General Chat

When I was young, I was always curious about my grandmothers unusual habits & routines but the strangest one was that every night, she would go upstairs to bed and take her handbag with her.

One day when I was older ,about 13 I asked her why she did this. She explained that one night when I was about 7 and staying with her on school holidays, their house was broken into by burglars. Thankfully they came in the back kitchen door and didn't take anything as grandad had heard a noise. Upon coming down the stairs(not carpeted) he obviously disturbed them and so they ran off.

After this, she decided to keep her handbag beside her bed. She said everything else was material except for her handbag contents of which I was never privy too but she always had money in it.

So when I was about 15 and bought my first bag, I decided that I would do that too. All my houses down south had the living rooms downstairs and bedrooms upstairs.
So I took my handbag to bed and to this day I still do without fail.

I live in a bungalow but still take the bag to bed.

Does anyone else do this?

I have to say my life is in my handbag! My passport, some cash, cards birth cert and a few other things I would need incase of a quick getaway.

Florence in the hebrides

I don’t. But I also don’t carry my passport or birth certificate around with me. I would worry about bag snatchers and losing the credit cards would be bad enough.

I’m afraid I’m a bit lax as far as security is concerned, Florence, as I have never taken my handbag to bed - although I know it is a good idea. I don’t keep as much in it as you do.

OH, always security conscious, takes his wallet and change upstairs every night.

Joy out of interest, do you fill in all the emergency contacts etc at the front of a diary that you keep in your handbag?

I do this every year just in case if I was out alone in town and fell, someone looking in my bag could get access to all my details to inform a family member etc.

I think working in the banking industry and in fraud department taught me to be very security conscious from the age of 17 and its stayed with me.

Good on your OH

Florence in the hebrides

Florence if you have all your ID details in your handbag, including yur house keys?? I leave you to imagine the conseqences if your bag was lost or stolen while you were out.
You would be safer just carrying your next of kin details, no other info.

Many years ago there was a spate of garage break ins with tools etc stolen and in some cases cars went too

Police found these that had lost cars had had the keys taken from the house ,either by break in or fishing through an slightly open window to hook them from handbags or key holder boards

It worried me so much as hubby was a shift worker and I was often alone at night with our young daughter so I started taking my handbag to bed with me and hiding it under the bed !

Did it for some time too

Can’t remember when I stopped or why but I leave the bag downstairs now

I’ve had to take a look Florence and the answer is only lost or stolen bank card bank tel nos in my diary although In the ‘olden days’ I did used to write numbers such as doc, dentist etc in my diary. Now I don’t even have my own name and address written it as it would indicate that I was away from the house if someone took my handbag.

I do take my mobile phone upstairs to charge every night and this has doctors, dentist, bank etc numbers on it. This also has my ICE (both home and a mobile) numbers on it. We also keep our important paperwork upstairs to - all filed in an archive box for easy access in case of fire.

My aunt was once burgled and they took her handbag containing the pension money she had drawn from the post office that day which she could I’ll afford to loose. The policeman who came told her to take it upstairs with her on a nights. Since then, I have always kept my handbag upstairs even during the day as more burglaries take place during the day than at night, many through unlocked doors
I certainly wouldn’t keep my passport and birth certificate in it, that is an identity heft gift for any thief who got your bag.

I would like to think that if I lived in a flood or fire prone area I would keep a grab bag tucked away with all the necessary documents .
Luckily( fingers crossed) I don’t.

No, never have taken handbag to bed.

The only time it would contain my passport or birth certificate would be if I needed them for travel or I.D. purposes and they would then be replaced to their normal safe keeping place, when I reached home.
Similarly, I don't carry keys with my address on.

I used to be keyholder for several elderly people's Lifeline service.
Their keys were never identified by name or address, just in case we had a break-in
Another key I held for someone was identified by the name of their dog on the fob.

I like to think I am quite security aware.
I always lock the back door as soon as I have finished whatever I am doing in the garden, even though we have high fences all round.
It became so routine that I once even locked OH out there, when I forgot that he was still out there.

Did he accept your excuse? ;-) :-D

Gwyn, I was never one for locking doors after me as we, too, have high fences all around us - until OH said 'If a fit, young burglar couldn't get over a six-foot fence, he'd be better off in another job!'

I now lock doors - unless I forget! :-D

Yes names.
He was a good sort.
The frantic banging on the back door made me realise, so I soon let him in.

I understand you all thinking if my bag got snatched then i would be in a spot but luckily I live in a small community where crime and bag snatching is virtually unheard of. As it is I am housebound anyway and have been since last july unless patient travel take me to hospital for an appointment.

Its also if I went for an appointment and had to be suddenly flown off island, it means I would have no bother travelling as passport is with me. I do have a small bag packed for hospital if ever i had to go quickly. It has all I need for a week in it.

As for locking the doors well.... when i first came here i locked the door everytime i went in and out whereas he did not because it was such a safe area and nobody locked their doors or cars. Took me about 5 years not to lock everything.

However 30 years later, lots of mainland people have moved here from all over as well as overseas and its not quite as safe as it was so yes I do lock up after 6pm back and front. Last time i was in the supermarket, it was really busy and i never saw anyone I knew. I wondered who all these people were as normally you would see neighbours, family etc. I actually felt a stranger in my local shops.

People move here because the properties are cheap and islanders have moved away to the mainland because youngsters cant get work. I think its becoming "retirement city."

As for my mobile, I too have ICE with emergency contacts and phone sleeps beside me on my bed, switched off of course!

So Im not the only one who takes their handbag to bed!

Florence in the hebrides

I did actually think you kept your passport handy in case you were rushed off the island. Just couldn't understand why you also had your birth certificate.

When I moved down into our current village, from the top of the hill, everyone said I would hate the noise. But in the old house (with 5 close neighbours I never locked my front door during the day. I could also hear any vehicle coming up the track. and knew if my neighbours were in or out.
Lovely now just being able to ignore the cars, but my glass porch door is locked and we lock the inner one at night or when we are out.

Yes names, when i was living elsewhere in a very quiet village(no shops), we had a driveway covered in chips. I could here the tractor coming long before it reached and if a car entered our driveway, I could always here the crunching of the chips.

As I am in all day, and my neighbour at no 1 works from home, we are the unofficial neighbourhood watch for these 4 new houses as the other 2 work early and come home late. Very open here anyway and no trees, so everyone can see everything that goes on..lol

My birth certificate I keep in the passport folder, have done for years but not really for any particular reason that i remember.

Florence in the hebrides

I think I'd be nervous that if I took the bag, with bank cards etc into the bedroom, that the burglars might eventually come into the bedroom in search of it, putting me more at risk?

I am in a one bed flat though, so no real distancing between rooms, no upstairs/ downstairs etc.

We are in a bungalow now but I have always taken my handbag into the bedroom at night. We live in a village with fields at the back of us, but always keep the outside doors locked all the time unless we are working in the garden where we can see the doors. Mum had someone go in her house during the day while she was watching telly and they went upstairs and stole money. She knew someone came in because a neighbour saw them leave.

I never carry my passport or birth certificate with me and be very careful not to have anything with your address or your next of kin address on if it is the same as your address either in your handbag.

This is something that I know happened to someone. The woman travelled a good distance from where she lived to a training course held in London and her handbag was snatched. When she eventually managed to travel home, her house had been burgled. What happened was that the thief found her address and door keys in the handbag and knew she was a distance from home giving him time to go and let himself in with her key and ransack her house before she would get home. From this I learned that some operate in gangs and if there is an address in a bag they steal, they will let others that are nearer the address know that the house is likely to be empty and then they break in.

Some areas may be safer but the world isn't how it used to be now. A birth cert enables a thief to have your date of birth, maiden name and your mother's maiden name. Just the sort of things banks and building societies ask for in security questions.

I have many handbags - but usually take a rucksack these days - it's easier than a shopping bag to lug around if I decide to buy anything,
This rucksack will have my mobile, tissues and purse in it.
My purse has nothing with my address in it.
If anyone breaks in to my bungalow, there's an old purse that's visible (I must shove that in a drawer!) :-S and plenty of empty handbags!
Passport (out of date) is in one drawer, birth cert is in with my 'job' stuff, in another drawer.

Florence 61 yes I've always taken my handbag up to bed with me I don't know why! It's always down the side of the bed between the bedside table and bed :-)