Securing your valuables: Bank deposit box or a personal safe at home?

We owned a bank deposit box for many years and kept things like a USB key full of scanned important documents, and so on.

As we got older, we realized that it wasn’t so easy to get to the safety deposit box (only open during bank hours), and what we really needed was a safe at home to store other items, in addition to scanned documents.

You’re likely to get robbed by people who know your routine

In the 3 instances of robbery in our extended families, it was definitely the those who knew the routines of the family who went and robbed them blind.

They knew the family typically left for a few weeks in the summer to vacation, and just waited until they left with their suitcases before taking their time to break in and steal everything – electronics, money, whatever they could sell.

Only one family, didn’t have anything worthwhile to steal and the thieves were so angry they left an empty water bottle in the middle of the floor.

It sounds so silly but think of all the people whom you have to inform when you go on vacation:

• Colleagues
• Mail people
• Delivery folks
• Tradespeople
• Window-washers
• Service people – dog walkers, etc
• Doormen

.. or just neighbours you talk to, know you’ll be away for an extended period of time, and if they were of a criminal mind, may try to rob you.

I’m not saying to mistrust anyone in these professions — we have a high level of trust in our society as is, but it isn’t likely that a stranger out of the blue, will know that you’re gone for 2 weeks and not likely to come barging in through the door as they’re dismantling your TV to steal it!

Robbers go for the quick and easy grabs

• Electronics – TV, tablets, phones, AirPods
• Jewellery
• Cash
• Prescription drugs

So if you’re going on vacation it might be prudent to remove these items or hide them at the very least while you’re gone.

This is what prompted us to buy a custom-safe, one big enough to hold all of our electronics, papers and anything we deem important or sentimental enough to want to save and not lose.

Ours is from Sécurifort and they were extremely professional.

What we wanted in a safe

Space – my partner measured how much we needed and then added 50% more space. Turns out it JUST fit all of our things so we could have done with 100% more space in the end. We don’t have a TV, but we put all of our electronics into this safe before we leave, so we KNOW it will be fine.

Fireproof – the one we got is fireproof for 4 hours in a blazing fire which should be enough time for the fire to be put out hopefully before our things get incinerated

Large and heavy so it isn’t easy to pick up and break open at their leisure – it took 8 guys to move it into place against the wall and for someone to get it out you need to break the walls to gain leverage to pry it out.

Meant for a business – personal safes are flimsy. Don’t buy the ones at Staples if you’re serious. You can literally just pick them up and leave with them easily.