Hey Ferfal,
In your first book you made it clear ‘Cash is King.’
But I would like your ideas on where to hide/stash that cash (i.e.; hidden money belt, certain areas of the home, etc)?
Also how many different stashes should I have? I just had a neighbour steal my jar of cash from my very rural back yard. I’m still sick about it.
-R
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Hello R,
Thanks for your email.
A jar full of money just sitting there would not be my first suggestion. As you just experienced, crime happens everywhere, including otherwise safe, rural communities. And sometimes it’s the people around us that commit these crimes, people we may even know.
The typical burglar lives within a 2 mile radius of his target This is average. The distance may be greater in rural areas of course, but the point still is, its people around your area, probably people you know. But back to your question.
A few tips:
1) You know your own house better than anyone, after looking around and giving it some thought you can probably think of a little corner or hidden space somewhere where anyone not familiar with your house would have a hard time figuring out. That’s where you want to hide it.
2) Make sure you REMEMBER where you hid it. Better yet, tell your wife/kids. My parents hid some of the nicer jewellery my mom had before a trip. When they came back they though it was so well hidden they might just leave it there for safe keeping… a few years later they FORGOT where they hid it and no matter how much they looked they never recovered it. This kind of thing happening in extremely common.
3) Hide it in a sealed bag so as to protect it against humidity and bugs. I wouldn’t hide it where rats can get to it but if you do you want a metal container besides the bag.
4) Find a place that is somewhat easy to access while being well hidden. Putting money inside an interior hollow wall may be very well hidden, but impossible to check on it or access the money in a convenient manner. For example, a hollow door on the other hand could have a piece of wood that is removed on the hinge side when opened to access the money. Pretty well hidden yet convenient to access.
5) I would have at least two stashes. Start with a big gun safe, heavy and bolted. You need one anyway for your firearms (if you don’t have one, you should). Getting your guns stolen is no joke and happens all the time. Keep in mind that in average, burglars spend less than 10 minutes in a house, so a safe is a good idea. A good safe can about the same as a handgun or as much as a good rifle (fire, EMP proof). Whatever your budget is you should have one (or 3, like I do) Makes no sense to have thousands in guns and not put a few hundred into securing them.
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6) Combine the safe with a home alarm system and security camera. The security camera works with a cellphone app and the motion detector lets you know if someone broke in. These Cameras are cheap, cost 25 bucks and are the best value you’ll ever get in security.
7)You could keep a second cash stash in a small, well-hidden safe. If you live in a dangerous area where you are likely to be held at gunpoint during a break in, It wouldn’t hurt to have one of these store bought cheap safes as a decoy. You could keep some fake precious metals, fantasy jewellery. Hope that helps!
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”