to store my valuables at home. Our most valuable tangible items are our musical instruments and some jewelry. I suspect most thieves wouldn't be smart enough to realize how valuable our instruments are, but jewelry is obvious and I currently store everything in a massive jewelry box on my dresser (yes I know, not secure at all).
Without divulging your precise hiding places - does anybody have a creative idea when it comes to storing things like jewelry? I'm mostly concerned about 4 or 5 pieces that I inherited and have as much sentimental value as monetary value. Our insurance coverage on my jewelry is adequate, but I would be devastated to lose some of it, especially pieces from my deceased grandmother. My H wants me to keep some of it in the soon-to-be-opened safe deposit box, but I don't think I would ever wear it if I did that.
Ironically, if we lost our musical instruments to theft or fire I would probably be less upset than the jewelry even though our instruments are worth a lot more. We actually have a separate musical instrument rider, so our insurance coverage of those items is adequate, and we could replace them with a very similar make/model. The jewelry is more unique and harder to replace IMO.
TIA
Re: Jewelry
As for me, I don't have a lot of fine jewelry, but I have a few things from my grandma that could appear to be expensive (they're just costume but still very valuable to me). I keep them in one of H's boot boxes from Cabela's on the top shelf of our closet.
I've read that most people store their valuables in master closets and offices, and thieves tend to look harder in those places. No idea if that's true or not.
I would definitely keep the jewelry box where it is as a decoy with plenty of cheapo jewelry in there.
Do you have an attic space or something similar that's difficult to get to? We have an unfinished room on the third floor. Have never put anything there, but always thought it'd make a good place to hide something if we ever needed to.
Although, I will say, unless it's in your room and convenient, you're probably not going to wear it often. Or at least less often. The old security vs convenience argument.
Although I don't keep jewelry in there, my H and I bought a home safe last year.
To me, one of the great things about it is...not just the added security...but it also keeps the items in there safe from fire. I forget the specs, but it can essentially be on fire for (I think) 2 hours before it starts to fail.
I think I've told this story before on here, but we had our current house broken into shortly after we moved in. I was riding high on "just bought my first home" euphoria, so it was especially devastating at the time.
Anyway, one thing that at least made me laugh a little, is I have a large jewelry armoire. One of those that looks a bit like a dainty piece of furniture. That is where my more valuable pieces are. I also had an old jewelry box with a few costume pieces in it sitting on top of the armoire.
The thieves took the little jewelry box and upended it on my bed, but ended up not taking anything. Which is weird, because some of the chains (though small) were gold. But whatever. They didn't touch the actual jewelry armoire at all. Obviously they were not aware of what it was, lol.
I also have one of those full length mirrors that opens out and jewelry can be stored on the inside. Though, due to its size, it's not a great solution unless you want a full length mirror somewhere.
Before our safe, I used to hide money in a tea tin in our pantry. And yes, I also kept tea in it and would stack the tea bags on top, lol. But there are all kinds of hiding places like that I'm sure you could find around your house.
When someone breaks in, they aren't going to go through every nook and cranny. They grab the electronics (tvs, computers, etc.), go through the jewelry boxes (at least the ones the recognize as such!), maybe open desk drawers/dresser drawers, etc. That was my experience and, I strongly suspect, about the long and short of it the vast majority of the time.
Water isn't as big a deal I guess because you can always just put stuff in ziplock bags, but it would be nice if we could come up with something that's fireproof.
There are a couple non-obvious places where we could bolt down a safe and it would still be convenient to access.
I never thought about it until I read that story, but I guess thieves don't really care if they put a huge hole in your floor.
That being said, even if something is bolted down, most safes could be cut out with a reciprocating saw in a couple minutes. It would need to be set into concrete to make it really difficult to remove.
2nd bolded: While very true, that would involve criminals having a modicum of intelligence and actually doing some very basic planning. Two characteristics the majority of your drugged out, "grab and go" kind of thieves do not possess. Now upper class neighborhoods that might attract your more "professional" kind of thief, I could see that being a concern.
1st bolded: Ugh, I could absolutely believe that! The kind of people who choose crime instead of working for a living are sociopathic low lifes. They don't care about causing umpteen thousands of dollars in damage if they might get $5 out of it.
I've seen vacant houses with major damage on all the walls because someone broke in...spent 3-4 hours...to get the $20-$30 worth of copper in the electrical wiring. Re-wiring an entire house, major wall repairs with repainting, that's $15K-$20Kin repairs...for maybe 30 bucks in copper.
While the McDonalds down the street has a permanent "We're hiring" sign in the window. Call me crazy, but more money for your time...even if it is just minimum wage (and usually it is higher)...and no chance of jail. Sounds win-win to me. Obviously I am missing something (sarcasm).
Wow, yikes! To me, that is a lot scarier than someone stealing the typical jewelry/electronics/cash.
I recently got my first passport (Yeah!) and it now lives in my safe. I actually keep mostly boring, paper stuff in my safe. Car title, mortgages, rental agreements, birth certificates, passports. The only thing "fun" is the cash-on-hand portion of my efund.
I still plan to keep our basic safe in a hidden-but-obvious-hiding place as a decoy.