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Hiding stuff at your home

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posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 12:32 AM
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For those of us who plan to survive by preparations-in-place, this is a critical issue. Even for those who have plans to "bug out," you want to hide valuables where they won't be seized in some sort of martial law frenzy. For all of us, there are concerns about crime.


The two main "ransackers" I think of are thieves and law deputized "bad cops."

First the criminals.

Crimewatch actually puts outs an excellent brochure about "securing" valuables in your home. You begin by thinking like a break-n-enter artist. Here's what they look for:

-a means of entry that cannot be seen from the street or neighboring windows or public areas. A basement or cellar door, a window covered by foliage, etc.

-once inside, thieves will seek check the following areas:

1. The master bedroom.
You can gauge a family's wealth by their master bedroom. Size of bedding, electronics, etc, will give you a good idea. Clothing and toilettries tell you about occupations and lifestyles.

-in the wife's panty drawer.
This is where the best jewelry is kept.

-the husband's sock drawer.
Usually spare car keys, safe keys, etc. are kept here.

-Under the master bed
Most firearms in the American home are stored under the bed. If not there, they'll be in master closet.

-The bedroom TV.
Usually has the best stereo or game system in the house.

2. In the Living Room/media room
usually the best computer. Maybe some illegal items in or near the seat with the best view of the TV.

3. In the desk nearest the kitchen
This is where you'll find a filebox or a drawer full of ID theft-worthy data. Homeowners policies, bank account numbers, credit card info, etc. Also extra keys.

4. The kitchen
Look for goodies in the freezer, usually hidden in a coffee can or other resealable container. Also cookie jars and any "junk drawers" in the kitchen.


Once thieves have finished in the kitchen, they usually reverse the route out of the home, picking up heavy but valuable things they spotted on the way in.


How do you thwart this?

1. put junk jewelry in the panty drawer. In the dark or in a hurry, most (male) thieves can't tell the good from the crap.

2. have more than one safe. Put the one with old ID info under the bed.

3. Put an old or broken gun under the bed. A thief will assume it's the best you've got--unless he spots ammo for a gun he hasn't found yet. Keep extra ammo elsewhere.

4. Keep the long guns in a hall closet.

5. Keep valuables, and the real firesafe in the kitchen, behind the soup cans. Unless a thief is planning to move in, he's not about to inventory your pantry.

6. Keeep a coffee can with 50 bucks in the kitchen freezer. An intrude will assume that's all the cash in the house.

Good hiding places for money and jewelry:
-in empty suitcases in the bedroom closet
-in fake/hollow toiletry items
-in amongst the "guest towels"
-in hollowed out books (only if you have a LARGE library)
-sewn inside curtains
-under the backing of pictures and wall hangings.
-inside air vents
-inside lamps. most table lamps have an ornamental hollow section.
-inside of bulk packaging, such as under the plastic liner of a cereal box, or in a bag of rice, etc.
-larger items can be hidden inside a pot with a lid, if the cookware storage is relatively inconvenient; say, under the rangetop, or a low cupboard behind a microwave, etc. and there are a large number of similar pots.

.



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 12:40 AM
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Thank you for your post Dr_strangecraft! Over the past week or so Ive really found you're post to be very helpful

With all that has been said threw here, I keep my goods in a long plastic container under my bed. We have about 2 weeks worth of food in there.
And 2 weeks worth of water. Being in florida its just good to be prepared, for anything, but mostly I am prepared for hurrianes and not having power for about 1 full week.
We try not to buy lots of frozen goods this time of year, and stock up on summer sasuage, can cheese, can goods, romain noodles, and stuff you can heat up via an open flame.

Its straight up important to keep your goods locked up and safe, as they wont do you any good in someone elses hands. I also dont make it a point to brag to my neibors about how much extra food and water I do have. I sertinly woudnt sit by and watch my neibors starve to death or anything, but yeah word gets around fast, and Theives would be a big problem..



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 12:48 AM
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thats some really good information



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 03:26 AM
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Yet more sound ideas Dr.


In addition to your list of places, for long-term storage maybe find somewhere that you'd have to get rather mucky or go to effort to find:

1: Buried under compost heaps or under the veg-patch where disturbed soil wouldn't be a giveaway

2: Sealed in water-tight containers and stored in the toilet cistern/household cold water header-tank/exterior rain-water storage butt

3: The inside bottom of the kitchen waste-bin



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 10:35 AM
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hiding guns:

If you have a barn or outbuilding, most old farms have a pile of used boards and metal pipe etc. You want to pick a place with junk pipe. A private junkyard is excellent.

Get 8" OD PVC pipe, cement a plug on one end. Pack them in gun grease. Before you put the guns in the pipe, I throw in rice under a layer of sackcloth. The sackcloth keeps the rice away from direct contact with the metal, and the rice absorbs moisture. Silica pouches work better, if you have enough of them.

Seal the pipe, and bury it in the junkyard.


This does several things:

-no one can use a metal detector to find your guns. This is the primary tool for gun-grabbers.

-with the treasure in an outdoor location, you can return later and pick them up, even if you've been dispossessed of your property.

-I have seen guns safely packed this way 8 years without any problems whatsoever. Remember to remove the grease before firing, or you'll blow it all over yourself . . .



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 01:11 PM
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Originally posted by dr_strangecraft

-no one can use a metal detector to find your guns. This is the primary tool for gun-grabbers.



Hahaha i was gunna burn people on this thread that said bury your guns for that exact reason, beat me to it
. I remember watching this u.s. spec ops vid about combating afghan insurgency. First thing they did after storming the local militia leaders fortress was whip out the metal detector and search for weapons caches buried underground in the guys 'extensive' garden.



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 05:06 PM
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Gun's/Ammo is hardened hallway closet...Cubby built in corner under carpet for safe... The PVC pipe burial is good, but TOTALY cover arm's with cosmoline, ammo can be re-wrapped with that special tan paper(cant remember the name)...Dont even show local friends your collectables, unless you want them gone...A daym good Alarm system, and USE it..........Another Glorious Day to Excel.



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 05:56 PM
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Originally posted by dr_strangecraft
-no one can use a metal detector to find your guns. This is the primary tool for gun-grabbers.



To further this idea you can bury weapons almost anywhere and cut down on metal detection.

The first thing to do is figure out
A: Where you want to store weapons
B: where you CAN store weapons and



Where you want to store weapons should depend on the need of the weapon. If you anticipate needing to get the weapon soon it will be a good idea to keep it close, of course. If, on the other hand, your hidden weapon will be picked up during an evacuation, you want to cover likely evacuation routes.

Where you CAN store weapons gets trickier. You need to be away from prying eyes, both when you plant them and when you retrieve them. If you live in the desert southwest it is easiest to keep a cache in a place not visible from any road or structure.

It is best to find one place you will be sure not to forget and plant a "treasure map" here. You should be able to water proof a map without using any metal, so detection is of less concern, however you still want to avoid any identifying information about yourself and you want to make the map as hard to use as possible. If you can get a military style topographic map of a large area and remember the general area you cashed in, you can use a dot no larger than a pen to mark your goodies. Because the map will be enormous and the dot so small, you can use red or blue ink to mark your spots. Don’t use any color that does no occur on the map however, such as pink or any color highlighter.

You can also plug waypoints into your GPS as a means of finding your spots but remember that not only will anyone who gets hold of your GPS have these interesting looking waypoints to explore but also that electronic devices should not be relied upon in any survival situation. You need the map as a backup.

The method listed by the OP is fine for long term storage of firearms. I have cleaned 30 year old cosmo from weapons that I found to perfectly preserved. The tip about the rice is not one that I have heard, thanks Dr.

To help combat metal detectors, bury deep. Place old auto parts, in layers of dirt, directly over the buried treasure. Do the same in areas directly surrounding the area. If possible, use parts from the same auto and leave one or two on the surface. Some small (visible only from the immediate area) shot up tvs and old shell casings on the ground will help in fooling anyone snooping into believing the metal detector is picking up junk. Try to keep any junk you may leave behind from being visible from the air.

Remember to never bury anything in a water runoff area.

Remember that you can reuse that 8" PVC tube. In Iraq, we buried PVC into the ground at about a 45 degree angle to use as urinals.

The note to remove all the grease is important for reasons greater than it blowing out at you. In a weapon lacking a spring loaded firing pin (the SKS is a great example here) grease left near the firing pin block assembly can actually cause a weapon to slam fire, or go into full auto. While this may sound great to some, it is a dangerous situation to you and those around you. It is also a waste of ammo and can damage the weapon. Grease and other buildup in gas ports can also cause a weapon to malfunction, often dangerously. Care should be taken to field strip the weapon and carefully remove as much grease as possible.

Grease can be removed from wood stocks by baking them. If you don’t have access to an oven, you can place a stock in a plastic bag and leave it in the sun. Remove it from the bag every 30 minutes and wipe the beads of grease sweat from the weapon before putting it back into the bag. A plastic garbage bag should be kept with a weapon preserved this way.

Remember that you may only get to visit one cache. You should probably bury some preserved food. Longest shelf life possible, of course, because next time you dig up this site should be the last. To maintain the security of this site you must resist the urge to return to it periodically to replenish food stores. If it rots it rots. Also a medical kit, ammo and some trading items will be good to have. Dont go over board, but remember you will probably only be able to return to ONE of your sites.


EDIT TO ADD: Using the map properly will require moderate map reading and land navigation skills. I will see if there are decent thread existing about this and if not and I have the time I will start one. As a Cavalry Scout, a large portion of my training and real world experience revolves around advanced mounted and dismounted land navigation, in large part due to our ability to guide artillery into exact spots from miles away using only a map and a radio.

[edit on 24-8-2007 by cavscout]



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 06:57 PM
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Great ideas!

Just a question though:

Would there be any benefit to this versus storing your armaments, etc. in say a hardened steel gunsafe that was bolted into the concrete foundation? It can't be moved nor broken into.

www.browning.com...

[edit on 8/24/2007 by ~Vixen~]



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 07:18 PM
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Originally posted by ~Vixen~
Great ideas!

Just a question though:

Would there be any benefit to this versus storing your armaments, etc. in say a hardened steel gunsafe that was bolted into the concrete foundation? It can't be moved nor broken into.

www.browning.com...

[edit on 8/24/2007 by ~Vixen~]


For my post that would be useless. However the title of the thread was hiding stuff at your home, so I went a bit off topic. Sorry about that BTW, Dr., but I thought it would be in poor taste to start a thread of my own based on hiding stuff away from your home. Thanks for this thread.

Remember that you can SECURE in a safe, but it is more difficult to HIDE in a safe. Thieves aren’t the only concern. Often you don’t want anyone to know that what you have is even there. With you gone in handcuffs, "they" WILL crack your safe.



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 08:16 PM
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You may all be interested in a book called "How to hide anything" by Michael Connor. I found my copy on the internet for free... you can likely do the same.

Good info on hiding stuff everywhere from inside speakers, couches, furniture, wall outlets, in curtain rods, etc.

Also good info on making false rooms and outdoor bunkers/caches away from home, temporary hides for in hotels, and so on. The whole book is stuffed with knowledge.



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 08:29 PM
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Originally posted by Yarcofin
Also good info on making false rooms


been think about this one lately, thanks for the info



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 11:08 PM
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I think strange craft suggested this in his other thread but its relevant here. Make sure you leave things in an obvious hiding spots so they can find it, then act like theyve found all your important possessions.

Im sure if they struggle to find anything thats when they will get frustrated and start tearing the house apart.



posted on Aug, 24 2007 @ 11:44 PM
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Originally posted by Yarcofin
You may all be interested in a book called "How to hide anything" by Michael Connor. I found my copy on the internet for free... you can likely do the same.




YES! that's the book I was thinking of. Probably renders this whole thread redundant.

Basically, a couple of strategies (out of my own head)

1. Put stuff where it doesn't belong.
This covers strategies like putting valuables in a coffee can in the freezer. It relies on the searcher's mental categories to escape detection.

2. False finds / "is that all?"
This includes things like my gunsafe. I keep guns in there on a general basis. But if I hear that the authorities are seizing guns in my neigbhorhood, I'd remove the valuable guns to a safer location, and replace them with old junk I got for decoration from a pawn shop.

Another thing you can do, if your attic gives you access to the spaces between some of your walls, or when you alter rooms, is to drop a carbine-length piece of rebar down into the wall. A metal detector will light up, and wear out your tormentors with a home full of false positives. In jewelry, stuffing the panty drawer full of cheap costume jewelry fits in the same category


3. make it look like (or be classified as) something else.
A friend of mine in college was a flute-player. He made a flute from a heavy piece of brass plumbing pipe. He carried it in his vehicle as a club. Police have questioned it, upon which he declares that it is a rare antique and plays several bars from one of the Brandenburg concertos. case closed.

I have a fire safe that is . . . smaller than a breaker box. In fact, a deceitful person could install a fake breaker box in the garage, with a false breaker board, and even a lot of searchers would not think to do more than open the little door and look at the face plate. Why would they cut the power? It's not like they want to hunt in the dark . . . I bet a lot of cops would miss that.

Most toilets have a "stand pipe" behind the wall, to equalize the pressure after each flush. A pipe is a pipe is a pipe, right? And in the attic, a pipe that is hollow a long way down is the same as any other. It's not like an investigator is going to unscrew every standpipe in your home, just to look for secret stuff.


4. Hide off site
You can rent a "we store it" cubicle for 30 bucks a month. And fill it with all kinds of crap. Who knows what you've got at the very back. Some of the shady ones will let you rent a unit in whatever name you want, even an imaginary business; and as long as the rent is paid, there's no problem. If you don't use the nearest facility to your house, but use one in a neighboring town, then gun-grabbing cops would literally have no way to know that you even had such a unit, one big enough to hide an incredible collection of firearms, or say, a collector car your ex-wife's lawyer never knew about. Unless the cops follow you to the storage unit, or unless they find a receipt at your house, they'll never know. Some of those places have really tight security, and are real first amendment types.


5. Hide in plain site
This is the most insidious one. But your antagonists never spot it for what it is, buried amongst a bunch of other false leads. One example would be to post a whole bunch of false information on a paranoids' website, with stuff that could plausibly be describing your home and lifestyle. Searchers would have to follow every single lead, literally dismantling your home brick by brick to follow every lead you'd mention. They'd even end up searching every "we store it" in the tri-state area with mug shots of you, asking if the proprieters had rented to "this guy here." And then they walk away wondering if the landlord was a lie-er, a real first amendment type.

But of course, that way lies madness.


good times.

.



posted on Aug, 25 2007 @ 04:31 PM
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And just remember that hiding is allways better than securing!

Give me 60 minutes and i'll brake into any safe you may have... it will be noisy but doable... and those who actually do burglaries as a profession do it a lot faster...

(Disclaimer: I'm not a criminal, but i have worked in both demolitions and junkyards, we cracked old safes as a hobby)



posted on Aug, 29 2007 @ 10:57 AM
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Great thread, and some really good ideas here too!

I know this is going to sound a bit far fetched, but I know from experience that one of the best places to hide something in your home is if you have a secret room. My Great-Grandfather actually built one into his home when he had to hide my Aunt from the authorities for a while, but that's another story.

Secret rooms are pretty failsafe as long as the construction is "up to code" so to speak. Most of the time they're noticed because they are of flimsy construction, or significantly alter a pre-existing space making a room look smaller than it should.

Secret rooms don't need to be that big either. A small space dug into a foundation, or a cubby-hole built into a wall can house things that no one will find unless they know exactly where to look.

[edit on 29-8-2007 by phoenixhasrisin]




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