If you follow my Instagram stories or my personal account, you may know that I am recently engaged!!!!  The dear boyfriend has now become the dear fiancé and I’m one step closer to being legally stuck with all his stuff.  I kid…sorta.  Anyway, since I have some new bling on my finger, I thought it was the perfect time to write something on jewelry organization.

For this post, I enlisted a dear friend, Elizabeth Kellin.  Together with her sister Dana, they run Dana Kellin Jewelry which designs and makes both fashion and fine jewelry by hand in LA for sale around the world.  Given her knowledge of jewelry (Dana Kellin Jewelry is over 25 years old!) and my knowledge and love of organizing, together we developed some storage and organizing guidelines for your fine pieces.  While the below rules are especially critical for your ‘real’ jewelry, I still suggest the same guidelines for your costume jewelry as well.  Regardless of what you spent on an item, if you love it, you want it to last as long as possible.  We all want our jewelry to look as good as the day we purchased it and following these tips will certainly help.

Store jewelry at room temperature and avoid humidity

The main thing you want to avoid with your jewelry is oxidation.  Basically, oxidation is when your jewelry tarnishes and the metal starts to change color.  It’s caused by oxygen (hence the name) and the process speeds up in increased temperatures.  Sterling silver is especially prone to oxidation and it’s critical to keep it dry to ward off the tarnish.  Given this, I beg you not to store your jewelry in the bathroom!  The constant changes in temperature and humidity aren’t doing your jewelry any favors.  Instead, choose a location that’s maintained at a relatively consistent temperature with moderate air flow (no stagnant air).

Store each piece separately

There are many benefits to storing jewelry pieces separately (or at least not touching.  Mixing metals (sterling with gold plated or vermeil with 14K gold or even 14K gold with 18K gold) speeds up oxidation as the different metal alloys react with each other.  Besides oxidation, many metals (silver and gold included) and some gemstones (like opals and emeralds) are relatively soft and can be scratched by harder metals and stones.  Conversely, diamonds can scratch your other pieces if stored incorrectly together.

Storing items separately also helps prevent tangling.  How many times have you reached for a necklace in the morning only to get a tangle of multiple chains?  You don’t have time to untangle the mess, so you drop the bundle back where it was and end up never wearing those pieces (which basically defeats the purpose of owning the jewelry in the first place).  Lastly, storing items separately helps provide visibility to what you own.  If you can see it, you will wear it.  Which again, is the goal to owning it.

Now, I realize not everyone has infinite space to store their jewelry in perfectly sized compartments.  So, if you need to store pieces together, protect each item by placing them in a small, clear jewelry bag.  They are easily found online or a craft store and will go a long way to protect your jewelry from both the air and other pieces.

Return pieces to their ‘homes’ after you wear them

However you decide to store your jewelry, make sure you take the time at the end of the day (or whenever you take the item off) to return your pieces to their ‘homes’.  This is really a universal organizing rule but with the relatively smaller size of most jewelry, it’s very easy for items to get lost if not stored in a consistent place.  And again, if you can’t find it, you can’t or won’t wear it which is a waste.

So how do I, as an organizer, store my baubles and bling?

Stacked Jewelry Box on Dresser   Jewelry Organized in Stacking Compartments

I use these white glass stackers for my jewelry.  I love the way they look, since it lives on a dresser in the guest bedroom, and I love that I can continue to add additional layers when necessary (yes, fiancé, I said when).  Each piece I own, costume or not, is stored in a clear, plastic baggie (I got mine at Michael’s in various sizes).  While I could probably get by with just having each piece in its separate compartment, I like the added security of the plastic bags and makes it super easy for travel.  When packing I simply take the bags of the pieces I want to bring with me and put them in a small travel pouch and I’m ready to go.  When I get to my destination, all my jewelry isn’t tangled together, and it also makes it easier to unpack once I get home.

If you have the space or ability, you can store your jewelry in drawers or pull-out shelves.  Just make sure there are either built-in dividers or that you buy organizers to fit your specific needs and the size of the drawer.  There are also hanging solutions that range from very economical plastic to wooden anti-tarnish lined solutions.  Whatever you choose, just keep the above guidelines in mind.

As with clothing, it’s always a good idea to take inventory of your jewelry and let things go when you no longer wear them.  Trends in jewelry come and go and I’m sure you have something in your collection you no longer wear (whether it be that large statement necklace from a few years ago of that choker you tried last summer).  Consign or gift the real stuff and donate or sell the cheaper stuff so you have space to enjoy and see what you truly love.

 

As always, I hope you found this post interesting, informative, inspiring, or entertaining (I’ll take any one as a success).  If so, please let me know in the comments section.  Also let me know if there is anything you’d like to see on this blog by writing me at feedback@theorganizingblonde.com.

 

XOXO,

The Organizing Blonde