| If you are going to find other people’s secrets, you
need to know how to hide things. When I was robbed, I came home to find
the obvious stuff like my television missing, and my top and bottom
dresser drawers pulled out and dumped. Those drawers were where I kept
spare money, presents I was going to give, jewelry. The policeman who came
to investigate told me that thieves know that most people put their
valuables in the top and bottom drawers of their dressers. So, if you want
to protect your valuables as well as your secrets, and you don't want to
go to the expense of having a home
security system, you have to think of
places to hide them that a normal thief, or even a clever thief won’t
have time to find.
You’ve seen the standard secret hiding places:
Books with cutouts on a
section of pages, providing a hollow hiding place. No thief has time to
shake out all your books.
Cans that look like they
contain tennis
balls, or pet food. Again, no thief has time to try to open all your
kitchen cans. But don’t put a pet food can in your bedroom. That looks
suspicious, and a thief has time for one or two unusual looking
containers.
Outlet boxes that go behind
your electric outlets or switches. There’s not much room there, but it
could be perfect for a secret formula or phone list. Again, no thief has
time to unscrew all your outlets and switch cover plates.
Extra Pipe in the laundry
room. If you have secret plans, such as blue prints to hide, you can
always buy some plastic plumbing at a hardware store and install it going
across your laundry room. No thief has time to figure out that the
plumbing isn’t attached to your water system. It’s just a pipe where
pipes usually go.
The important thing about hiding secrets is not to make
them look like secrets. You can get elaborate and remove a leg from a
couch (the plastic ones are usually hollow, or you could hollow out the
center of a wooden leg) to hid small items such as microchips, or even a
roll of film. Don’t put your valuables into a medicine bottle. A thief
might want your medicine to sell on the street. A loose floorboard isn’t
good if you are hiding things from your family. They probably already know
where all the loose boards are in your room. When they suspect you have
secrets, that’s the first place they’ll look.
The more your hiding place looks like a permanent part
of your house, or like something that won’t sell easily at a flea
market, the better hiding place it is.
If you want to hide information on your hard drive, you
can encrypt it so a spy who is searching your hard drive won’t be able
to read it. You can use your own code, or a computerized code such as the
free one at: http://www.spymuseum.org/cipher/
Just don’t forget your password, or put it in a safe hiding place.
The key points to remember: A thief is in a hurry. Make
your hiding place look like a normal part of the room – not just
something you put in a drawer. Drawers are easy to pull out and dump. I
found that out the hard way. A little time spent in thought and
preparation will keep your secrets safe.
Sneakily,
Mrs. Covert |
Write Mrs. Covert. Click here: