Where not to hide your money

Toilets, refrigerators, beds, medicine cabinets and cereal boxes are apparently pretty terrible places, according to PFAdvice.com, which got the skinny from a real live burglar (an earlier post with the same burglar said that there's really no safe place). Unlike what you see on TV, most burglars are part of organized crime, a gang or drug addicts - and thus have their own ideas on where to look. For instance:

Toilets: While this might seem like an unlikely place for a burglar to look, in the toilet bowl tank (as well as all the area round the toilet) is one place that he always took the time to look: “In and around the toilet is where a lot of people hide their drugs. The tank seems an especially popular place, but I will also search boxes of tampons, toilet paper rolls, potpourri… If it is in the vicinity of the toilet and looks like drugs could be hidden there, I would look.”

Cereal Boxes: As with the toilet, “Cereal boxes are another place where a lot of people like to hide drugs. I’m sure that the people who didn’t have drugs in their house wondered why there was cereal spread all over their kitchen after I robbed them.”

Refrigerator & Freezer: The refrigerator may be another place that would seem unlikely for a burglar to investigate, but as he pointed out, “Many drugs last longer when refrigerated so big stashes end up in the refrigerator. Prescription drugs could also be found in the refrigerator.”

Medicine Cabinet: As with the refrigerator, “The medicine cabinet would usually be filled with prescription drugs that could be just as valuable on the street (or for self use) as illegal drugs.”

Bed: “I would toss everything surrounding the bed. I’d check pillows, between the mattresses, under the bed and inside anything close to the bed. This is often where people would hide their guns.”

In the earlier post, this burglar says that the best strategy is to leave some money ($100 and up, depending on neighborhood) in some obvious place. "If they believe they may have found the cash that you have in the house, they are much less likely to keep looking," he/she says.