According to research of 2,000 individuals carried out last year by Confused.com, the nation’s favourite hiding place for valuables, particularly jewellery, is the sock drawer. This is followed by 9% stating that under the bed was the safe place of choice, 9% on top of the wardrobe and 6% under the sink. Most worryingly a fifth of the home owners questioned had sadly been victims of burglary themselves.
Confused.com stated that their head of home insurance, Gareth Lane, says that choosing such obvious hiding places shows that we as a nation need to be more creative when it comes to finding safe places to hide our valuables.
Lane went on to say:
[quote]This research is proof we need to get smarter when protecting our possessions…Taking steps to prevent a burglary – from locking windows and doors to storing valuables in a secure safe – are just a few simple things that you can do to ensure that your home and its contents stay as safe as possible.
The harder we make it for the thief to gain entry, the better.
However, on the unfortunate occasion where they do gain entrance we need to think really carefully on how we can prevent them from locating our favourite possessions.[/quote]
£1,100 is the average amount of cash a Brit will hide around their home. Half of the people interviewed claimed a lack of trust in the banking system and poor interest rates on savings meant keeping money at home seemed a better idea than putting it into a bank account. Again, the sock drawer is a favourite place to hide cash along with an individual’s jewellery; and 30% of interviewees still kept cash under the mattress!
Aside from the fact that leaving such valuable items of property in and around your home is ‘easy pickings’ to a burglar, it would be very wise to check with your home insurance firm exactly how much you are covered for, as often insurers will cover you for no more than £500 in cash kept at home.
Whilst we here at Alexandra Locksmiths respect an individual’s choice of a ‘safe place’ within their own home we would encourage you to be creative in your choice of hiding places. Installing a safe would be a very good idea, whether it’s a small safe to hold jewellery and cash, or a larger safe with a greater capacity for larger items. If you would like some advice about the different types of safes we can install, or about any other aspect of your home security, then please feel free to call us either at our North London office in Muswell Hill on 020 8883 1555 or at our East London office in Enfield on 020 8364 2000.
Sock drawer photograph courtesy of Samantha Hendry.