My Secret Hollow Book Safe

Have I told about the project I am so proud of, yet it was so simple? I have a secret stash of silver coins and found gold rings hidden away in a hollow book that I made. I'm not crafty but I had always wanted one so I sat down and made one, one bright afternoon.

I bet you can't even tell which book it is on the shelf that holds my found gold rings and silver coins. But I keep the book on the shelf with the others and I love taking it down and adding more items to it, putting it back in with the other books and being so proud of myself. I think I could make 10 more of these.... hey, maybe I will make them as Christmas gifts!

I pulled out the box cutters, glue and a thick book that wasn't of interest to anyone and started cutting a square center out of the pages. If I ever do this again I will make sure I don't glue the pages together as that beautiful square starts looking pretty cruddy along the inside edges and not much like a square any longer. But lesson learned and we move on.

I also learned quickly that putting glue on the inside of the pages was good so that coins didn't slip in-between the pages and get lost. I just used Elmer's glue on the inside pages and on the outside pages and cut right from the first page down. Though if the book was even thicker, I could see starting about 10-15 pages down so you have a cover over the storage and not just the outer shell of the book.  Maybe even add Velcro to the outer book cover to keep it closed if it falls over... but then maybe that would make it stand out with that extra Velcro material.

I always liked those spy-like hideaways and this is something that allows me to re-use a book as storage and fulfills a second roll of a 'safe' for valuables. I like a 2 for 1 deal just as much as the next guy. It will also make a great gift idea because large books are cheap and the time it takes is just a few hours of work, so easy in fact it could be done with kids... who are safe with box cutters. 

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Again I wanted to bring your attention to the wonderfully creative, frugal and finance related ideas over at the Festival of Frugality 218 - If you are looking for more to read and get ideas, this is a great place to start.

If you like more personal experiences, Katy asks her readers, "what are you doing to live cheaply?" and gets quite a few responses that are from the common to the unusual.