You can protect your home with an alarm system. Your car comes with one built right in. You lock up your bike, put cash in a safety deposit box, and safeguard your health with health insurance.
But there’s something you might not think about protecting when you’re at home… something small, valuable, and fragile:
Your diamond engagement ring.
It’s arguably one of the biggest and most important investments you’ll make in your life, but when thinking of items to protect, it’s also easy to overlook. You want to protect your wedding rings when you store them at home… but what are the best ways to do so?
Never fear, Zillion is here! We’ve got you covered with some tips on how to protect your jewelry at home.
Protection Against Theft
Everyone wants to think of their home as a safe place; a fortress and a haven. But, unfortunately, home invasions and burglaries do happen. The good news is that break-ins seem to be on the decline—according to a 2015 FBI crime report, burglaries dropped by 20% between the year 2006 and 2015. The not-so-good news is that in 2015, there were still an estimated 8 million 7,993,631 property crime offenses in the United States.
It’s important to protect all of your valuable belongings when they’re in your home—your wedding rings included. Here are a few ways you can ensure your engagement ring is s are secured in your home.
Install a safe
Installing a safe where you can keep your valuables is a great idea. You can store jewelry, cash, important documents, and other things you need to safeguard against theft in a small home safe for a reasonable price. Many safes are also fireproof, which adds an extra layer of protection should a fire break out in your home.
Install security cameras in easy-to-see places
Installing a security camera system in and around your home is often enough to deter a would-be burglar from even attempting a break-in. Make sure you install your cameras in obvious, easy-to-see places. Home invaders often scout out their locations before actually attempting a burglary, and seeing your cameras front-and-center may be enough for them to move on.
Store your jewelry in non-obvious places
Jewelry boxes are for storing… jewelry, obviously. But that “obvious” factor is often the downfall of many people: jewelry boxes are often the first places thieves look during a burglary. So how can you keep your engagement and wedding rings safe while storing them at home? By stashing them in creative places that thieves wouldn’t even think to look! Just a few ideas of unique places to hide your jewelry include:
In the fake bottom of a potted plant
Inside a coffee cup in the back of your cabinet
Inside a fake book
Tucked in a box inside an air vent
Placed behind loose bricks surrounding a fireplace
Protection Against Damage
If you are going to store your diamond engagement ring and other valuables in a safe or other traditional jewelry-storage spot, it’s important to properly care for your items to help protect them against damage. Diamond engagement rings and wedding rings are delicate, so it’s imperative you properly care for them before tucking them away for safekeeping.
Clean jewelry before storing
Properly cleaning your engagement rings will help protect them while they’re away in storage. Wipe your wedding rings and other jewelry down before storing them with a soft, clean, damp cloth. This helps remove lotions, soaps, body oils, and sweat. As a preventative measure, avoid wearing your diamond wedding rings while exercising or doing other heavy lifting or housework—this can help you avoid damage or chipping.
Use a soft fabric lining
Don’t just cram your rings and other jewelry inside a safe—make sure you’re showing them a little love! Using a cushioned fabric or other type of felt to surround your diamonds is a great way to ensure they’re well protected inside your safe or other storage receptacle. This is particularly important if you’re storing loose diamonds. Even though diamonds are notoriously tough, they’re still susceptible to scratches and damage.
Store by type
It’s simple chemistry—some metals and other materials shouldn’t be stored with or directly touching other types! It’s important to keep silver items away from other tarnishing metals, and some materials that engagement and wedding rings are made out of require special storage: like platinum and karat gold. It’s best to keep similar metals and materials grouped together to avoid unsightly tarnishing and other cosmetic damages.
Daily Wear & Storage of Your Jewelry
Stick to a routine
If you typically remove your jewelry during your daily routines, i.e., when you wash the dishes, take a shower, or go to bed, then it’s also wise to stick to a routine about where you keep your jewelry. It’s an almost too-obvious solution, right? But how many times have you misplaced your keys because you’re unloading groceries? Or tucked your credit card in a random shirt pocket after getting gas?
It’s an easy mistake to make--and we’re all familiar with that panic-inducing moment where we can’t recall where we last placed something. If you put your engagement ring in on a ring holder when you go to bed, do your best to make it a habit.
Watch the sink
Sinks are notorious enemies of diamond engagement rings. Countless plumbers have profited handsomely from the fishing of wedding rings from the dirty underbellies of sinks and, almost worse, many a bride has been driven to tears by the cringe-worthy sound of a ring being forever deformed by the merciless blades of a garbage disposal.
If you take your jewelry off to wash dishes, try not to leave your engagement or wedding rings on the side of the sink or on the counter above. It’s just too easy for them to slip down the drain. Instead, have a special holder (preferably away from the sink) that you keep them in.
Winter or summer bummers
During sunshine season, nothing is more refreshing than a couple of laps in the pool. But that quick swim could cost you. You may not realize it, but when your fingers are cold they constrict (think prune-fingers!), and if your engagement ring is even a little bit loose, it’s easy for it to slip off into your pool. A better plan? Remove your jewelry before taking a dip, storing it safely while you perfect your breaststroke.
In the winter, or even the chilly onset of autumn, the same holds true--when your fingers are cold, they constrict, making it easier for rings to slip off, particularly when you’re wearing gloves. Whether you’re raking autumn’s colorful leaves or shoveling snow in January, if you happen to remove your gloves, you might find your ring slips off as well, without you even noticing it until it’s too late.
The Best Way to Protect Your Engagement Ring:
Jewelry Insurance
Of course, even when you take the utmost care and precaution to protect your diamond engagement rings or wedding rings, things happen. The best way to safeguard your valuables against theft, damage, and loss is by purchasing a stand alone jewelry insurance policy!
At Zillion, we offer outstanding jewelry insurance policies that help protect your diamond engagement ring.
A Zillion jewelry insurance policy protects your jewelry from loss, theft, damage, natural disasters—pretty much any misfortune that can befall your diamond jewelry!
Unlike homeowners insurance policies—which only cover a portion of your jewelry, and only in certain circumstances—a jewelry insurance policy purchased from Zillion guarantees that your engagement rings is are always protected, no matter where in the world you are.
Zillion jewelry insurance policies come with better coverage, better rates, a better claims process, and better coverage—allowing you to wear it with confidence!