Wearing What You've Got: A Primer to Rotating and Wearing ALL Your Jewelry

Yesterday, as we were getting ready for church, I looked in on Claire as she was putting on her makeup in the bathroom. She was wearing a beautiful pair of silver chandelier earrings I had never seen before, so I edged closer. As I did, I realized I had bought them for her months ago, off the Meijer clearance jewelry rack. She had never worn them, and I promptly forgot about them. 'Those are gorgeous on you, honey,' I said. 'I know right? I'd forgotten I had them,' was her reply. As is the norm for most items in her room, they got buried under.......whatever.

I reminded her I had bought her a storage square with various see thru, plastic pockets, to hang on the wall and put her earrings in. Then she could see them at a glance, and always know where her best stuff was. She's far too busy to deal with it right now......much less eat and sleep on a regular basis. Oh well, maybe on spring break!

This got me thinking again, about how important jewelry storage is. Not only to keep it unbroken and tangle-free, but also in plain sight so you can rotate your pieces. What good is jewelry if you never wear it?

In my big dresser, which is part of our bedroom set, the mirror hides a wall of hooks to hang my necklaces, and the sock drawer also has a secret, multicompartment area for earrings and rings. I store jewelry there that I don't wear on a regular basis. It's nice to have those items out of the way.

This is my big earring and ring storage unit. It sits to the left of my sink. It's actually an antique tiered appetizer dish that I bought at Goodwill. The downside? It gets dusty. The upside is that all the earrings and rings I wear on a daily basis are right in view, so I can quickly see what matches my outfit (or scarf, for work!) and get on with my day. Extremely handy!

For 25 cents, I bought this little heart dish to store my stud earrings. They might get lost in the bigger dish, so this is perfect. It sits on the right side of my sink.

A second hand Mary Kay pocket organizer hangs on the back of my bathroom door, and hold all the bracelets I'm currently wearing. Bracelets especially tend to get messy and out of hand, so this clear storage system is fabulous for showing me exactly what I've got. These are the bracelets I wear during the winter, with my long sleeves and work fleece.

Finally, another thrifted storage system hangs in my closet. These are all the bracelets I wear with short sleeves. When the weather warms up (oh the anticipation!)and I switch my clothing wardrobe around, these bracelets will enter back into rotation. I miss them.......but they bug me with my sleeves. At least they know they aren't forgotten :)

Once I started incorporating these storage tricks, it became so easy to rotate and wear ALL my jewelry, and my choices expanded greatly. It's not a good idea to buy a bunch of stuff and then stick it in a dark box somewhere, never again to see the light of day, while you wonder where in the world it is...........!!

It took a few good hours to get this system working, so I know it's going to take an afternoon or two of helping Claire to get hers going, too. Once it's in place? It saves you gobs of time.