- Cash ISAs or not
- Make money from household chores
- Moneymagpie.com the website that gives you a richer life
- Make money from lost luggage
- Show me the money
- Free money

Sales of safes are on the rise as people are pulling their cash out of their bank accounts to stash it in their homes. The Moneymagpies firmly suggest that you don’t pull your money but if you’ve lost all faith in the banks here are the ways you can manage your money without putting it in the hands of your local bank manager.

Better be safe than sorry

The classic place to stash your cash is in a safe. Iron safes are affordable and secure. The standard variety can be installed in basements and cellars and bolted to a concrete floor. They don’t have to be huge vaults, a small security safe can fit on a shelf in your office and cost as little as £39 including delivery.

However if you want the serious stuff to protect your cash, you can easily spend thousands. A medium sized safe will set you back around £300.

Other safes are a bit more cunning. Many are designed not only to keep your cash safe, but also to keep it hidden. This small items safe (http://www.thesafeshop.co.uk/products/double-plug-socket-safe.html) fits in the wall and looks like a plug socket – enough to outwit even the cleverest of thieves. Alternatively, try this tiny safe (http://www.thesafeshop.co.uk/products/heinz-tomato-soup-safe-can.html) that looks like a can of Heinz tomato soup!

Safe deposit boxes

Safe deposit boxes are essentially mini-safes with the added bonus of the high-security protection provided by your bank or safe deposit company. Storing items of value or cash in these boxes carries significantly less risk than storing them in your own home and the bank or company who store them will also be jointly liable should anything be stolen.

You can store anything in them you like and you have full privacy, so no one else has to know what you put in there. At Metropolitain Safe Deposits in London there are different sizes of box ranging in price from around £125 per year for the small boxes (50×280x229mm) up to as much as £2,065 per year for the largest (640×610x458mm).

If the bank in which your box is stored folds, your cash is safe. This is because it is simply stored by the bank, not invested. It is physically in the building rather than just a few numbers on a spread sheet.

Turn your cash into assets

Although storing your cash in a safe deposit box protects it from thieves, it does not protect it against inflation and you could potentially lose a lot of money if your savings are just sitting in the box untouched.

Get around pesky inflation by converting your cash into assets by buying things that will retain or hopefully grow in value.

During a recession, the popularity for buying gold goes through the roof. This is because it is viewed as a stable investment. You can actually buy gold bars and store them in your house, a safe deposit box or the facility offered by the company you purchase them from.

Another fairly safe bet for investment is oil. The price of oil has been falling recently, but it is a finite resource which means that as supplies dwindle, the price of it will rise. You can buy commodities like oil as part of an Exchange Trade Fund – get more info in our full article here.

Investing in property might not seem like a good idea considering the recent drop in house prices. However, with many willing to slash their asking prices in order to secure a sale, and mortgage rates low for those with a good size deposit to put down, now is a good time to buy.

The housing market will recover eventually, but until it does your cash will at least be invested in an area that will track inflation. Once we have got through this tough economic time, you’ll be able to sell off your property, hopefully for a tidy profit.

See our guide to getting a housing bargain here.

If you don’t have enough cash for big investments, there are purchases you can make a bit closer to home that should help you retain the value of your cash. Designer clothing is a favourite for many. Classic pieces from brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and more actually grow in value the longer you own them. The key is to think simple and classy, don’t pay out for crazy neon colours and huge shoulder pads that are unlikely to come back into fashion later on.

With all assets, there is no guarantee that the value will go up: risk is inherent when investing.

Offset mortgages

Possibly one of the most practical things to do if you do not want to store your savings in the bank is to put them into an offset mortgage.

Offset mortgages bundle up your current account, savings account and your mortgage into one product. This means that any credit in your current or savings accounts is ‘offset’ against your mortgage.

If you've got lots of savings you will pay less interest on your mortgage if you get an offset deal, because your savings are technically paying off a chunk of your mortgage. However if you need money, you can still access your savings as they still technically belong to you and not the bank.

If your bank goes bust, you won’t lose your savings as they will be incorporated into the part of your house you own.

Offset deals are a bit more expensive than fixed rate mortgages simply because they are more flexible. However they are good for lots of people. For more information see our friendly mortgage guide here.