There are many types of safes available. If you are thinking about buying a safe you need to first figure out what you are going to put into it. Are you storing money or jewelry, important papers, weapons and ammunition? Perhaps more than one safe is needed, or perhaps many of the items don't need safes at all.
There are different types of safes available. There are wall safes, floor safes, and freestanding safes. There are safes that are more like lock boxes. You also need to determine if the safe is for storing things only or if it's for fire protection. If it's for fire protection do you need a cash/paper safe or a data/computer media safe?
I'd like to get a freestanding safe. These are large safes that are not set into the wall or floor, but stands alone. These can be secured to the floor through a series of bolts, but in most cases aren't because the safe weighs so much it more than likely won't be stolen. A freestanding safe can be purchased for a few hundred dollars to many thousands. The cheaper safes are really only for keeping children out of your stuff; they can be broken into by someone with the right tools and a bit of time. I would like to have a safe to hold weapons and ammunition that I don't continuously have on hand. For example, I have two handguns, but one is large and rarely used. It would do well in the safe. I also have my shotgun and my 22 rifle. My 22 is always out and ready for use. The shotgun isn't. Instead of the shotgun being kept on the closet shelf, it would be better off in the safe as well. On the other hand, maybe I should be spending more time shooting the shotgun and should put the rifle in the safe.
I have three safes. Two of them are fireproof safes and the third is a wall safe. The fireproof safes are small. The smallest is too small to hold an 8 X 11 piece of paper. It does just fine for holding my spare dollars and silver coins. This safe is easily hidden in the house but by being in the fireproof container, if the house ever does catch fire, I won't have to worry about retrieving my money. It will make it through the fire just fine. I have a second fireproof safe. It is about a foot deep and will hold half a file cabinet drawer of papers. I have important papers in this safe including my passport, bank information, birth certificates, etc. This one is hidden in plain site in the house. My third safe is not fireproof but is in the wall. It's nailed in between two studs. It is not hidden at all but is rarely noticed except for someone with a keen eye.
I used to hide money as a kid. I would pull off my bedroom doorknob and stuff dollar bills in it. I cut a hole in the wall (sorry mom and dad) and put in an electrical outlet that wasn't wired to anything. I used to put silver coins in that. I made a "bank" by cutting a hole in the drywall behind the baseboard and cutting a little hole in the drywall above the baseboard. I'd drop money into the wall space. These types of techniques can be used today. One of my favorite hiding places is in the bathroom cabinet behind the sink. Also I hide things under the kickboards of the kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
If you do things like this make sure someone knows about it. My sister who lives six hours away knows where my hiding places are. I know where hers are. I'm going to try out some new hiding spots. My sister is coming for Thanksgiving. I'm going to give her a list of new items hidden and see if she can find them in the week she will be here. Kind of like an in home scavenger hunt.
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