In a perfect world, none of us would have any reason to hide our jewelry and just have them laid out on the dresser for easy access. However, these are challenging times and it has never been a perfect world, so we are compelled to make sure the things that are important to us stay hidden or else they get misplaced or stolen. In fact, keeping our jewelry, money, bank documents and like out of sight is necessary. That said, we should also take absolute care in choosing where they are hidden and how.

We’ve seen too many of these on TV and movies. Money is hidden in canisters inside cupboards, jewelries are hidden under the bed or in an ordinary looking shoebox in the closet, the flower pot in the living room is used to hold keys to restricted doors in the home. All of these are just too common and popular that they are just the worst places to hide yours.

Security experts note that there are areas in your home that are just horrible for hiding things. Here are five places you should avoid.

1. Your clothes drawer

One of the most common places to hide your valuables is your clothes drawer, particularly that slot where you store your undergarments. Why this area? First, people think that because their underwear drawer is often in a state of disarray, it can effectively hide that pouch where their jewelry are kept. Second, they think that nobody would bother rummaging through all that underwear. But, that’s where they are wrong.

Burglars know too well that we hide important stuff in areas that “look” messed up. Underwear drawers are also too common that burglars already know it’s the second place they look into after the dresser. In short, keep your important items away from your undergarments and find somewhere less predictable to hide them.

2. The side table

We’ve seen this many time in movies. Jewelries, travel IDs, electronics, important documents, and even handguns are kept at the side table next to your bed. The psychology behind choosing this location is that it is just right next to you while you sleep, so you can easily check up on them the moment you wake up or in the middle of night when you’re feeling suspicious.

However, everybody looks into your side table for anything that’s important. If you walk into another person’s home and try to find something, chances are, the bedside table is one of the first places where you’ll look.

3. The toilet tank

This is actually a genius idea. Who would ever think of checking that tank, right? No thanks to movies and crime TV shows, now everybody knows that this spot makes a great place to hide valuables. Ever watched that scene where people wrap their valuables in ziplock bags and place them in the tank to prevent them from getting wet? Your burglar has seen those, too. Don’t even try that trick where you tape the ziplock bag or pouch UNDER the tank. That’s already been popularized, as well.

4. Under the mattress

Most beds have either two layers of mattresses or have a one big mattress resting on top of a sturdy frame. That seemingly innocent space in between is a popular choice for safekeeping valuables and important documents. While it feels like the best place to hide expensive items because you’re sleeping on top of them, remember that burglars enter your home when you’re not home. That makes that space easily accessible and very much open for browsing.

5. A safe that’s easy to carry

So you got yourself a small safe or vault where you can place all your documents, money, and trinkets. While you might think that nobody can possibly get through because they don’t have your access code, burglars can just easily carry the entire thing out and then find a way to destroy it to open.

When you’ve got a small safe, what you can do is make sure that it’s bolted to the floor so that it can’t be hauled out. Also, just do invest in a safe that’s too heavy even for three people to carry. Most burglars do not work on their own have backups and spotters they can easily call to help handle the load. Do not make it easy for them to drag your stuff out.

So Where Should I Hide My Valuables?

The best place to make sure that your important items are safe is to keep them in a safety deposit box in the bank. Keeping too many jewelry and a lot of cash at home is not just impractical, it’s also makes you an easy target for a burglary. Even if the thief has absolutely no idea that you have these in your house, it will be fiesta the moment he or she happens upon your stuff. Not only will the burglar take everything, but you are likely going to be a repeat target if you don’t update your safekeeping habits.

If you must keep your valuables at home, invest in a very heavy and bolted down safe. Sure, they’re large and inconvenient to bring into your home, but that’s the whole point. If it cannot be moved by multiple people, then you’ve succeeded in making sure that team of 2 or 3 burglars won’t be able to get access to it. Of course, they can always bring crowbars to pry it open, so invest in a heavy duty safe that’s resistant to force.

Overall, if you do keep valuables in the home, you can install a security system to ensure that all possible points of entry are locked and attempts to break in are curtailed. If you and the family are not home, having security cameras and motion sensors — and making sure people from the outside know about these — are a great deterrent against people who would want to target your home.