Small safe / lockbox for home

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Small safe / lockbox for home - recommendations?

timmmay

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#284680 10-May-2021 09:30

We're considering getting some kind of safe / lockbox / something else for home to store a few things. We want to keep medication away from our 4 year old, locked with a key or combination rather than just at the back of a cupboard and out of reach. We might put a couple of things like passports and jewelry in there as well. Probably looking at something the size of a hotel safe, maybe a touch bigger. Something that's fairly quick to get into for daily use.

It'd be nice if we could attach it to the floor to prevent it being stolen, but that's not critical. If we attach a small safe to a wood floor any thieves could easily just cut around it. We have one small area with a concrete floor that we might be able to attach it to.

Any suggestions for a product that might be suitable?

wellygary

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#2704277 10-May-2021 09:49

If your primary reason is to store medicine away from small children then I think a digital safe is overkill....

I'm using a Plastic toolbox from Bunnings with a small 3 digit padlock to keep our kids out of things they shouldn't be near....works a treat

timmmay

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#2705268 10-May-2021 10:38

Good point. We'll probably keep it in the office in case medicine is needed in the night without waking people, and don't want it in the back of a cupboard as that will make access more difficult, so something that looks ok would be good. A safe just seemed like a multi-purpose device that would look ok and be easy enough to access.

rogercruse

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#2705311 10-May-2021 11:23

Bunnings and Mitre10 both sell a range of safes that are easy enough to install.

While no security is ever perfect, it will deter or slow down most thieves who simply want to get in-and-out quickly.

timmmay

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#2705445 10-May-2021 12:36

rogercruse:

Bunnings and Mitre10 both sell a range of safes that are easy enough to install.

While no security is ever perfect, it will deter or slow down most thieves who simply want to get in-and-out quickly.

Thanks, Bunnings have a good range, we'll go have a look. Was looking for recommendations or thoughts as well as just what's available.

Eva888

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#2705464 10-May-2021 12:55

Medicines in a plastic box up high unreachable by a kid on a chair is sufficient. No locks. 'Honey where’s the key, or, forgotten the padlock key or number.' Jewellery if expensive can be well hidden somewhere innocent, box marked receipts with a few dockets on top etc. A thief looks for the obvious and a small carry out safe might be putting temptation in full view. Worse case...someone breaks in and threatens you to open the safe.

Chances are nothing will ever happen so keep it simple. You can bury the gold bars under a tree :)

timmmay

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#2705470 10-May-2021 12:59

My wife isn't very tall (like 5 feet tall), and because of situation / house layout we want to keep medication easily accessible but protected. So I think locked is important for us. I think we'll probably just find a small safe or lockbox type thing at the hardware store.

shk292

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#2705487 10-May-2021 13:27

I bought a small hotel safe from Bunnings to store items that need to be locked away separately from certain other items. I prefer combination locks because if there’s a key, it needs to be hidden and could be found. It seems to work fine, very quick to lock and unlock even with a seven digit code, i.e. much less fiddly than combination padlocks.

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timmmay

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#2705492 10-May-2021 13:32

shk292: I bought a small hotel safe from Bunnings to store items that need to be locked away separately from certain other items. I prefer combination locks because if there’s a key, it needs to be hidden and could be found. It seems to work fine, very quick to lock and unlock even with a seven digit code, i.e. much less fiddly than combination padlocks.

Thanks :) Some of the small hotels safes are so poor that dropping them on the floor opens them! Mostly the Jobmate ones from M10 according to reviews. Yale from Bunnings is probably better.

esawers

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#2705493 10-May-2021 13:32

My kids both have the coloured Yale $50 safes from Bunnings

Combination lock, comes with 2 backup keys in case you forget the code.

Run by AA batteries I think, which we haven't had to replace yet after 3 years.

It has holes in the bottom or the back for bolting to something.

(They use them to hide lollies, occasionally money, but mostly to take the backup keys from my wardrobe, and change each others pin codes to taunt each other).

neb

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#2705768 10-May-2021 20:51

Eva888: A thief looks for the obvious and a small carry out safe might be putting temptation in full view.

That's why you put actual temptation in full view: A (dead/old) laptop, a few $20 bills wrapped around some bill-sized plastic to make it look like there's many of them, and a pill bottle labelled Tramadol with some random white tablets in it. If anyone does break in they'll think they've hit the jackpot and won't look too much further.

If you're using those battery-powered keypad safes for "security" be aware that most of them are fairly easy to open since they use a solenoid-operated catch so all you need to do is give them a good jolt to mimic the action of the solenoid.

timmmay

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#2705774 10-May-2021 21:20

Yeah there wouldn't be anything really valuable, mostly to keep things away from the toddler. I know someone who has a safe that's in a visible place, but with their actual valuables stored somewhere obscure.