Many British households are choosing to store their hard-earned cash in their homes, rather than in bank accounts. A survey by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has revealed that an estimated £5.6 billion is currently stashed away in homes in Britain, an average of £216 per household. With a third of those interviewed saying they kept less than £20 in their homes, 3% admitted to having more than £1000.
Storing Cash at Home and Your Insurance
Many home contents insurance policies will not cover cash amounts kept in the home, or will only insure up to £1000. In the event of a fire or a burglary, most insurance policies would only cover a small amount of cash.
However with little confidence in the banking system, more and more people are choosing to keep their cash safe at home despite not earning any interest on it. While we used to trust banks to keep our money safe, many of us are now seeing very little in the way of interest in our accounts, and would not lose out by stuffing our money under the mattress instead of putting it in the bank. Many are also concerned about recent bank scandals with banks collapsing or being taken into government hands. There is no legal limit on how much cash you can store at home, but when it comes to practicality, storing piles of banknotes in your home is not ideal.
Interesting Places to Hide Cash
While hiding your cash in everyday objects like video cassette tapes may seem like a good idea, it could get messy. You risk throwing away hundreds of pounds unless you have an excellent memory. Hiding cash within the walls of your home is not unheard of, but requires carpentry skills and your handiwork may not be easy to disguise. The attic is probably the easiest place to store cash, but also the first place a burglar is going to look. Inside the toilet cistern is dangerous and the subject of far too many films. You could bury your money in the garden, but it’s not exactly going to be easily accessible when you need it. Even if you find the ideal place to hide your loot, in the event of a fire in your home, you could lose everything in literally minutes. All in all, the best idea is to
invest in a secure cash safe.
Keep Your Money Safe: Cash Safes
Cash safes are a sensible solution that allow you to keep your money at home where you can see it and access it very easily, but also keep it safe from burglars. Cash safes can be bolted to the floor or to shelves so that they cannot easily be removed and accessed in another location through the use of explosives.
Cash safes come with key or combination locks and in various sizes depending on your requirements. Rather than hiding your money in an everyday object which can lead burglars to completely ransack your house, knowing that you must have cash somewhere, a cash safe is an obvious deterrent, letting them know that you have cash, but that they can’t get at it and there is no point in destroying your house looking for it.
