Jewelry and Valuables

Everyone always asks me, "What do you do with your valuables?" I ALWAYS repeat that I believe that home exchanges ARE based on TRUST!! We could probably have bumper stickers that say something like HOME EXCHANGERS ALWAYS TRUST....
Still, if you have things of value, you will want to put them away, lock them up, or have a friend store them for you while you are gone. You might also want to do that with your food or alcohol that you want untouched when you return as well. You do not want to leave out anything that you will be really upset about losing.
Some exchangers want to hold some money as security in the event of breakage. So each swapper gives their exchange hosts say, $500, "just in case" anything is broken or damaged. So each host is holding $500 from the other.

I have never done this because I am in the "it is an accident" camp, and things will or might be broken. I especially like Angela in Rome's philosophy...."Let me know what has broken, but don't rush out to replace it, as there may be a better solution!" I would expect someone to offer to replace what is broken, and then we would negotiate the particular circumstances.
I really believe that by the time I am ready for leave for my exchange, I have gotten to know my host very well through email. I am not going to take anything of theirs that is not a part of the exchange, and I expect that they'll do the same! In the event that anything is broken, I will certainly let them know so I will take care of it before I leave either by replacing the item or leaving money so my host can replace with it exactly what they want.
I hope you will check back next time when I talk about any "K"s related to vacation home exchanges...kayaking, Kindles, and keeping in touch come to mind!