What Should You Keep in a Safe at Home – Matched to Fire Ratings

What to keep in a safe at home – the short list

A home safe should hold items that are hard to replace and that you may need on a day the bank is closed. The table adds the fire rating each one needs.

The video below walks through a similar list for a small fire box.

Home safe or safe deposit box – where each document belongs

Ask two questions about each item: will I need it within a day, and can it be replaced? Needed fast and hard to replace goes in the home safe. Rarely needed but hard to replace goes to the bank. Easy to replace needs neither.

The FDIC names originals of birth certificates, property deeds, car titles and paper U.S. savings bonds as good bank-box candidates. It also warns that a home safe “isn’t a true replacement” for one, since a burglar can reach it more easily. Our rule: keep a copy of anything stored in one place at the other. Who can open a bank box after a death depends on state law, so that is a question for your attorney, not for us.

Match what you keep in a safe to its fire rating

Paper and digital media fail at very different temperatures, so the fire class on the label decides what is safe inside. A Class 350 safe must keep its interior at or below 350°F for the rated time, which is meant for paper. Class 125 must stay at or below 125°F and 80% humidity, the level a fire-safe dealer, SafetyFile, describes as the point at which digital media is ruined.

So a USB stick in a paper-rated box may not survive a fire its neighbors do. Check who stands behind the number: a UL Classified rating is an outside lab’s test, an ETL mark is Intertek’s, and “fireproof” with no lab named is a manufacturer claim. Our guide on whether safes are really fireproof explains how to read the label.

The rating is also a time limit in a fire. US fire departments respond to an estimated average of 328,590 home structure fires a year, according to NFPA. One r/HomeImprovement reply warns that “Even if the safe is found after a fire, the contents are usually baked to flash point”. That is why we keep a scanned copy off-site too.

From our notes: A passport, a will and a USB stick looked like one pile until we sorted them by the 350°F and 125°F limits. Most top lists we read put “digital backups” in the same safe as the paper, with no word about the rating. When we lined the items against the class table, the drive was the only thing on the list that a typical home document safe isn’t rated to protect. So we now treat the drive as a convenience copy and keep the real backup in the cloud.

What not to keep in a home safe

A home safe is the wrong place for anything that is safer, cheaper or healthier somewhere else.

• Large sums of cash. The FDIC says cash outside a deposit account isn’t FDIC-insured and earns no interest.
• The only copy of anything. Scan it first and store the copy off-site.
• Medicine, food and batteries. A sealed, damp box speeds up spoilage.
• Pearls, old photos and antique paper, unless you control humidity, as moisture builds inside.
• Things you use every day. Constant opening wears the lock.

Home safe moisture and mold problems owners run into, and the fix

Fire insulation holds water, so a closed fire safe can turn papers moldy within weeks. “Fireproof safes are notorious for holding moisture,” one Collectors Universe member wrote. Another said, “In the time frame of a couple of weeks, the paper work started to mold.”

The fix we found in owner threads:

1. Seal documents and cash in zip-top or other resealable plastic bags, as the FDIC also suggests against water.
2. Add a rechargeable desiccant canister, and expect to recharge it; one High Road gun-safe owner said his silica packs turn from orange to blue “within a week or two everytime.”
3. Open the door for a few minutes every week or two to let moisture out.
4. Keep the safe out of garages and bathrooms; our safe dehumidifier guide covers rods for bigger safes.

How to set up a home safe so the right person can open it

A home safe only helps if it stays put and someone you trust can open it when you can’t.

1. Sort papers into labeled folders: identity, home and insurance, vehicles, money, medical.
2. Put a slim grab-and-go envelope in front with IDs, policy numbers, a little cash and spare keys.
3. Bolt a small safe to the floor or a wall, since a light box can be carried out; here is how to bolt down a safe.
4. Give the combination or backup key to one trusted person outside your home.
5. Review the contents once a year and after a move or policy change.

If you still need the box itself, our best home safe picks compare fire and theft protection, and the safe buying checklist helps you size one to this list.