I don't wear jewelry much except for my newly acquired Apple watch so most pieces are in a secure facility.

I would suggest you add a bolted-into-the-foundation safe in your home or garage. A determined thief could get to it, but your average smash-and-grab miscreant probably wouldn't bother.

I have a simple yellow gold Carrier love wedding band and tortoise hoops, and honestly they both seem right to me for all occasions, seasons and outfits. But I too have started making an effort to wear what I have, which is a lot.

I have two jewelry boxes. One is walnut and my dad made it for me so it has sentimental value. The other is a pale aqua pebbled leather. They are both on a waist-high shelf in a closet that can be locked, though we are on a private road in a very safe area and rarely lock anything.

Unless you really have reason to believe there is a high risk of loss, having it and not wearing it is, to me, like not using the good crystal because you might break it. My Mom always taught me to use the good stuff. All of it. A few sterling silver spoons have gone down the disposal, but other than that I am amazed at the good condition of most of my belongings.

Moreover, the idea of protecting something because it is valuable ... well the second hand market for most valuable stuff is not that attractive. The vintage value today in most cases is far less than what was paid (not to mention inflation), but even that is what a dealer would *sell* it for.... what he'd pay is peanuts in so many cases. So enjoy it all!

To be fair, I never mentioned concerns about $ value. I should have elaborated - real, vintage, not easily replaced and has sentimental value.

I agree that in the grand scheme of things, losing a $1,000 watch isn't a tragedy. However, I would be extremely disappointed if it vanished because it was a gift from my DH and I've had it for 35+ years.

So, there are multiple reasons for my impulse to tuck it away, the least concern is the actual or perceived dollar value.

Most of my jewelry lives in stackable, velvet lined trays that I store in a cabinet in my bathroom. It’s pretty accessible, but I still tend to wear the same things for everyday.

Understood, when you said "real" I thought you were talking about monetary value.

I guess my advice still stands though. Take reasonable precautions but wear it and enjoy and and remember the stories behind them all!

Hidden in an unlikely place.For my fancier items that I might use once a year, in a safe deposit box.

MTN, a good friend had all of her good jewelry stolen. Her husband always said that with all the very large homes around them, why would anyone break in ti their modest home? Well they did. They left the empty boxes open to show what they took and left a few costume pieces.

They now have an alarm.

For me, my jewelry is sentimental. It would make my blood boil to have it stolen.

Most of my stuff is in stacked suede lined trays in my top closet drawer. I have two items that live in a safe bolted into the studs of the closet wall. I often wear them together,not often, and never forget about them. They got out a lot on the Queen Mary; I hesitated over taking them (bracelet and necklace) but wore them more in those three weeks than I did the twelve months before.

I wear different jewelry every day, and when I see I am defsulting to something I make an effort to look through and pick something else. I have 23 bands for my Apple watch (because it is not intrinsically cute, it needs help!) and change it almost every day also. It’s fun!

Our late beloved housekeeper’s drug addicted daughter stole all my crosses and two diamond pendants about twenty two years ago. We never were able to track down where she pawned them and of course she was never again allowed near our home again. HK offered to reimburse me for them but I knew she didn’t realize what the cost would be and it was not her fault anyway. HK continued to work for us but that’s when we put in a safe and gave her a rotating code for our home entry gate.

It's not that hard to install a safe somewhere easy to access if you are fearful of theft. We have two. Peace of mind.

KSWL, so sorry, that is terrible for everyone. The poor Mom.

My mother always said (and my dad for that matter) that if you couldn't afford having something happen to it, you probably shouldn't have it in the first place. And she also meant this in terms of emotionally, not just financially.

I don't have a solution. I just purchased a very tiny 18K bracelet I wear everyday, haven't taken it off. I expect to wear it out. We have a walk-in vault with a very heavy metal safe inside. I wear a LOT of my collection daily. It's a pain to rotate pieces out of the vault...

I'm with eld. Mine is not all in one place, but it's so well hidden among some ordinary things that even I forget what is where.

I remember very well though, that my mother put "costume jewelry" in a jewelry box that I used to look through. Then she had a dresser drawer where she put all the other stuff she wore. She used to say she deliberately tossed them in because iit would look like all junk.

Yes, my parents were robbed probably about 45 years ago, and yes, the thieves went to the drawer and took only the good stuff. They did not take all the contents. The only truly irreplaceable thing was a cameo brooch which came from the old country. We used to think it was really gaudy because it was larger than the cameos we wore back in high school, and the woman was wearing a diamond ( chip) necklace. This was the only piece of jewelry from the

(very poor) family.

We don’t have a safe. I also don’t have much that’s irreplaceable. No ”family jewels” here. My two most expensive things — my wedding band and a tennis bracelet — are on my body at all times. I do have one pair of diamond studs purchased in Zurich that were very pricey, but hardly worth buying a safe for one pair of earrings.

Anyway, I know myself — if I had jewelry locked up, it would stay locked up. I’d never think to wear it.

My house was broken into before we were married. They grabbed everything. Most of what they got was costume, but they one thing they did get was a platinum cross set with 12 diamonds that were side stones from my grandmother's wedding/engagement ring. I wore it for my high school and college graduations and would have worn it at my wedding as a reminder of her (she passed just a few years before). That was the one I had a hard time getting over. I hope my grandmother haunted them.

But I do get a chuckle that they stole my first computer, nicknamed the boat anchor. Big chunky box with a cube monitor with a monochrome screen. My dad bought it for his office and had used it to the point of replacement. The only thing I used it for was working on drafting documents I brought home from work -- on a 5 inch floppy disc, and only saved to the disc. I wonder if they enjoyed waiting for that C prompt to appear -- and then find out there was NOTHING more there and it wasn't worth much either. I think it had a whopping 16 MB of memory. And it wasn't a Mac - just a boat anchor.

So, where do I keep my jewelry now? In several places, too many places. It's hard to find what I want now. I broke it up after my wedding ring and my mother's both went missing. I believe someone I used to know intended to sell them, but they were returned. When we redo our bathroom and closet, I am going to work out something better.

I keep mine in a drawer. I only have a few pieces of value and I’m usually wearing a lot of it. I’ve never been concerned about theft. It’s insured and the only thing of sentimental value are my wedding rings and I’m usually wearing those.

My mother always said (and my dad for that matter) that if you couldn't afford having something happen to it, you probably shouldn't have it in the first place. And she also meant this in terms of emotionally, not just financially.

Disagree with that entirely. 🤷‍♀️ It’s not as though I could go back to great aunt Sarah and tell her I don’t want that bracelet because someday something might happen to it so I’d better not have anything around of hers that I might get attached to.

At our last home we had our locksmith install a safe inside a closet. We were going to replace the tile floor anyway so we took the opportunity to have him jackhammer a hole in the slab, recess a safe in the floor and fill around it with concrete. We kept passports, credit cards and jewelry in it. It was easy to hide with a boot tray.

When we moved into this home we had a water and fire proof safe installed. It's bolted to the slab floor and large enough for my jewelry box and important folders. I keep everything of value in there, except pearls. They shouldn't be stored in a dry environment where they might dry out. They should be worn and exposed to air and humidity. They're in a felt lined divided tray in my closet. Costume and bridge jewelry are in my closet on a chest of drawers.

I wear jewelry every day, sometimes changing pieces depending on what we're doing. I always wear my diamond eternity band (sometimes with my solitaire). It's very easy to open the safe, take what I want out and then lock it back up. Yes I am protecting my valuables but I also wear them. I may leave a few pieces out if I plan on wearing them the next day. But if I leave the house they get locked up again. It only takes a moment and I feel better about it. Everything is insured so I'm not unnecessarily concerned about the monetary value - there are only 2 pieces that my mother gave me - but I would really hate to lose it all. Plus my insurance company gives a discount on my Collections policy for using a secure safe.

We're in a very safe area - but even then one of my neighbors had her jewelry sitting on her nightstand with the window open and she was gone for the afternoon. One of the landscapers hired by the HOA to mow the lawn saw an easy opportunity. He removed the screen and took the jewelry.

My Mother kept her jewelry in an empty Estee Lauder powder jar in her bathroom.

For the most part I tend to trust people but I still don't leave valuables sitting around.

This is similar to the box I use.

Actually this started me thinking.We keep important documents in a bank safe, but we do have a gun safe in the house (DH) and while it is mostly for that purpose, we do put extra credit cards and extra (emergency) cash there. I think we started that with thoughts of Y2K. The gun safe is so heavy that when we moved, it was an ordeal even for the movers. I'm not talking about some little end table size thing- this is massive.

We used to have a large bank safe dposit box but scaled down to a smaller one. Now I'm thinking that maybe we should give that up and use the gun safe for everything.

It sure is not easy to open- I break out in a sweat when I have to do the combo and always hope I don't need anything in a hurry.:lol

Thank you for all your thoughtful replies.

I think I am going to hide the most precious things and put the rest on display in my closet. Hopefully having a visual display will remind me to check the hidden things too. Now i just have to find a fun jewelry display stand or something similar!

I have this ”bureau” and the little drawers on top are where I keep earrings and bracelets. I stuffed little cardboard jewelry boxes inside the drawers for low-budget organization.

My necklaces are hung from little hooks just inside my closet door so they are at eye level when I’m picking out clothes. I have them roughly organized from delicate to chunky, short to long.

I am of Indian descent (the country, not Native American). Like most Indians, I have a large quantity of real jewelry (solid 22k gold, diamonds, gems) and most of it has huge sentimental value in addition to the monetary value -- they are from my mother who died when I was around 11 years old and my mother-in-law who gave me a second chance at having a mother. I do have a bank locker for many of the real ornate pieces that I never wear. The simpler jewelry, I have found a way to incorporate into my work look. These, I keep at home and do give a visual check from time to time.

I am told, with some anecdotal evidence that this fact about Indian households is known among professional robbers in cities with a large Indian population. I'd prefer to keep most of the stuff in the bank locker, but then I'm likely to never wear them. So, this compromise.

It’s not as though I could go back to great aunt Sarah and tell her I don’t want that bracelet because someday something might happen to it so I’d better not have anything around of hers that I might get attached to.

That's not really what she meant, she had, and I have now a number of pieces of jewelry that go back to my great-great grandmother, and she wore the bracelets a lot. And I have a lot of silver, and we use it. It's all sentimental, and some of it is valuable. Anybody who knows my feeling about getting rid of things knows that I have a house crammed full of things of sentimental value.

But I had a great aunt who hocked a lot of things my mother was supposed to get(some jewelry, a fair amount of silver, an aunt who lost the entire box of studio photos of my grandmother's family from the 1890s-1910 (a hundred at least.) An aunt who lost my mother's wedding dress. Things like that.

She always said that it was best to never attach a memory or feeling too much to an object because it was only an object. And really it should be used however it was meant to be used.

You're not careless, but on the other hand, you aren't attached to an inanimate object.

And my dad always said that if you can afford to drive a $100,000 car (he did not, we always had normal cars), you can afford to treat it like a car and not straddle two parking spaces or be weird about normal wear and tear.

I really only have maybe a few pieces, including my wedding/engagement ring, that are worth anything at all. Most of my jewelry is just in a simple jewelry box. I think the only item I'd be really upset about losing would be my ring so that might be a different scenario than you have.

I used to have everything in a few different small boxes but it was so disorganized and hard to find anything.

In all honesty, I hardly ever wear jewelry anymore. I have some daily earrings (white gold, not worth anything) but I hardly ever get around to putting on any other jewelry.

My jewelry is mostly in a particular drawer. Other than a few rings and a couple of necklaces, i am not into diamonds/stones. My wedding set and a gemstone ring i wear on my left hand stay in my bedroom when not worn, i do not garden, clean, bathe, sleep etc wearing jewelry. If i am staying home, i dont even put on jewelry. I have alot of costume earrings and necklaces and several white gold or silver bracelets. I have my grandmothers diamond wedding band, a ring of my mothers plus my mom and my own baby bracelets. Years ago our house was broken into and my great grandmothers pearls were taken. ☹️ We now have a safe.

I actually am trying to figure out what do do with my jewelry while I'm working on plans for redoing my primary closet.

I want to have a jewelry area in the closet where I can store a lot of my rings/necklaces/bracelets/earrings - but I need to figure out how to store my more expensive (or sentimental) pieces.

Currently, I have most of my nice jewelry (any piece with a value over $4-5,000 or so + pieces I simply don't wear anymore and will reset into something I like or for a present for one of my daughters + a couple pieces that were my mom's before she passed) in a safe deposit box. However, I hate it because I rarely feel like going to grab something when I want to wear a particular piece(s). However, I've been having renovation projects completed at my house - and I don't trust contractors anymore.

I initially moved some pieces to a safe deposit box after I had several nice pieces stolen. I have a lot of rings (I love jewelry - especially rings - I think it's because I can look at them easily LOL) - and they were all stored in a walnut ring box (with velvet lining). The problem was that when I noticed that a specific ring was missing, I wasn't sure when it had happened because I hadn't worn it for awhile.

At first, I thought somehow it had been misplaced, but I am very careful with my things. I decided to look thoroughly through my ring box (it had a couple stacked ring holders "layers" + some space underneath. When I started looking through everything, I started noticing that other rings were missing (about eight in total - one was an emerald ring that was the last present from my nana before she passed away).

At the time, I was rarely wearing my yellow gold rings - and all of the ones that had been taken were yellow gold.

To make a long story short, the police detective in charge of the case was paying extra attention to it because he was good friends with my ex husband (my ex was a prosecutor for a long time). He wound up finding some items at a pawn shop that he thought might possibly be mine - and they were. However, we didn't recover the ring from my nana or another very nice ring.

The person who stole the items was a friend of one of my daughter's. My daughter wasn't really friends with her anymore - but she had come over to our house one afternoon with a mutual friend (the mutual friend was over trying on some of my daughter's formal dresses because she wanted to borrow one for prom). While my daughter was busy with her other friend in her bedroom, the former close friend went to get a drink - and apparently, stopped by my bedroom - and went through my jewelry box.

I think she only took the yellow gold ones because she wanted to make sure that she grabbed ones that were real gold and not silver. Luckily, she didn't go to the bottom of the ring box where I had some expensive pieces + skipped some white gold rings that were really nice.

I was shocked that some of the items were recovered. The detective said that there was only one pawn shop within a 20 -30 mile radius that wouldn't question why an 18 year old boy was pawning nice jewelry (the ex friend wasn't 18 = she couldn't pawn the jewelry herself).

My daughter's former close friend was going through a pretty tough time - her mom became addicted to drugs and her dad was terminally ill. She was living with her grandparents at the time - apparently, she had stolen quite a few pieces of her grandma's jewelry - and had another 18 year old boy pawn it for her.

I was thinking about having a safe hidden in the closet - but haven't decided yet.

Dani that is really a sad story. I understand how you feel about contractors and renovations. Even though we've used reputable contractors that had been recommended by good friends and were bonded and insured you still have random subs and delivery people coming into your home.

While we were building our get away place in NE PA someone came one weekend and stole seven exterior lamps right off the house. The day before the alarm system was scheduled to be activated someone broke in and stole all of DH's fishing equipment. Even our contractor thought it was someone who had been on the job site. And in the 30 years since we built it we haven't had one episode of stealing or trespassing.

When we renovated our previous home about 20 years ago DH was taking photos of the pipes and wiring between the studs before they were drywalled. He left his camera on the counter to answer the front door and a few hours later noticed it was missing. There had been at least 8 different people in and out that afternoon.

I briefly considered a safe deposit box but DH nixed that idea for just the reason you mentioned - who wants to go to the bank to pick up a piece of jewelry. Insurance companies do offer big savings on insured pieces if you keep them at the bank . At least my company does, but when you want to take a piece out you have to notify the insurance company and then pay an increased rate until it's locked up again. I might consider it if I had some unique and valuable tiara or a multi-carat jewel encrusted necklace - but thankfully that's not a problem I have to consider.

We went to our local locksmith store for advice and to see what kind of safes they had in the store. They had models that could be installed between the studs but didn't recommend them unless we were going to install metal studs to make it more secure. We wanted a larger safe that could also hold some papers, passports and cash. They also had wall clocks with a hidden drawer on the back.

DH's grandfather was a police officer and he said to have a visible jewelry box as a decoy and hope that thieves would assume that's all there was. As a kid our next-door neighbor stored some cash in her freezer wrapped in foil - when when they lost power and had to toss everything she forgot it was there and threw out a couple hundred dollars. After that she kept cash in a coffee can in the back of her pantry.

@marie_cate -Thanks for passing on the info from your DH's grandfather - that seems like a good idea. I didn't think about the metal studs. I still don't know where to put the nice jewelry.

The situation with my daughter's former friend was really sad because she had spent A LOT of time at our house while she was dealing with her mom "disappearing" on and off - and we had become very close. However, I had a problem after discovering some stuff in her "overnight bag" in my daughter's room (I tripped over the bag when I went up there to set up the dvd player - and the bag had no zipper or any other type of closing mechanism - I would never look through someone's bag - and honestly, I never thought that she would have anything in her bag that would be an issue based upon the MANY discussions she had with me about her mom).

I discussed it with my daughter (I'm not the type of mom who believes that her children are complete angels - although I was 99.99% positive that my daughter wasn't doing drugs - especially in 8th grade). She looked shocked - because she and her friend had discussed drugs (and how they can ruin lives) several times because of her friend's mom.

Several weeks later, my daughter told me that her friend was now spending time with some older kids (who didn't attend the high school that they would attend the following year) - and that she was trying drinking quite a bit + had tried a couple other drugs (including taking some of her dad's pain meds). My daughter decided to cool down the friendship - and within a couple months, they weren't spending any time together outside of school.

The former friend wasn't prosecuted for the theft - when I spoke with the prosecutor (who worked with my ex husband), I told him that I wanted her to receive some substance abuse help + I just wanted my emerald ring back. He agreed to put her on diversion for the case - but also informed me that she was facing some other (more serious) criminal charges. FYI - it always bothers me when I'm watching a movie and the victim of a crime is asked if she/he/they want to file charges - that's not how it works. The state = prosecutor is the only one who decides whether to file charges or not.

It is really unfortunate how the professional, upstanding contractors have to deal with all of the distrust that has been created by the dishonest ones.

I can't believe that someone would steal seven exterior lights off your home! I guess they must have been some very nice light fixtures! It's really sad how people will invade your home and take your belongings. It makes you feel violated.

I have been dealing with some serious health issues - and I was away from my house for about 1 1/2 years - no attempted break-ins during this time. My neighborhood is very safe + I am close with my neighbors - especially the ones directly across the street. They all kept an eye on my home for me during this time (plus, I had an alarm system).

I had a contractor who hired a new employee - and didn't do a background check before sending him out on some jobs. He kept making excuses as to why he wasn't showing up at my house (after demoing two bathrooms) - and then I discovered some items were missing from my home. That's when I did a criminal search on him - I discovered that he had been in prison for NINE years (battery/assault/theft/aggravated attempted escape/etc.) He had only been out of prison for about six months. Unbelieveable. The contractor I hired had almost 300 Google reviews (4.8 stars) - and was very surprised when I informed him about his employees criminal record. How do you send someone into other people's homes without doing a background check??!!!

One other thought about hiding jewelry: make sure your loved one and/or heirs know where the jewelry is. My paternal grandmother had some lovely valuable rings. She was worried they would be stolen so she hid them on hangers in her closet. Unfortunately after her dementia worsened, she did not remember and when she was moved into a care facility, she did not tell anyone. After some time the family cleaned out her closet (obviously taking many clothing items with her) and threw away a pile of cheap metal hangers. Years later grandma remembered, but it was too late and the jewelry was gone.

What prickly said. And, if anything has special value, whether monetary or sentimental, make a note. I found some items when emptying my parents’ home that I would love to know, was this a graduation present, or whose initials are these, or was this Senior or Junior’s (same initials). and the little beaded purse with a penciled note in grandmother’s hand inside: ”I received this at the ball in New Orleans”. Immigrants in Chicago and they went to a ball in New Orleans? 1920-ish judging from the purse? I need more info!