# What do you hide in your house? Why and where? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 15, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245 "2005-02-15T20:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/21 "2005-02-16T02:52:14Z")
1. All the sex toys, porn, etc. 2. We have three children, and my mom often stays here with them overnight if hubby and I are out of town. 3. In a wooden, cube-shaped chest right in the middle of the family room! It has a brass padlock on it, and the chest is very decorative. It’s like having our dirty little secret out in the open. Nobody suspects a thing, and often the chest gets used as a coffee table. The key is hidden on top of…oh, uh, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/22 "2005-02-16T04:08:35Z")
I have a few things in furniture cushions. I have a box of old albums on a bottom shelf in a closet that works well for hiding credit cards and other papers. A little cash between a couple of plates in the cupboard. I do it because I live alone and I’m away from my apartment at different times of the day. And it’s a hold over from when I had instant friends (one night stands) in my apartment, curious roomates, and landlords. Plus I guess I’m a compulsive freak. Most thieves know where to look for things anyway, so it’s just to keep things out of sight I have a safe deposit box too. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/23 "2005-02-16T04:16:33Z")
I hide candy sometimes. I don’t usually have a sweet tooth, but the kid and the husband DO, and if I want sweets, I have to hide them or I’ll never get any. They go in the studio with the craft supplies. They’re afraid to go in there, lest they be attacked by rogue embroidery hoops. Passwords and bank account numbers and little stuff like that is all written in a notebook that is stored in the basement ceiling, on a crossbeam behind the acoustic tile. There is a gun, but it’s a non-working antique that I only object to on principle. I have no idea where it is, but since I’m pretty nosy and I haven’t stumbled across it yet, I’m pretty secure that the kid won’t either. The only other thing I can think of that I hide is my fake thumb, for magic tricks that confuse small children. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/24 "2005-02-16T05:21:53Z")
I live alone and have no reason to stash anything any place. I do keep my sentimental jewelry in a Waterman pen box, but only because my little jewelry box is too full of crap to hold it. When my grandfather died we found more than $2,000 stashed all over the house. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/25 "2005-02-16T05:30:13Z")
My wife and I have owned the same bedroom set for years and we’ve even been through a move to a new house with the set. It wasn’t until a squirrel hid inside my nightstand that we realized that there was a secret drawer built into the back. It doesn’t have a handle but instead has a finger hole to pull it open. It then became the tooth fairy drawer stocked with crisp bills and outgrown teeth. ---
**Author:** ![laurelann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5daacb/32.png) [@laurelann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurelann)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/26 "2005-02-16T05:35:01Z")
At school, I don’t really have anything hidden, my drawers consist of an empty condom box, sea monkeys, an uno deck, unused christmas cards, and silver tissue paper. Sometimes I have a gift for someone hidden. At home, I hide my journal (well, I don’t really keep it there any more), condoms, and anything I’d rather not have my sisters touch. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/27 "2005-02-16T05:51:23Z")
My kitty drugs are also stashed away. Unfortunately there’s other stuff in that drawer. The cats don’t seem to realize(acknowlege) that even if the drawer opens, they may not get their fix. It’s always very traumatic. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![snow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@snow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/28 "2005-02-16T14:55:15Z")
I have my diamond earrings in one of those fake “stash cans” that’s made out of a shaving cream can with a screw-off bottom. Because I was burglarized once. At my cabin I keep the keys to the old car in dried out paint can on the back of a shelf. Need keys near the car for when I loan the cabin to someone. * * * I post at [Fathom](http://fff.fathom.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/29 "2005-02-16T16:41:56Z")
Live alone so there is no need to hide anything except for emergency cash reserves. Bail money is hard to get to in the middle of the night. When I was a teenager I locked my keys in my truck, I called Mom and told her where the spare key was. I had forgotton what else was in that little drawer. Like a bong and other quasi legal goodies. D’oh. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/30 "2005-02-16T17:15:46Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > When I was a dwarf-star… What the world is a dwarf-star? (Picturing a fellow doper in outer space…) :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/31 "2005-02-16T17:40:27Z")
I’ve built several items of furniture and made several additions to the house. They all have one thing in common - a secret compartment. I think it’s a holdover from my days of youth when I’d remove false panels from a dresser or wall to stash my fireworks, Playboys and grass from Mom. Not all of these are in use now, they’ve just filled some latent need to be secretive. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/32 "2005-02-16T17:48:23Z")
Some watches (we had them stolen once, fortunately we found out who took them. Drugs that could be considered recreational (e.g., hydrocodone, darvocet). My undergrad transcripts, because they suck, and I wouldn’t want my children getting a look at what their supposedly-intelligent dad wasn’t doing 30-odd years ago. ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245/33 "2005-02-16T17:50:52Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#): > > 1. All the sex toys, porn, etc. > 2. We have three children, and my mom often stays here with them overnight if hubby and I are out of town. > 3. In a wooden, cube-shaped chest right in the middle of the family room! It has a brass padlock on it, and the chest is very decorative. It’s like having our dirty little secret out in the open. Nobody suspects a thing, and often the chest gets used as a coffee table. The key is hidden on top of…oh, uh, never mind. A future MPSIMS thread: “_ **I opened the trunk in my living room and found my parents sex toy stash! Brain bleach needed…** _.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-hide-in-your-house-why-and-where/290245.md?page=1)