Elderly inlaws away on holiday and got a phone call to say they’d been burgled, so had to go over to their house to sort everything out after the police had been and secured the property. Quite an interesting experience on many levels.

They first tried a screwdriver to force a window open – that failed…

Then they just smashed the window and opened it (window locks weren’t locked, so just needed to break enough to reach in and open the handle). Windows all have locks, they have keys to he locks, just didn’t lock them!

Alarm went off immediately so I assume they were slightly rushed. They obviously know where old people hide stuff as they totally ignored the ground floor and went straight upstairs to the bedrooms and turned out every cupboard, wardrobe and drawer looking for cash in socks etc…

Ignored laptop in office – brand new this year.

Luckily, they seemed rather rushed (probably alarm) and left before finding anything (as far as we could tell). We had a call with the inlaws who then told us where all their cash was hidden and what colour socks it was in (you couldn’t make this shit up). All of which has now been confiscated and they’re not getting back without a serious discussion…

Their house is in a large town, they get paid their pensions into their bank accounts, they have a bank and cashpoint just down the road, so why on earth have £100s in cash stuffed in socks etc in the bedroom – not just one stash but multiple! They were so close to being cleaned out and thus ‘justifying’ the burglary.

FIL has a stamp collection, which is fully insured if locked. Guess where his most prized stamp folders were actually kept? Under the bed. Again taken those with us and now properly locked up at home here whilst we sort out proper storage for them.

So, if you have elderly relatives do tell them that the first place burglars will look for their money hidden in the sock drawer, will be in the sock drawer! Hiding jewelry at the back of the wardrobe isn’t a very good idea as the entire contents of the wardrobe will be turfed out!

I suspect the alarm saved their bacon as the burglars probably stuck to a tight schedule and left before fully going through everything – and the wardrobes etc were stuffed to the gills with decades worth of stuff – including pearl necklaces (again, so lucky they didn’t have time to find it).

How does £16k in the green house sound?
Ps now safely banked

Terrible for them. 🙁

I think banks restrict how much cash you can pay in without asking questions.

Jus’ sayin’

How does £16k in the green house sound?

Barking mad, but I can believe it. We’ve fully techno’ed the inlaws – they have iphones, laptops, ipads, online banking etc (I do all their IT) – but still insist on stuffing wads of £20 notes in socks and then going abroad for 2 months…..

I hope they are able to get the place sorted quickly and it hasn’t shook them up too much.

When my wife went to help clear out her Grans house after she passed away they were about to throw some curtains out but wondered why the hems were so heavy, upon unpicking the stitching there was thousands of pounds of cash hidden in them!

When my old neighbour had a stroke and ended up in a nursing home his sister found £10k in a manila envelope sitting in the dresser, no attempt at all to hide it

Because modern on-line banking is a right bloody faff nowadays!!!?

Even a simple payment is like a Krypton factor test. Check this, do that, answer a text, stand on one leg. I’m only 54 and I find it faff.

Just had a payment blocked to my niece last night despite jumping through all the on-line hoops.

I hope they are able to get the place sorted quickly and it hasn’t shook them up too much.

Physical damage is minimal, but I suspect the invasion of privacy aspect will be with them for a while. Could be a catalyst to get them to downsize, they have a massive house and tiny pensions, so downsizing would be a good move for them e.g. their huge garden is 60% jungle as they can’t manage it.

About £200 stashed in an old fabric glasses case wrapped with an elastic band that I was milliseconds from throwing away when my brain said ‘slightly too heavy’.

Other smaller amounts in a variety of places.

When my old neighbour had a stroke and ended up in a nursing home his sister found £10k in a manila envelope sitting in the dresser, no attempt at all to hide it

They had cash in a manilla envelope in the dining room as well, although less than £10k. The burglars didn’t touch that room other than breaking the window to get in.

The only cash I have in the house is a single £20 note in the back of my iPhone case in case I ride to a cafe whose card machines aren’t working….

Because modern on-line banking is a right bloody faff nowadays!!!?

Are you trying to do it via an app or the website?

The websites are a faff as they can’t verify it’s you, so you end up needing multiple passwords, 2fa etc.

The app’s all seem almost frictionless, as the authentication is all built in (it knows it’s your phone, and it knows it’s in your possession). I just finished a job on location and all the lunch orders were sorted by bank transfers each day with no one complaining so seems like the banks have go the system pretty sorted if ~20 people are all happy to send their £3.50 in each day rather than deal with cash.

More grimly, now in addition to worrying about bank notes laced with drugs, I now have to contemplate that the contents of my wallet was previously stuffed in some incontinent geriatric’s underwear 🤢

FIL used to bury his cash in a metal box in his back garden – and also kept a shoebox full of it in his wardrobe.

For some reason he has a habit of withdrawing £100 per week regardless of whether he needs it or not, and then just buries it in the garden (like a squirrel hiding nuts) or hides it in the wardrobe.

He is not suffering dementia etc, he’s just old. Old people are nuts!

MIL used to do it, just stash it down the side of her chair. MrsF collected about £3k in old £20 notes about a year after she’s cleared her out again and banked it. We had a right job withdrawing new £20’s and ‘spending’ all the old £20’s – she didn’t want in in her bank, so we had to keep it at our house.

Even when she went into a nursing home she insisted on a cash stash – not the best places as agency staff generally steal stuff (she lost jewelry there).

Are you sure they’re not involved in any, erm, off-the-books enterprises?

Ach, that’s pretty distressing for your in-laws. Rubbish. When my folks got broken into a few years ago, they went security crazy for a year and were pretty nervous, but now calmer with more awareness.

But yes, they also do the same with cash. Dad died last year, but when he went into hospital during the end game, he reeled off the list of places in the loft where cash was stashed. Wellies. Curtain lining. boxes shoved into insulation. We found a lot of it, but every time we go up to help mum clear out we always find more.

I suspect there was quite a bit of cash that wen through the business, and quite a bit that didn’t. Daft old man!

How old do I have to be before doing this stuff? Cash in socks would never have occurred to me.

I think banks restrict how much cash you can pay in without asking questions.

I took £40k tax free cash from my pension pot and paid it into the bank. No questions asked.

How old do I have to be before doing this stuff? Cash in socks would never have occurred to me.

Good question – maybe we need a STW poll – Do you hide cash in socks and what is your age…

I think banks restrict how much cash you can pay in without asking questions.

They do, but it’s a lot more than your weekly pension amount

I took £40k tax free cash from my pension pot and paid it into the bank. No questions asked.

Yeah, but not (I doubt) in actual cash, like £20 notes. Your pension provider will (I presume) have paid it into the bank electronically, after confirming that the account was in your name.

Not sure the cohort is “old people”, it’s “some people”.

Neither my folks nor my in-laws ever kept large amounts of cash, and neither do we – most you’d find is £100 across our wallet/purse/cars etc.

My parents (both in their 70’s) don’t do online payments.
If they need anything bought online, they send me a picture, i then look for it online and deal with it for them.
They are aware, thankfully, that they’re not tech savvy enough to get to grips with it for themselves.
My dad has an annoying habit of clicking on any “get (something) free!!!” Popup on his tablet, but at least he wouldn’t enter any card details, no matter what they said to him.

My grandparents had burglars in during the day while they were at home. Didn’t even notice them but they swiped my Nan’s purse and jewellery. Strange thing is it was a little hovel compared to all the neighbours places (it turned out music producer Naughty Boy was their next door neighbour). The police felt so bad for them they came back with flowers.

On the other hand my stepdad had a safe built into the foundation of a house, safely under the carpet. Great place to stash stuff.

Good question – maybe we need a STW poll – Do you hide cash in socks and what is your age…

I always like to have a few hundred to hand. Not in socks though! 😉

54, but have been doing it for years.

At a previous house, my dad made a drawer under one of the kitchen cupboards, and valuables went in there if they went away.

Nothing to identify it, you just had to pull cupboard base to find it.

Bet the bugger has done it again at their new place.

At a previous house, my dad made a drawer under one of the kitchen cupboards, and valuables went in there if they went away.

Nothing to identify it, you just had to pull cupboard base to find it.

Mine have something similar.

My dad made me something similar under my wardrobe when I was a kid. Totally forgotten about it until now!

Thought this was going to be about your elderly relative bashing the burglar’s brains out with a sock full of pound coins. Disappointing.

Hope it isn’t too traumatic for them.

Do you hide cash in socks and what is your age…

63, almost totally cashless. Apart from a stash of Euros that I haven’t used the last 5 times I’ve been to Europe because they went cashless before we did.

Hope the OP’s outlaws aren’t too upset by it all.

a call with the inlaws who then told us where all their cash was hidden and what colour socks it was in (you couldn’t make this shit up). All of which has now been confiscated and they’re not getting back without a serious discussion…

So just to be clear, they have a security approach which has worked for them for probably decades and withstood a direct attack and you are telling them that they have it totally wrong…  …meanwhile many people (especially older people) fall for on-line scams that wipe thousands out of their accounts, and where the banks will likely say “not our problem you authorised it”.  In contrast theft of cash from within your locked house (may need to check on window locks being required) probably would have been covered by home insurance.   I’m very conscious that when we start taking decisions on behalf of our elderly relatives its a slippery slope to essentially being their carers.  Be a good son in law.  Clear up the mess.  Get the window fixed.  Perhaps buy and fit them a safe.  Don’t lecture them like they are not fit for the modern world.

That’s crap footflaps, burglary is never pleasant. At least you can now have ‘the conversation’ and get things sorted before they get burgled again and possibly lose the lot.

How old do I have to be before doing this stuff? Cash in socks would never have occurred to me.

My uncle who is 68 has over £50k stashed around his bungalow! Been doing it all his adult life from what my mum says. Says he doesn’t trust the banks not to steal his money. This is despite him getting into trouble when the Council inspector came round and found £10k in the attic, not for having the cash there but that he didn’t declare it on his benefits form. When my nan passed away and he inherited another £50k he tried to get the solicitor to give it him in cash as he didn’t want it going near his bank account, that was quickly stopped by my mum but we know he has now taken it all out and it’s stashed somewhere. That’s in addition to the original £50k+ by the way. To make it worse he lives like a pauper, won’t out the heating on, wears the cheapes clothes he can find until they literally fall apart, always busy the discounted food etc. People locally think he’s struggling to get by and take him round food out of pity, he’s even had people think he’s homeless when out and about. Won’t see sense and will be like that until he drops dead.

My dad made me something similar under my wardrobe when I was a kid. Totally forgotten about it until now!

I once read about a community college that was gifted an old piano. During a retune they found 633 gold sovereigns and 260 1/2 sovereigns hidden inside it. Coins were dated from the late 19th century to 1915. It was never claimed

When my wife’s grandparents died we had to go though every draw, sock, nook and cranny of the house looking for stashes when we were clearing the house. Mother in-law was convinced they had stashed thousands throughout the house. We found about £30 in loose change.

The house has since been completely remodeled so I’m guessing the new owners found all the notes 🤔😜

My grandpa was the same. They had a small safe in the house which they’d put a few bits and pieces in – a watch he was given when he retired which my grandma was convinced was worth a fortune (it wasn’t) and various other tat – but they were TERRIBLE with cash.

There were notes stashed in all sorts of random places and once we went out for the day and he took a manila envelope of cash (about £3000) out of the safe and put it in his jacket pocket, walked around with it all day. Said it felt safer there than in the safe – the safe buried in the wall and hidden behind a picture with a complicated combination lock. My Mum went absolutely ballistic at him when she found out – he’d pulled the envelope from his jacket pocket “to check it was still there” and dropped it, she’d picked it up for him and was like “err, what’s this?!”.

Honestly, any mugger would have had a field day with him, there were forever notes stashed around his person, falling out of his pockets… Every time he went into town he’d withdraw another £300 from the cash machine (didn’t trust those banks) and about £250 would find its way home (he’d have dropped the rest en route from pockets) and then end up stashed in vases and under the bed and in the desk drawer.

Good question – maybe we need a STW poll – Do you hide cash in socks and what is your age…

And as a fully survey to check if it’s a regional quirk, your postcode and do you lock your windows? 😜

But old people are nuts for it, my grandparents were the same. My grandad had had a business, with an amount of cash going in and out. When he could draw his state pension he didn’t ‘need’ the money as he had cash in the house already 🤦‍♂️. But so as not to raise suspicion, he still went and withdrew his entire pension out in cash so they could see he was ‘using his pension’ so that got added to the sock draw, sideboard stash each week. There was 10’s thousands at the point we found it. Had a talk with them, but they never changed.

I don’t know anyone rich enough to keep money in socks. We certainly don’t have any to hideaway around the house. We get paid; we pay the bills and eat; after a month we repeat.

Awful for your folks ops. Invasion of privacy is the worst bit. When I was a kid our house was burgled 3 times in 3 years. Turns out the burglar had decided to target us. First time just after we’d moved in so lots of stuff boxed up. On his 4th ‘visit’ our neighbours son managed to accost him and he was arrested. That’s when he fessed up to having done the prev 3

Apart from a stash of Euros that I haven’t used the last 5 times I’ve been to Europe because they went cashless before we did.

Yeah, i have about £300 worth of NOK and the same again of SEK that my dad (75) brought over the last three or four times he visited, and never spent. Christ knows what he was going to spend £400 worth of NOK on seeing as he was arriving in Oslo to collect a prepaid hire car, then driving south, cross the border about an hour later. Then doing the same in reverse a fortnight later. He’s also an accountant with basically 50 years experience and spent the last ~10 years of his career bringing a university of some 50000 students/staff into the 21st century.

I’ve also got about 100 quids worth of Euros that a friend brought over before realising we don’t use Euros in Sweden.

really weird break in – almost identical to one I have seen via a conservatory. Screw driver used to pry around a metal patio door. Drawers emptied and searched behind but laptops ipads watches all left behind. Property also had an alarm. This was a about 5 years ago.

Drawers emptied and searched behind but laptops ipads watches all left behind

Identical to a colleagues burglary I dealt with a few years back – cash, cards, jewelry were all they were after. Left his laptop, playstation etc.

I have £10 stashed in my bike packing kit, if you find me dead on a hill its in the tool bottle with the tick twister and midge repellant!

My great uncle used to get his pension in pound coins and put it in those giant whiskey bottles you get in pubs had about 8 in his cupboard when he died!!

I suppose laptops, jewellery etc are traceable and need to be fenced to turn into cash. “Find my device” is a thing these days also, maybe it’s too great a risk?