Deciding What Items to Put in Your Home Safe

While having a high-quality safe professionally installed in your home is an important security measure, deciding what to put into it can be just as important. There are certain items you want to keep close at hand 24/7, as opposed to stashing them in a safe deposit box accessible only during bank operating hours. In addition, items at home are normally covered by your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy, while the contents of safe deposit boxes are not included in a bank’s FDIC insurance.

Important Documents

According to Consumer Reports, the most important items to keep in a home safe are vital personal records. These include birth and death certificates, estate-planning documents, life-insurance policies, savings bonds, stock certificates, and tax returns. In addition, a CBS News report recommends also securing property-insurance policies, passports, medical records, vehicle titles, debt records, Social Security cards, and bank account information in your home safe. If you tend to save important documents on CD’s, external hard drives, or flash drives, these electronic devices should also be kept in your safe.

Valuables

Jewelry, rare coins, and cash you wish to have readily accessible are also good candidates for storage in your home safe. If you prefer to keep such valuables in a bank safe deposit box instead, it is a good idea to then secure the deposit box key in your home safe.

Guns

To protect the safety of your children or grandchildren, firearms should be secured at all times. A home safe is an excellent place to store a handgun while still ensuring its accessibility in an emergency. Also, keeping the gun locked away in a safe will prevent its use or theft by a home invader.

At Armstrong Lock & Security Products, an Orlando institution for more than 80 years, we offer a full line of high-quality safes for the home as well as professional installation. For help choosing the home safe most appropriate for securing your important documents, valuables, and firearms, please call us at (407) 434-0191.