What To Purge From Your Jewelry Box In 5 Mins

As the saying goes, “New Year, New You!” – Yep, I’m on board. So with that comes, cleaning, purging, list writing and a slew of ideas to make us better ourselves for the new year. Accessories anchor any outfit, so why not spend a little time getting your jewelry stash in order. Here’s what to purge in five minutes…

Miss-Matched Earrings: Like a pair of socks, over the years you amass a collection of single pair earrings hoping to find its better half. But time catches up, so what to do with the current stash? Not all of it is a waste. Sort out what you could re-purpose as a brooch, which ones are cool enough to wear only as one earring, or perhaps pair up a set of miss matched earrings. The rest? Time to dump. If they are pure gold, silver or have certain gemstones, you can trade them into a jeweler for the market price of the materials.

Tarnished Fast Fashion: While gold & silver can always be polished to that new shine, the cheapies from Zara, Claire’s, & Topshop aren’t worth the repair, and even won’t clean correctly. They are fast accessories for a reason. They were cheap; they did the job and now its time to move on.

Heirloom Classics: This is a tough one, especially when these pieces comes from a family member. Grandmas watch has a dead battery, ok, that should be fixed. But some pieces no matter how old just don’t fit. Pick the pieces you love and make a commitment to wearing them or displaying them as art pieces, otherwise, pass them on to another family member that might enjoy those pieces more.

Tangles Pieces: If you have a pile of necklaces that aren’t being worn because they are tangled, it’s better to decide if they are worth untangling or not. Important pieces, or current faves, for sure you should keep. But even if the idea of embarking on such a task daunts you, take it to a jeweler and they will do it for you. It’s better to be using what’s in your collection than letting it sit in a pile, and you don’t even know what’s there.

Out-Dated: Not all jewelry is meant to be worn forever, so deciding who you are, and where your style has evolved will help you keep the pieces that you will wear a few more seasons. As the saying goes in fashion, if you haven’t worn it in two years you won’t. Be strict about what stays and what goes, and that way you’ll have a stellar go to accessories collection worth swooning over.