Daily Declutter Challenge #10 - Jewelry Box

After a week's holiday, it's time to get back to decluttering & organizing my home.  I'm on a roll and can't stop now!  Today's challenge is the Jewelry Box.  I've collected a lot of jewelry over the years, some is sentimental, some is expensive, but really, most of it is just cheap stuff that I barely use.  My box was so full that I couldn't even close it, and I had another box that just held everything else.  Coming home from vacation was a great time to do this, since I had to put some necklaces away anyway.

BEFORE:

The first thing I did was dump it ALL out on my bed.  Then I matched up all the earrings - if I couldn't find their match I said goodbye.  Then I weeded out the more expensive jewelry that I didn't like and never wore.  (A gold "L" broach?  Doesn't that just scream "Laverne & Shirley"?)  I set those aside for my first attempt at selling stuff on eBay.

I'm also going to attempt to sell some gold items that I never, ever wear. Miss Minimalist gives some tips on How to Sell Your Gold if you'd like to do the same.

Then all the cheap stuff I didn't like & never wore went to the garage sale pile.  After all this digging through the box, I even found some jewelry that was meaningful to me that I forgot I had.  A little frog pendant I bought to remember my daughter's webbed fingers before she had her surgery.  A silver heart locket I wore when I lost a baby due to miscarriage.  The silver chain had broken on these necklaces - but now that my box is organized, I can go buy another simple chain to put them on and enjoy wearing them again.

Lastly, all my necklaces went on clear push pins on the wall above my dresser.  My sister did this with her necklaces and I thought it was a great, simple, cheap way to display such pretty jewelry!  It's a great use of vertical space.  And even though I rarely wear it, I enjoyed hanging up my wedding necklace in the middle so I could appreciate it's sentimental value. 

If you need more encouragement on getting rid of pieces that you're keeping because someone gave it to you, (Hello?  Gold ankle bracelet when I was 18?), here's a great post by The Minimalist Packrat.

Anyway, here is my AFTER:

Look Ma!  The lid closes!

Now that my jewelry box is decluttered & organized, I find a whole lot more pleasure in picking out fabulous accessories.  My new favourite?  A crocheted, flower, necklace my wonderful mother in law made for me!  :-)