diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e59068697..9b22f8b73 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -43,4 +43,5 @@ python-*-docs-html
 private/*
 !private/README.md
 !private/snippets/README.md
+!private/local/README.md
 /games/
diff --git a/private/README.md b/private/README.md
index c755c1e50..19c6c60c7 100644
--- a/private/README.md
+++ b/private/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Private repository
+# Private directory
 
 The content of this directory is ignored by Git. This is the default place
 where to store your private configuration layers.
diff --git a/private/local/README.md b/private/local/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0377f7bc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/private/local/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Private directory for local packages
+
+The content of this directory is ignored by Git.
+
+This is the place to store the local packages that you define in
+the `dotspacemacs-additional-packages` variable of your dotfile.
diff --git a/private/snippets/README.md b/private/snippets/README.md
index dcea9e016..ac70b84fb 100644
--- a/private/snippets/README.md
+++ b/private/snippets/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Private repository snippets
+# Private directory for Yasnippets snippets
 
 The content of this directory is ignored by Git. This is the default place
 where to store your private yasnippets.