Recently, I posted a discussion about why I keep a small amount of cash at home under the figurative mattress for major emergencies. One of the controversies with that article (which was discussed on Lifehacker, among other places) was the idea of actually storing cash under your mattress.

So, to alleviate those fears, I sent out a call to a large number of contacts asking where they would keep money at home besides under the mattress and compiled the sensible responses into a list of twenty places where you can store your money besides under the mattress.

Why would you store it somewhere else? In the event of a burglary, under the mattress is one of the first places burglars look for cash, so by finding another place to store it, you’re drastically reducing the likelihood of having your emergency cash stash found or stolen.

My recommendation is to choose one of these hiding places and place your cash there rather than actually under your mattress. I’ll even go so far as to say that I actually use one of these twenty myself.

Effective Places to Hide Money

1. In an envelope taped to the bottom of a kitchen shelf

2. In a watertight plastic bottle or jar in the tank on the back of your toilet

3. In an envelope at the bottom of your child’s toybox

4. In a plastic baggie in the freezer

5. Inside of an old sock in the bottom of your sock drawer

6. In an empty aspirin bottle in the bathroom (bundled up with a rubber band around it)

7. In the pocket of a particular shirt in your closet

8. In a “random” folder in your filing cabinet

9. In an envelope taped to the bottom of your cat’s litter box

10. In an envelope taped to the back of a wall decoration

11. In between several pages in a random book or two on your bookshelf

12. Buried in a jar in the back yard (my grandfather, incidentally, did this very thing)

13. In an envelope in the glove compartment of your car

14. Underneath a potted plant (or even buried in a small jar in the soil)

15. In an envelope taped to the bottom of a dresser drawer (so you can reach it from the

inside of the dresser below it)

16. Inside of a big coffee cup in the back of a cupboard

17. Inside your Christmas decoration box

18. Inside of an empty bottle of Guinness in the back of the fridge with the cap seemingly in place (smash it to get the cash)

19. In a plastic baggie inside of a flour or coffee container

20. In an envelope inside of a DVD case

Get even more creative with these diversion safes.

Good luck!