Keeping our most valuable objects hidden is something most of us forget to do. However, that simple action can save us from missing irreplaceable objects or documents that are hard to obtain again. 

 According to The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), there were 3 million incidents of theft estimated by the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) for the year ending March 2021, a 20% decrease compared with the year ending March 2019 (Appendix Table A3). Knowing that our possessions are always at risk, no matter how short the window of time we leave them unattended is, should keep us vigilant at all times.

Here in Locksmiths of Belfast, we have compiled the top ten areas where thieves are very likely to never look into.

- Inside used containers such as paint tins

- False-bottom drawer

- Luggage bags

- In between pages of book

- Inside shoes

- Buried with house plants

- Kid's room

- Inside the ceiling

- Tissue box

- Dress pockets

Sometimes, a simple safe isn't going to cut it. It's too obvious.

After you finish your jar of jam and sauce, get it cleaned and paint the inside of the color of what used to go inside it. After that, it's already fool-proof storage for anything small and important such as spare keys and flash drives.

Build a false bottom in your desk drawer where anyone rummaging through your things will easily miss a drawer that is certainly deeper than it seems. You can then hide important documents and other papers that you don't want to be in plain sight. If you're interested, there are plenty of tutorials and examples of it online.

Hide your things somewhere inconspicuous. Who would look for expensive items inside a kid's room full of toys? A tissue box that has a lot of potential, inside one of the shoes in your closet, between one of the books on your shelf? There's so much space you can use to hide emergency cash, just make sure the rats don't get to them first.

Get creative! You'll thank yourself for taking that extra mile in the near future.