Watching Your Wallet: "Stashin' your cash"

Published on the Utah Statesman website on March 9, 2010.

When all the Logan Lurker hub-bub was going on, I realized what a jackpot a college town would be for a thief. Thousands of apartments all in one place, full of laptops, iPods, social security cards, DVDs, TVs, other electronics and cash. Plus, it's all quite easy access. Most students are too lackadaisical to lock their doors. In fact, most students living in on-campus apartments and dormitories with indoor entrances tend to not even close their doors. No wonder Mr. Lurker was having so much success creeping around. Like most, my roommates and I started taking extra precautions (like locking our doors when we weren't home – pretty anal, huh?) when we heard about an increase in break-ins and thefts with the Lurker around. We've continued this habit although this fellow has been caught, and I've enjoyed the security of knowing it's likely my stuff will still be in my apartment when I come home from class and work.

Now what about keeping cash at college apartments or home? Experts recommend not to keep more than $100 on hand for emergencies or to spare you a trip to the ATM, but some people may keep much more than that. Like the Israeli woman who reportedly stashed $1 million dollars cash in her mattress. That's not even the most shocking part of the story. In June 2009, the woman's daughter bought her a new mattress as a surprise and threw away the $1 million dollar mattress, not knowing about its hidden contents. This true story is devastating. As far as I'm able to tell through my "in-depth research" (Google), the mattress was never found, and thus the woman never reclaimed her life savings. That's enough to make you take all your cash at home to the nearest bank as soon as possible.

Another online article gave ideas, all sent in by readers and viewers, of places you could safely and secretly stash cash at home. Ideas included a cookie jar, a fake drain in the garage, at the bottom of a clothes hamper, old purses, inside fake I-beams and inside toilet rolls. My two personal favorite stash locations were the following:

"I put my serious money under the mattress. My lazy 350-pound wife is usually in bed most of the day and night. A thief would give up trying to move that "beached whale" off the bed. So for me, I have a great hiding place."

"When my son was only 5 years old, I found his piggy bank in the freezer and asked him why? He said he wanted cold cash. He's made me laugh ever since."

If you have a desire to save some cash at home, remember not to keep more than $100 on hand (more than that should be in the bank accruing interest) and to keep it in a safe, but memorable place. Just keep it far away from your mattress, you never know when someone will surprise you with a new one and chuck the old one.