If you regularly go to the pool or a public beach -

[lust2hart]

How do you keep your things secure? We don't go to the pool/beach very often, and when we do, we just put all our stuff in a bag and then loop the bag around the base of a chair leg, which is "fine" but I have a hard time relaxing when we're both in the water, or I feel like I need to get out every few minutes to check on our stuff. I'm considering getting something like this but thought I'd see if any of y'all have different/better ideas. 

[expectantsteelerfan]

I mean, if someone at the beach is going to steal your stuff, they would probably grab that and deal with how to get into it later. I don't think it'd be much of a deterrent.

At the pool, I leave my purse locked in my car and just have my keys in my pool bag, and if my kids need money for something they have to take my keys and get it from the car. I guess I leave my phone and my kindle in the pool bag too, but I feel like our pool is safe.

At the beach, I keep my phone and a cc in a waterproof phone holder around my neck if we are all going to be in the water.

[lust2hart]

Feb 10, 2024 14:30:58 GMT -5 expectantsteelerfan said:

I mean, if someone at the beach is going to steal your stuff, they would probably grab that and deal with how to get into it later. I don't think it'd be much of a deterrent.

At the pool, I leave my purse locked in my car and just have my keys in my pool bag, and if my kids need money for something they have to take my keys and get it from the car. I guess I leave my phone and my kindle in the pool bag too, but I feel like our pool is safe.

At the beach, I keep my phone and a cc in a waterproof phone holder around my neck if we are all going to be in the water.

This has a cable that I could wrap around a chair arm and then it locks. 

[RoxMonster]

I probably don't have a good answer because what we do is sit in chairs right by the pool (it's the one area that is shaded and I need shade), throw a towel over our bag and we can see it from where we are floating around in the pool. I guess someone could snatch it and take off running, but at least we'd see who it was who took it? LOL

The pool we frequent does have lockers for a nominal fee so that would be my other option.

[thebreakfastclub]

I go to my community pool often. At the bottom of my bag, I keep a little zip pouch with $5 or so in ones and change for when my son wants to buy candy.

With such a small amount of cash, I'm not concerned.

[livinitup]

I think something like that would be a good idea for peace of mind. If you had access to a bench or railing. I don’t take any valuables - usually just a book and key fob. But it is annoying to worry about my phone because who doesn’t go anywhere without a phone these days? I don’t even like leaving it in my car. I actually keep it in a water proof bag (wet bag) in the cooler when I swim. I also worry about it getting too hot (on sunny/hot days).

[quesyrah]

I’ve never had anything stolen at the beach.

We have a huge cooler that has a little compartment where we store our wallets (and phones when necessary). Those are the only valuables we bring to the beach that coils easily be stolen. We’re usually not too far from our stuff and I spend less time
in the water and more time at our chairs so I can keep an eye on stuff.

Our cooler and paddle boards are the real valuable items but kinda hard to steal!

I’ve honestly never worried about stuff being stolen lol

[Jalapeñomel]

I can’t really be bothered with this.

Outside of my car keys, I don’t bring anything of value to the beach/pool.

[mcppalmbeach]

Well my strategy is to hope for the best so…

I mean the biggest thing of value we have is the car then, you know, 4 cell phones at $1k a piece 😳 I will normally just bring a credit card and Id so if that gets stolen it’s easily taken care of.

[beerlover]

This is just not something I've ever worried about too much. The community pool is small enough that I can see my chair from basically wherever so I'm not too concerned about getting anything taken there. At our lake beach, I just bring a small amount of cash for the snack bar which is tucked into my bag, and leave my purse in the car. No one has ever taken anything.

[gummy]

I don't bring anything of value besides my phone when I go to local beaches. In that case I just shove it in the very bottom of my beach bag and hope for the best. I do keep my eyes on our stuff from the water though. If I did have a credit card with me I'd probably do the same.

[tacokick]

We go to the beach pretty often and just lock my purse/his wallet in the trunk. I’ve never needed money at the beach. We normally keep our phones and Kindles with us and dump them in the tote under whatever else we bring with us when we get in the water. If we are both going to be in the water a ton, we walk them back to the car and put them in the car. The parking lot is not super far.

The beach we go to most often is very chill but even at a big packed beach at the ocean we aren’t too concerned. I always feel like people are kind of looking out for each other. Rummaging through people’s stuff at the beach is pretty obvious! I’ve seen someone try it once at the ocean and people yelled and chased them off pretty quickly!

[loira]

We go to our local rec centre pool quite often. They have lockers in the changerooms so I just put my purse in there, along with our clothes, towels etc.

I don't often swim at the beach, so I keep my phone on me, but lock my purse in the car.

[tacokick]

Feb 10, 2024 14:35:10 GMT -5 lust2hart said:

This has a cable that I could wrap around a chair arm and then it locks. 

Is your chair bolted into the ground? I don’t think it would do much if it isn’t.

If I saw that on a beach chair I’d assume you had a ton of valuables inside and would just casually walk off with the whole chair like it was mine.

[SusanBAnthony]

I just leave our stuff and the most valuable thing is my phone but it's a 3 year old phone so meh.

I did go walking on a beach that had a ton of signs saying not to leave ANYTHING unattended and I couldn't figure out how I would swim if i was alone.

[jeaniebueller]

I bring as little as possible in, just my key and phone and hide it deep in my bag if I get up. I don’t go to jam packed beaches though for the most part.

[lust2hart]

Feb 10, 2024 17:10:40 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Feb 10, 2024 14:35:10 GMT -5 lust2hart said:

This has a cable that I could wrap around a chair arm and then it locks. 

Is your chair bolted into the ground? I don’t think it would do much if it isn’t.

If I saw that on a beach chair I’d assume you had a ton of valuables inside and would just casually walk off with the whole chair like it was mine.

My question is primarily for when we go on vacation, like to an AI that has a ton of those Adirondack like chairs. So I’d be able to hook this around the arm of one of those.

[plutosmoon]

I miss my car with the keypad where I could lock everything inside even my keys. I usually bring very little of value if we are swimming, usually one credit card, a nominal amount of cash and my license stay in the car. My keys and phone get tucked away in the bottom of my bag, or between towels. Nothing has ever been stolen, and I've never been particularly worried it would be.

[tacokick]

Feb 10, 2024 17:30:01 GMT -5 lust2hart said:

Feb 10, 2024 17:10:40 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Is your chair bolted into the ground? I don’t think it would do much if it isn’t.

If I saw that on a beach chair I’d assume you had a ton of valuables inside and would just casually walk off with the whole chair like it was mine.

My question is primarily for when we go on vacation, like to an AI that has a ton of those Adirondack like chairs. So I’d be able to hook this around the arm of one of those.

I guess it would be a deterrent but I would also think there would be a lot of people and staff/security around in that situation. Or at least there has been when I’ve been at a resort hotel. If my room was right there the only thing I’d have would be my room key and phone and would put them under a towel or in a bag if I brought one.

I still think they make it look like you have serious valuables in there and that would attract more attention than glancing over and not seeing anything more than a towel or bag.

[waverly]

I usually only bring my car key , 1CC or money and my phone to the beach so I don’t secure anything. It’s in my beach bag but not obvious as to where in the bag so they would have to rummage a bit or take the whole bag.

[charlatti]

Feb 10, 2024 17:02:46 GMT -5 gummy said:

I don't bring anything of value besides my phone when I go to local beaches. In that case I just shove it in the very bottom of my beach bag and hope for the best. I do keep my eyes on our stuff from the water though. If I did have a credit card with me I'd probably do the same.

This is what I do too. None of the beaches we go to are crowded or busy, and our pool is a neighborhood pool where inevitably someone we know is in the next chair.

[jane6672]

For the record, on the couple of occasions I’ve seen stuff stolen at the beach, the perpetrator just picked up the whole bag and walked away.

If I’m solo at the beach, I put my phone and cards in a sandwich bag and bury it in the sand under my towel.


Our public pools have lockers and you’re required to have a lock and leave all valuables in there, so that’s a moot point.

[momin2013]

At an AI I typically just have my room key and a small purse of change for tips. When we’re heading into the water I basically just flip part of my towel over to cover it and don’t worry too much. I have had my phone with me on occasion and in those cases I’m typically planning to stay on my chair and read anyway while DH goes in the water with DS.

[basilosaurus]

My friends, on a tropical island ) lots of pools and beaches), don't know how to swim. It's pretty surprising, yes. So I leave them with my stuff. But this has not always been my life.

If I'm really alone I leave only a small bit I wouldn't mind losing. Never passport which I'm technically required to always carry and is a high value object. Cards can be replaced despite pita (just went through this for other reasons. Priority takes almost 2 weeks here). Cash, well, I don't usually carry much, but if that's all they take, so be it.

My mental arithmetic does change based on location.

[DarcyLongfellow]

My general strategy is to just hope for the best.

I never bring my wallet - I lock it in the car. So the only thing of value is my phone. I just hide it in my bag under a lot of other stuff. I always have multiple giant bags and billions of towels, so I generally assume no one want to take a gamble and guess where in all my crap I hid my valuables.

At an AI, I feel like I'd have even less stuff. Wouldn't you normally just have a room key and maybe your phone?

[DotAndBuzz]

When I've stayed at a resort, I only have my phone, kindle, and maybe $5-10 in small bills for tips. Somewhere like that I put everything on the room so I don't need to keep my card with me. The places I've stayed have pretty tight security on the beach (including to go from the hotel out into the beach/pool area), and it's not all that crowded, so you sort of "know" who is next to you just from hanging out around them all day. I guess someone could get up and snatch my bag while I'm in the water, but it never occurred to me that it could happen. I take my little crossbody with me when I leave to go to the bathroom, but that's more because it's not within eyesight of my chair. I consider that more "unattended" than me going in the water for 5 minutes.

[cmeon]

I've never seen anyone mess with anyone's stuff on the beach, weirdly (we're there pretty often)! But, yeah, I don't take any obvious valuables or purses or wallets, just the car key and a phone in a protective bag.

[preppy]

We go to the beach almost daily in the summer and I have never had any issues. I don't bring my full wallet but leave my ID, cash and phone in my bag while swimming or on a walk with the kids without thinking too much about it. Maybe I will get burned doing that one day but so far so good? If I had my full wallet I would prob leave it in my car in the trunk compartment or something with the car locked.

[gretchenindisguise]

Feb 10, 2024 17:56:26 GMT -5 jane6672 said:

For the record, on the couple of occasions I’ve seen stuff stolen at the beach, the perpetrator just picked up the whole bag and walked away.

If I’m solo at the beach, I put my phone and cards in a sandwich bag and bury it in the sand under my towel.


Our public pools have lockers and you’re required to have a lock and leave all valuables in there, so that’s a moot point.

I would 100% forget I had done this and get home and not be able to find my stuff. Then I would remember around 9pm and freak out. And it would be lost forever.

[sonrisa]

I don't go swimming at the beach around here, just wading (too cold) so I keep my keys in my pocket while also tied to a belt loop so they don't fall out if we get super active. I don't bring a wallet , $, cards, purse or anything like that down the the sand (occasionally the phone, but not always. There is nothing to buy at the beaches around here. I also don't sweat the things we do take to the sand. (towel, bucket, water bottle, flip flops, snacks, etc.) 

At the pool we use a locker.