Loots in "Clash of Clans" have always been the target for players who wanted to expand and upgrade their game.
While others spend money just to upgrade, you don't have to force yourself to spend a single cent if you know how to take advantage of your loot while avoiding becoming the constant target.
Loot is a common name that refers to following resources: gold, elixir, dark elixir and gems. Except for gems, an attacking player can steal a percentage of your loot depending on the success of the raid.
According to COC Land, an attacking player can steal maximum loot without wiping the player's entire resource depending on the Town Hall (TH) level. For example, players with TH 1 to 6 could lose up to 20% of their look when attacked but only up to 200,000. The percentage decreases for each TH level but the maximum amount that could be seized also increases.
A player that boasts a massive amount of loot is only inviting attacks on a constant basis. For that reason, the best way to take advantage of your loot without getting hit by constant attacks is to use them as soon as they are available.
Flammy's wikia page for game strategy emphasis on the importance of using your loot as soon as they are available for your intended upgrade to avoid attacks. It is also wise to alternate your storage facilities since many players are only looking for specific loot.
Last but not the least is your loot cart. Simply put, this is a new feature on "Clash of Clans" where the pillaged villages get back 20% of the loot without any placed on the attacker. Think of it as compensation when your village is trashed.
However, All Clash warns that "you can only have 1 Loot Cart at a time so always collect the loot when you have one! The next attack will replace it, if that attacker took more loot than the previous one, or just disappear." Ensure that you check your base from time to time to collect from the storage loot.