Have you always wanted to be kind of like those guys on movies who pretend they have a lot of really great stuff just by simply putting a safe in their home behind a picture frame? Well, that can be you, except you can fill it with things that actually are important to you and your family.
For instance, whether you live in a natural disaster zone or not, there is always the chance of something happening to your family. You could experience a fire, a home invasion, a flood, tornado or any other kind of emergency. Of course, it may be a pain to have to dig through the safe every time you need something, but at least I’d rather be safe than sorry. Many home safes have the ability to last through many types of natural and unnatural disasters, keeping any items stored in them free from theft, gas, smoke, water, and fire damage.
They are a great utility for your home and most of them aren’t over the top expensive. You may also consider keeping one in the garage or de-tatched tool shed so that you can always have a backup in case your items aren’t where they were supposed to be.
What Can You Store?
You may be wondering what exactly the kind of items I’m rambling on about actually are. Well, let me give you a quick rundown of what I would consider good items to keep in a family safe.
- Insurance papers
- Travel documentation (such as passports, green cards, visas, citizenship documents, etc)
- A copy of your current driver’s license (as I.D.)
- Social security card
- Credit cards
- Jewelry (especially inherited treasures)
- Cash (in case of emergency)
- Alcohol (this is on the list in case you’d like it out of the reach of minors, or you have some expensive stuff that you’d rather not have on display)
- Firearms (for safety reasons)
- Family Heirlooms
- Birth certificates
- Savings bonds
- Expensive electronics
- Blueprints
- Keys
- Binoculars (Some sources have these on the list, take it as you will)
- Laptops
- Medications
- Your Will
- The Deed to the House
- Marriage Certificate
- Power of Attorney
- College Degree
- Vehicle ownership information
- Contracts
- Etc.
There are of course endless options so you should weigh yours and decide what is best for you. However, we feel that it is important to at least consider these options in case something should happen.
Does it Work?
Fortunately, the majority of safes will stand up to firearms, fire, flood, crowbars and kids. Of course, it is important to keep the key, passcode or combination far away from searching eyes so that you don’t have to deal with break-ins of family members, nosy neighbors or smarter than average criminals.
Some people suggest keeping this information with you at all times; however this can be just as dangerous and we will leave that decision to you.
Hopefully you will never be put into the situation where you will have to discover for yourself how well your gun or home safe works, but if you are, you’ll be glad you chose something that can stand up to the elements and crazy men of this world.
My name is Heidi Rothert and I write articles for gun safe companies, such as Cannon Safes, Home Safes to drive traffic and sales to their websites.
