Where do you put your personal stuff when visitors stay.

To be honest, I have an unlocked filing cabinet that usually has papers for filing sitting on the top of it and my husband keeps his on a desk in his room. It has never occurred to me that people who stay in my house would have the inclination to rummage through my paperwork, but perhaps I shall now leave a note asking them to please file after reading.

I have a safe in the back of the wardrobe where I put my personal stuff

it has never occured to me .we tend to file everything as it comes in and its in the study where visitors dont usually go.Theres nothing thats SO private that it would worry me if friends or family saw it

It doesn't occur to me either. The only people with keys to my house are family or friends who I would trust. I assume that people visiting for a meal or a few days are not nosy enough to go through things.

I heard about someone who reasoned that visitors might look in the bathroom cabinet for an aspirin or a bit of sticking plaster and not find it, so she put a note in there saying, "If you don't find what you were looking for, come and ask me." The next friend to visit didn't speak to her for years.

All private papers remain in the study or go in the safe, study door is the only internal door with a sturdy lock. Study also houses CCTV and security equipment.

OMG harrigran what do you keep in there, not your soon to be published memoirs of your time in MI5.?

We leave everything as it is. The only people who stay here in our absence would be family or close friends. If we can't trust them, its a poor do indeed.

Mostly it is family and friends who stay. So no need to put anything away. If less well known people were to stay I would put things like bank statements, passports and any other personal things in the lockable drawers in our desk. Then keep the key with me.

I just tidy up. Theres a filing system that is accessible if anyone really, really want to look but I can't see why they would.

This gave me a LOL Christinefrench ?. MI5 ? Not going to be very helpful as I don’t seem to have anything anyone else can’t see if they are bored enough to look. Can’t see anyone being interested in my bills tbh.

Still laughing ? tho

It would never occur to me in a million years to put away anything in my house if someone else was here!

We have a couple of lockable filing cabinets, and a safe place for valuables, but, like others, I can’t imagine why they would be interested. Even I don’t understand half of it!
Christinefrance ?!

My daughter cracked up whenI stayed with her. I went upstairs without asking (to my own room) and also moved some papers on the kitchen unit.I was told off and was quite upset but put it down to hormones.

I interpreted this as my “clutter” in “my “ bathroom not to mention ironing, laundry to be put away, that inevitable “pile” on the kitchen table and all those personal things which IMHO make a house a home.
Untidy? Never!

Working from home I had a lot of personnel and accounting information here which was always locked in the filing cabinets in the garage. I shipped it all off to the new company owners a few weeks ago so now we have 3 empty filing cabinets to use - most of our stuff is just in drawers and upstairs though - very rare anyone visits us and wouldn't be interested if they did I'm sure!

If they can find what they're looking for in all that muddle they're welcome. In fact I'd invite them every year!

I would keep personal things under lock & key & keep the key somwhere only you know where it is . I don't see it as being distrustful just sensible, your business is yours & yours alone unless you choose otherwise.

The only people who stay in our house when we are away are our children and their families. All our papers etc are two filing cabinets, deed box and desks in our study surrounded by all books and papers that we use for work and leisure interests

I doubt they would be able to sort out what was what, even if they did manage to find some of them. Anyway, there are no dark secrets hidden and I am not bothered if they discover how much we have in the bank or what we have bought with our credit cards. In fact I do not think I have any documents it would bother me if they saw nor any aspect of my life I wouldn't be happy to talk to them about.

I hide the large diamonds in the safe, my Rolexes as well. The private jet goes in the garage and my young escort gets the evening off.
Am embarrassed that I own these things so hide them from most of my friends.

Personal letters? Love letters? Diaries? Medical records/discharge papers.
I didn't ask where you kept your boring stuff or bills.

Well not the normal gas and electric bill anyway. Just things of a private nature. If no one would be interested and you don't mind them looking then of course you don't hide it.

A lockable metal box?

I am very aware that I have kept diaries, notes, thoughts, old letters, cuttings etc over the years. Al of them personal to me.

I look back and find it interesting to read how I felt and how I coped with various upsets, joys, family happenings, relationships etc. Lots of my thoughts were written down. I like to unload in writing and now do it to online files, and save my efforts to flash drives.

However, those records are for my eyes alone. I have this stuff in various drawers, piles, baskets etc and recently I have felt I should destroy it. I am not sure it would be a positive legacy. I'd hate for anyone else to read it so no one but me and DC have a key to my home. I really don't want them finding it either.

Anyone else destroyed precious diaries and letters?

I do not have any papers of such a private nature that I do not want anybody else to see them. If I did I would destroy them.