The Decluttering Project : Jewelry Box
Here we go, on to the next decluttering project. This one is my all-time favorite, so I’m hopeful you can have fun, too. Plus it’s super fast. Who doesn’t love that?
How’s your jewelry collection looking? Do you have a place to keep things? Are you using what you have?
I’ll bet we can all declutter our jewelry boxes just a bit. I always like to get the other women in my family onboard because once we pull out the things we don’t want or use, we trade for a few new pieces of bling. Plus it’s a whole lot easier to say goodbye to a necklace that I feel neutral about if I know my sister might love sporting it on a date. It was really helpful to have her go through my jewelry box once with me. “Katie,” she’d say quite plainly. ”You don’t wear that.”
“Right!” I’d answer. Away it needed to go.
I think that jewelry decluttering is best started with a goal. Before you even pull out your things, decide how much you want to get rid of – maybe 1/2 or 1/3. You’d be surprised how much jewelry clutter you can accumulate.
And you know me. I like to have a picture of who I can give my unused pieces to because it makes them so much easier to part with. Think of ideas like:
- clunky jewelry to the high school drama club or children’s theater
- valuable and sentimental items to people you love. A piece of jewelry is a perfect graduation, engagement, or even wedding gift for someone you love. If you have a religious piece, give it to someone achieving a religious milestone.
- undesired pieces to pawn shops, online stores like ebay or etsy, or gold collectors
- other pieces for victims at battered women’s shelters or other local organizations.
Who would love having what you don’t use?
And for goodness sake, we’ve got to quit holding onto the pieces that are broken! Either create a plan to get them fixed or kiss them goodbye.
Give lovingly, and I promise. The collection you will have left is a collection you will love.
Any favorite pieces you’ve received or given?
June 8th, 2010 at 8:56 am
My sister-in-law just gave me the most beautiful bookmark made from ribbon that had beads, buttons, and re-purposed earrings on either end of a ribbon. It is so pretty and practical as I always have several books I’m reading at any one time. So either I can use some of my not-worn-anymore earrings to make some similar bookmarks or I can give them to her!
She also plans to take some of her grandmother’s buttons to make bookmarks for the women in her family.
June 8th, 2010 at 10:03 am
Thanks for the reminder Katie. I usually skip over my jewelry box when I declutter because it is small and everything is contained inside it. I don’t think about the pieces tucked away in there that I never use.
One other use for jewelry that you want to give away is a local jewelry making class. I know our local high school and university both teach jewelry making classes. They take donations of old jewelry that the students take apart, reuse the materials, and then sell the new pieces as a fundraiser.
June 8th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
My church has a women’s shelter that we support a lot. It’s more than just a shelter, it’s sort of a rehabilitation/training center for women and their children. It helps teach these women skills that they go on to use to support themselves and their children, if kids are in the picture. It never occurred to me to donate my unwanted jewelry there!
June 8th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
My Mother-In-Law had a diamond tennis bracelet, and when she died, one of her daughters inherited it with the understanding that it would be shared with the other two daughters. That was 15 years ago. When my daughter graduated from college, her aunts decided that her graduation present was her grandmother’s tennis bracelet. My daughter is over the moon with delight at this gift and her aunts were delighted to pass this family heirloom on, since nobody really ever wore it and I imagine it was just clutter in the jewelry box for them. Valuable and sentimental, but never worn.
I have a jewelry drawer in my dresser that accommodates all the jewelry that I wear (not very much!). I have some other jewelry in a jewelry box way up on the top shelf of the closet that holds jewelry I don’t wear but wanted to hang onto anyway. So, now that you have raised the subject, I am putting on my to-do list “Clear out the jewelry box”. I am quite sure I would never miss any of that jewelry and none of it is particularly valuable (some quite sentimental though). I can donate the jewelry box as well after I go through it and decide what to do with the contents (give to daughters, nieces, friends, donate, toss). Thanks for the idea!
June 8th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Mother of Pearl has a great idea – donating supplies to jewelry making classes (especially at the schools!) is a fabulous idea. Since school is out, a lot of summer camp programs might be interested. My favorite is always the Girl Scouts. They have a lot of high school aged girls that get together around states/cities for older girl activities.
Love it!
Katie
June 9th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
I’m not really doing much of the decluttering with you right now, but that’s because I did a round before my move in April, and did a round as I unpacked into the new house. :) But you know I’m all for it, and I will continue to do so as I get settled in more. You make a great point, though, about the jewlery box. I sent this to my mom, because I know she’s stockpiling. . . she has two dresser drawers full of stuff, then has tons of jewelry boxes on top of the dresser.. . and then two drawers upstairs in the guest room as well. Yep, my mom’s a packrat. I keep trying to help, and hope your posts help her too.
June 11th, 2010 at 11:15 am
I tackled this project a couple of years ago, just before moving, and boy was I shocked to find out just how much jewelry I rally had! Sadly, I had to pack it all up real quick in the move, so I brought it to the new house. Although it was already sorted, so I was able to send most of it out of my possession. Now I have the things I love and wear, nicely contained and organized. I still could probably pare down a bit more, I think.
Anyway – when you have some time (it’s a LONG post), check this out – http://bunny-trails.blogspot.com/2008/09/stroll-down-memory-lane.html. You may fall out of your chair in shock. :D
June 14th, 2010 at 7:42 am
“How’s your jewelry collection looking? Do you have a place to keep things? Are you using what you have?”
I wear everything. Eevery single day another thing depending on my outfit. Just bought some pearls abroad and can’t wait to put them tomorrow on :-)).
I have some hooks (fany one) in bedroom and have any easy acces every morning to my goods :-)
June 15th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Laying everything out, reminising, really truly seeing what you have vs. what you love/use/need – now that is a perfect look at your collection.
Sometimes a picture of something or the memory of it are just as important and valuable as the item itself.
Katie