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Everyday Ageism

Putting things in "a safe place" and then...

(41 Posts)
giulia Wed 01-Jun-22 09:17:35

I doubt anyone reading this is as daft as I am:

A few years ago, I crocheted two little curtains for my daughter's kitchen window which was a very awkward size.
The pattern was quite complex, with a vine and bunch of grapes down the centre. I completed it and had even found two small brass rods to hang them.

I then put them in a safe place. I don't remember why there was a delay in hanging them at the time. Anyway, when the day finally came, I couldn't find them anywhere. Searched high and low over the following months. Was heartbroken. It had been a work of love.

Eventually, we all forgot about them. My daughter has now moved house.

Yesterday, at least five years later, while doing some serious clearing out, I came across them (in my mother's old tapestry sewing bag of all places!).

Neither my daughter nor I have a window of the right size anymore. Nor would it go with her very modern house style.

Have any of you ever put something in a safe place and not found it for YEARS?!

Ali08 Thu 19-Oct-23 21:45:15

Elegran

DillytheGardener While we were clearing out my late uncle's house, we were emptying the bookcase, and from sheer habit I shook each book as I lifted it. One of them (a very slim and rather battered paperback on the care of orchids - one which even the charity shop would probably have binned - scattered £200 from between its pages. We took extra care with the rest, but that was the only cache.

Did you check the spines, too? People stuff all sorts down those!

B9exchange Tue 25-Jul-23 22:37:43

We lost the keys to the summerhouse and shed, searched everywhere, in the end had to call our a locksmith who charged £200 for new locks and keys. A couple of years later we came across an old glasses case, young grandson had put them in there!

I put the hard drive backup for my laptop in a 'safe place' when we go away. Always trouble finding it later, so now I take a pic of it on my phone so I can look where it is and locate it when we get back.

Primrose53 Tue 25-Jul-23 21:54:40

My friend lost a big bunch of keys. Housekeys, car keys, various fobs, summerhouse keys etc it was a big hefty bunch.
She was convinced they were in the house otherwise she could not have got in but we searched and searched with no luck. She had been down her garden so wondered if someone had come in the front door and stolen the keys.

She got all the locks changed and a few days later found the keys. They were under the microwave where she had not looked as the gap was so tiny. We think as she dropped them on the worktop they settled themselves almost flat and slid under the appliance. Chances of that happening?

CrochetBliss Tue 25-Jul-23 21:42:21

Yes, lost many books and magazines that way.

Please post a photograph of the curtains flowers

oldwoman69 Mon 30-Jan-23 13:01:26

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

HettyBetty Sat 11-Jun-22 23:18:33

When clearing my aunt's house, which she had lived in for nearly 60 years, we found a small box of jewellery hidden away which must have been put there by the previous owners. We had no way of tracing their family so I gave it all to a charity - who got a couple of hundred pounds for it.

Granny23 Sat 11-Jun-22 22:56:07

I have a box file which is identical to my other files except for its label. Everything which needs to be in a safe place is stored within the box and there is a card recording the location of items too big for the box. Works most of the time.

Yammy Sat 11-Jun-22 22:30:41

Not quite the same but still a safe place. A few years ago we were burgled and I asked the police where was a spot burglers never looked.They suggested the fire box as we had an open fire.
Going on holiday I put what little jewellery we had left in a plastic bag put it in the fire box and laid the fire on top.
When we came home I found my DH about to put the fire on and just in time told him what I had done with the jewellery.
My father inherited gold cufflinks collar studs and collar stiffeners. He put them in a safe place and never found them. Years later when cleaning out my mothers house I found an old tin in the loft that said a present from Dumfries on it and it rattled,there were the cufflinks etc. When I told mum she had a good laugh because my father never liked visiting Dumfries.

Shel69 Sat 11-Jun-22 17:33:32

Story of my life, I put it down to having too many possessions now, I was much better at knowing where I put stuff when I was younger and had very little,when clothes got out of fashion I got rid of them, now I hold onto them and don't care about the latest fads, chocolate is my main problem, I find it when it's gone white ,luckily my husband puts paperwork in labelled folders because once I put them somewhere the fairies take them never to be seen again

Oldwoman70 Fri 03-Jun-22 06:46:50

My late DH liked to keep money hidden in safe places around the house. 8 years after he died I decided to sell up and checked a small space in the garage roof - found a tin containing £400. Another safe place was the skirting under the kitchen cupboards which contained another £100. The strange thing is we had a very large safe!

Beautful Fri 03-Jun-22 06:28:53

A safe place ? Often put things in a safe place , only to forget where it is ! My head is like a sieve & the holes are getting bigger ? ... as long as you don't forget where you put your phone , put a message on it , or write in a book ... although can put their is a code ... obviously don't forget what it means !!!

Catterygirl Fri 03-Jun-22 01:25:01

I have heard of many hiding places, mainly books, but then bags of cash in the freezer and money cellotaped to the underside of drawers. I have a good memory but prefer to have few valuables in the house. Have no valuables anyway.

nandad Thu 02-Jun-22 22:41:09

Not the same but, friend’s husband put a very expensive watch in a shoe for safe keeping and wedged it with a sock. Friend put the shoes in a charity bag as he never wore them. Unfortunately as he seldom wore the watch either it was a long time before he discovered what had happened. She blames him for using the sock as it meant the watch didn’t move when she picked up the shoes!

Georgesgran Thu 02-Jun-22 22:18:11

Same here Grammaretto. DH took our house deeds to show to neighbours over a parking dispute (not ours, but it showed boundaries). I can picture the envelope they’re in, I can see the writing on the front, but can I Hell as like find it, even though I’ve been through all DH’s stuff, which was all meticulously filed and labeled.
Apparently it’s all online anyway, but it’s got me really puzzled,

Floradora9 Thu 02-Jun-22 21:36:17

I had an uncle who liked a drink and also a bet. He came home one night having had a rreally good win and a good drink and hid his money. It was never found even after they moved house. It was thought he had put it up the chimney and someone lit a fire later on .

Grammaretto Thu 02-Jun-22 08:16:20

DH used to deliberately "hide" money inside books. Elegran His favourites were books which were not the sort people would choose to browse through such as a biography of Maggy Thatcher as she was a notable "housekeeper" and his cash would be safe with her.

I lost my wedding ring quite soon after we were married. It turned up in a pile of dust on our Wedding Anniversary when I was clearing out the garage prior to putting the house on the market - several years later. I had literally struck gold!

Now I cannot find the deeds of the house. I know they are somewhere but have been searching intermittently for over a year.

Auntieflo Wed 01-Jun-22 16:57:37

I have a pearl necklace that DH bought for me before we were married. It was quite 'dressy', and so only worn about three times. One of the strings broke, and I put it all into a gold and black striped bag. Can I find it! No! Still looking.

lixy Wed 01-Jun-22 16:22:19

My MiL had several 'safe places' though they were open secrets in the family.
The back door key was kept on a nail on a piece of wood in a plant pot under the third apple tree on the left from the back door, and woe betide the person who forgot to put it back!

Redhead56 Wed 01-Jun-22 15:10:47

I have on a few occasions stashed money and earrings. I have found money but sadly never found the earrings again.
My husband forgot where he put a special watch. Two years later he came across it by sheer chance in a box file where he kept old documents.

ixion Wed 01-Jun-22 14:53:49

So safe, we forgot it was there!
Yup, £££ that old! Bank, here we come.

DillytheGardener Wed 01-Jun-22 13:41:20

Elegran what a bit of luck that you did check! I’m glad I’m not the only one hoarding money in books. DH said I was daft, but left anywhere else he would have pinched it for odds and ends ?

grandtanteJE65 Wed 01-Jun-22 13:37:18

I cannot remember all the things my mother put in a safe place and that turned up years after they had been needed.

My safe place was a glass fronted bookcase, but now that we have no longer got it, I decided not to have more than one safe place. The trouble is not remembering where it is, but remembering to put things in it!

MrsKen33 Wed 01-Jun-22 13:31:42

When we went on holiday in the 60s I would hide the Child benefit books. That way when we came home we had some money for the following weeks. I couldn’t find them one time.6 months later I found them in an old jewellery box. 6 months money in one go. It was great.

annodomini Wed 01-Jun-22 13:30:37

In the process of de-cluttering, I have come across many 'safe places' and discovered, for example, £25 in outdated form and a book of Christmas stamps from goodness-knows how long ago. And I discovered my Kenya driving licence from the 1960s. Years ago, I 'lost' my passport and made a hasty trip to Liverpool passport office - in those days they were incredibly obliging. What did I find in my 'safe place' as soon as I got home with my new passport? Need I say more?

giulia Wed 01-Jun-22 12:19:09

Oh dear!! Some of these stories are quite tragic/ hilarious.

At least I am reassured in not being the only one to be so daft.
"Kiss of death" as Midgey said so well. But, what to do?