You may never be able to fully protect your home from burglary, but you can help protect your valuables with a home safe. Experienced thieves know where most people hide their valuables like fine jewelry, camera equipment, coin collections or guns. Protecting these items in a safe can save you worry.

If you only have a few valuables to store, though, it may be safer and cheaper to keep them in your safe deposit box. But if you need more storage space, a safe is probably the best bet.

Most safes are fire-resistant, but not fireproof. The Underwriters Laboratory grades fire-resistant safes based on how long the safes protect paper at a certain temperature and for how long. Class-C safes protect paper for an hour at 1,700-degrees Fahrenheit, class-B for two hours at 1,850-degrees, and class-A for four hours at 2,000-degrees. If you need to protect computer disks in a fire, you will need to purchase a specialized home safe.

If you keep money in your home, you could invest in a money chest. Money chests are smaller than most safes, but are built in your house or bolted to your home