Do you own a safe?

[asscherisme]

I am seriously thinking of buying a home safe. The kind that bolts down to the floor from the inside. A small but secure one.

I would like to put it in my walk in closet but wonder if it would be secure in plywood. I hate to mess up the foundation of my house inthe basement?

Maybe a wall safe- would that be hidden behind a picture?

I do have a safe deposit box and tend to rotate things through there. And when I go on vacation, I put any jewleery of value at the bank in my deposit box before we leave.

Here is my situation: I do like to have some things at home. Total value of at home stuff around $100K. I have more than that but keep a lot at the bank.I don't wear it all at the same time but like to rotate some things. I have a bunch of inherited stuff that is insured of course, but very sentimental.

I have a cleaning woman come in every 2 weeks. I trust her not to steal and she never has but she does a horrible job cleaning, just horrible and I have been putting off firing her becuase I trust her not to steal but my pre-thankgiving cleaning was the last straw for me. My husbnad and I spent over an hour having to clean up after she left because she did such a bad job.

So, I need to find a new cleaning person. I have had someone steal from me in the past and its made me a bit paranoid.

I would need to safe primarily to lock up anything at home that I'm not wearing before a new person comes in to clean.

I am hoping to keep the cost under $600.

Any ideas, suggestions, comments? Am I being paranoid?

 

[Maisie]

I can''t help you with the safe thing as I don''t have one.

I just wanted to say you aren''t being paranoid. Someone has stolen from you before so you are well within your rights to be worried and concerned.

I hope you find someone you trust - who also does a great job!

 

[lumpkin]

One of my friends has a safe in her bedroom closet. I think they spent about $250? It is bolted to a plywood shelf so it would be inconvenient and time consuming for someone to unbolt it if they could find it (it''s not visible when you open the closet doors), but certainly not impossible. But she was told by the local police department that most burglars don''t spend more than 10 minutes in a house. Your house cleaner would have more time than that, but I think if you get someone who has been bonded and has a long string of references (ask for more than the standard three) that you call and check, you are probably going to be okay. It shouldn''t be too hard to find out if they have a police record.

 

[tanuki]

We bought a good sized industrial type safe ten years ago for $1,500 and although it isn''t actually bolted to the floor it is so heavy it would take about 4 people to move it. The delivery guys were a team of huge, burly men and they really had to work getting it into the house and up the stairs.

It is rated safe for fire and theft. This makes it good to keep important papers as well as jewelry.

I love being able to just put my jewelry in there whenever we are having tradespeople in the house to do work, especially since my next door neighbor had some painting done and discovered some of her jewelry missing. The added sense of security is wonderful.

 

[Cleopatra]

My FI has been begging for a safe (probably around the $250 range).....any ideas of where to look for one? I''ve never been "safe shopping"...ha! And I think this may be a good Christmas gift for him! Thanks in advance!

 

[KtIceRN]

We have a safe that we bolted to the concrete floor of our basement. It''s one that bolts from the inside, fireproof and has a key as well as a keypad lock. We bought it at Sam''s club a couple of years ago for about 200$. It'' not huge but big enough to fit my jewels, CC we do not use, and some paperwork that needs to be in a fireproof place. DH is handy and and the right tools to blot it down himself.

It is definitely a really good feeling to know that when I am not wearing a piece of jewelry that it is locked up "safe and sound".

 

[lyra]

DH wants to put one in our bedroom closet. His main concern would be that it would be fireproof, so that we can put some documents in it. I definitely don''t have a bunch of expensive jewellery to hide, but I suppose when we''re travelling it would be convenient as I never travel with my wedding rings, just copies.

 

[Hera]

I''ve had a safe for about five years and I love it. If I had to do it all again, I would purhase one that opens with a fingerprint because it''s really a lot of work trying to get it out the old fashioned way of 5 turns one way, four turns the other all while being in the awkward position of the closet. A behind the picture idea sounds great too.

 

[lvnut]

We have a safe that my husband put in the wall in our bedroom closet. He built our house so he was able to work it out that it is bolted in and has a door that he made and painted the same color of the closet. It has clothes hanging in front of it so it is not visible unless you push all the clothes to the side, which kind of makes it a pain to get in and out of, but no one knows it is there.

We also have someone come in to clean our house and I always lock up any jewelry I am not wearing that day. I also put some of my more expensive handbags in there as well just to be safe.

 

[monarch64]

We keep toying around with the idea of getting a fireproof safe to bolt down in our basement--we don''t have any closets large enough in which to put a big safe, and the basement isn''t flood-prone so it would be the best route for us. Also, our theory is that it could be a possible selling point when we put our house on the market one of these years, kind of like our security system. Yes, we could remove both and move them to our next house, but they could also be extra incentive to potential buyers.

 

[pennquaker09]

I don''t personally have a safe, but my dad has two, one in his office and one in the master bedroom walk in closet. It''s a custom built home so they are in the wall and you have to punch a code in.

I have someone clean for me and I never lock anything up. I must be way too trusting.

 

[sap483]

When we bought our house there was already a safe built into the basement. It's well hidden in a corner and it took me a long time to find it even after I had been told that it was there. It blends in with the concrete surrounding it. It's fireproof and bolted to the floor. So while I have no idea about whether you can bolt it to plywood, I can say that you can bolt it to cement.

ETA: You're not being paranoid at all btw. My parent's housekeeper stole some jewelry when I was growing up. Some of it wasn't very valuable (monetarily speaking) but was priceless to my mom as it was one of the only things she had of her mothers. It was a wake up call that you can't always trust other people. Do you have access to a conceirge service through your work or a credit card? If so, they can research household help for you and help you find one that comes highly recommended.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 11/26/2007 7:13:37 PM
Author: sap483
When we bought our house there was already a safe built into the basement. It''s well hidden in a corner and it took me a long time to find it even after I had been told that it was there. It blends in with the concrete surrounding it. It''s fireproof and bolted to the floor. So while I have no idea about whether you can bolt it to plywood, I can say that you can bolt it to cement.

ETA: You''re not being paranoid at all btw. My parent''s housekeeper stole some jewelry when I was growing up. Some of it wasn''t very valuable (monetarily speaking) but was priceless to my mom as it was one of the only things she had of her mothers. It was a wake up call that you can''t always trust other people. Do you have access to a conceirge service through your work or a credit card? If so, they can research household help for you and help you find one that comes highly recommended.

sap, was that a selling point for you when you bought your home? Just curious, as I mentioned in my post above, DH and I have been trying to decide whether we should install a permanent one in our house...we don''t plan on staying here for many more years but we would like to have one.

 

[VRBeauty]

I have a good-sized safe that I had installed in my basement. Not bolted, but it took a lot of muscle to get it down there, and would take quite a bit more to remove it! It holds my jewelry and small gemstone collection, important papers and records, etc... and when I go out of town, the laptop goes into the safe too. If I ever move it will come with me, or I''ll leave it and buy a new one for the new residence. I don''t want to be the one to lose the family heirlooms -- I can''t imagine being without a safe now that I''ve had one.

The best advice I got when I started thinking about a safe was to "go bigger." Get a safe at least one size larger than you think you''ll need. You''ll be glad you did.

 

[sap483]

Monarch- To be honest I didn''t know about the safe until we had moved in, so no it was not a selling point. However, now having one and a big one at that, I definitely would want one in our next home. That being said, I''m not sure if a home having a safe built in would ever be the deciding factor in which home I chose or even particularly high on my list of wants, but it would definitely be a positive feature.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 11/26/2007 10:52:12 PM
Author: sap483
Monarch- To be honest I didn''t know about the safe until we had moved in, so no it was not a selling point. However, now having one and a big one at that, I definitely would want one in our next home. That being said, I''m not sure if a home having a safe built in would ever be the deciding factor in which home I chose or even particularly high on my list of wants, but it would definitely be a positive feature.

Thank you for the reply, sap!