Repurpose This Empty Bathroom Staple To Protect Your Money While Traveling

When it comes to exploring new places, you can never be too careful. Theft has become a major problem for travelers, even in spots you deem safe. Part of being a responsible traveler is staying vigilant at all times and making sure that your valuables are well protected. After all, the last thing you want is an incident of theft to spoil your trip.

"The number one issue that's going to be faced in this vertical of traveler loss theft is going to be pickpocketing," Kevin Coffey, a retired detective who has worked with the Los Angeles Police Department, shared with CNN. "And it's going to be one of two ways: one, it comes out of your pocket itself, and the other is going to be coming out of a bag that you're carrying." A great way to protect your belongings, especially your cards and cash, is divvying them up in various places. Putting all your eggs in one basket is a no-no in traveling because it would only take a single case of pickpocketing to wipe you of all your money.

While there's nothing wrong with carrying a standard wallet around, it's better if you have some cash stashed in a number of your belongings. You can even get creative to make it seem inconspicuous. One trick is to repurpose stuff you already carry, like an empty deodorant stick.

We sometimes forget that the most useful things are already in front of us. Sure, you can purchase an anti-theft bag or wallet for good measure, but if you don't want an unnecessary purchase just to hide your spare cash, all you need is an almost empty deodorant stick. You can scrape the remaining product and use the container to stash your cash. It's roomy enough to fit a handful of bills, and you can even squeeze in pieces of jewelry, cards, and other tiny items. If not an empty deodorant, you can make use of any toiletry bottle. Once everything is stashed away, mix it in the deodorant stick with the rest of your belongings. Nobody will suspect that it's packed with cash.

However, if you want to hide money and keep it closer to you, you can always do the age-old trick of hiding cash in your shoe or inside your sock. If you wear bras, those are useful for safekeeping money, too. You may even want to assemble a dummy or fake wallet to trick thieves at places with high pickpocketing rates. When traveling, the most important thing to remember is to keep cash in multiple spots, and more often than not, the best storage is things hiding in plain sight.