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My big worry about hiding money in the house is in case there's a fire.
I used to do that, except I scattered it all over the house, in different piles, for different reasons.
One pile for potential plumbing repairs, another for air-conditioning repairs, another for travel funds. I used to do books as well, but having once taken piles of books to a Salvation Army, I realized months down the road, I had stuck a few $100's in one of those books. Gone!
But there's been a few nice surprises along the way. When rolling up a dining room carpet one time, lo and behold, had completely forgotten about my doing it, there was 7 $100 bills!
Or did a former roommate hide them there?
If you're gonna hide money at home, at least hide gold.. I don't think it burns.
My big worry about hiding money in the house is in case there's a fire.
You can get a fire-resistant pouch or document bag for about ten bucks, that you can pack at least $50,000 into. Keep it inside a metal enclosure, to protect it from direct flames (such as the drawer under your stove, or a metal tool box). The metal box itself may not protect money, as a house fire typically burns at about 600 degrees, and paper will burst into flames at 450. So you only need something that will keep the contents from fully rising to the ambient temperature of the burning room. Inside a fire-resistant pouch which is inside a metal box protecting it from direct flame should be enough.
A metal box alone will probably protect money, unless the room it is in becomes fully alight with a sustained fire and is totally destroyed. Such fires are extremely rare, unless you live in a rural area with problematic fire protection and the firemen just let it burn itself out.
For cash, water is not an issue. Paper money is highly tolerant to water, and can remain submerged unprotected for quite a long time and still be salvageable. So it doesn't need to be protected against flooding or fire hoses.
Tightly packed paper provides pretty good insulation against fire. A wad of a couple hundred bills, it will take quite a while for the heat to penetrate beyond the outer layer of paper, if they are tightly wrapped so they don't flutter open, like a book on a shelf. It would be unusual for a tightly wrapped pack of bills to burn in a fire so thoroughly that they cannot be salvaged and redeemed.
If -- IF -- I kept cash in the house, it would be in one obscure place that I see everyday -- and no one else would think twice about. (the hide in plain sight theory) By seeing it every day, hopefully that would be enough of a subconscious reminder that it's there and I wouldn't run out and forget it.
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