Organizing the Bling!

Hello! Hello!  Hello, sweet friends and followers!   I hope you all have had a very happy new year.  January has been all about decluttering and getting organized for me.   I know many of you have also been doing the same. Today I just wanted to pop out here in blogland and share a few tips on organizing jewelry.

Working several years of retail has blessed me with a beautiful collection of jewelry.  If you know me, you know I love my bling!  In fact I love all types of jewelry, both genuine and costume jewelry.  I have accumulated quite an abundance of costume jewelry that is so fun and which I might point out has come a long way baby from back in the day!  I describe wearing jewelry as fun because I like to layer my jewelry when I wear it for maximum bling.  Wearing layers means  having multiples, and multiples of anything needs organization right?

I spent this past weekend decluttering many of the extras I had out on my dresser because it had gotten to be too much.    I like to keep my jewelry out so I can see it and easily choose what I want to wear each day.   I've learned that if I keep it put away in my jewelry box then I tend not to take it out and so it just sits there.  I don't know why that is for me, but it is, so out it goes instead.   Now I would love to have a wonderful place in my closet to store my jewelry so that is out and well displayed but I don't.  I most definitely envy those of you who have those beautiful center islands in your closets.  Oh what a dream that would be!  Instead of dreaming....I decided to work with the space I do have!

I was planning on searching around for some really cute wall organizing racks with hooks and looking for a stylish organizing system.  But then, I was at Walmart and wondered through the closet section where all the hangers are and saw these two items.  At roughly, $5.00 each I gave up the idea that I needed cute racks.  My jewelry is cute enough so I decided the racks really didn't need to be cute too but they definitely needed to be functional.  This may be nothing new to some of you but I think it's worth sharing for anyone who just wants to get organized and doesn't want to spend a lot to do so.

I was super excited when I saw this belt hanger.  I knew immediately I wanted to use it to store my bracelets.  When I saw the hoops it was a dream come true because I knew I could separate my bracelets accordingly.  I grouped mine by silver, gold, stone, mixed media, and bling.  What I love about this is that I can add more hoops if I want.  However, the best part of this set up is that when I'm ready to wear my bracelets they are easy to get to now.  No more having to pull off tons and tons of bracelets just to get to the ones I want.

Using this pant rack hanger to organize my necklaces was perfect for me because I really have very little open wall space in my closet and this did the job perfectly allowing me to still have enough space to hang the bracelets as well.  I even organized the way I hung my necklaces on the different racks by grouping golds to the right, silver to the left and everything else in the middle from top to bottom.  I even hung the longest necklaces on the top bar so that they would not hang so low.  Again that was because my space is so limited.

I love that I can easily unhook the different bars and spread them out if I want to get a better view of what I have.  It really is all about being able to see what you have to get inspired and to see what you can combine to wear together.  I have one more organizing tip to share with you on necklaces below.  I don't know why I never thought of this before for keeping necklaces untangled and easily accessible while on display.  Believe me, I would have saved myself several hours of frustration if I had thought of this sooner when I worked retail and did our jewelry displays.  If you've already figured this trick out please just smile okay.  LOL!  Some of us are a bit slower or maybe just a bit too busy to slow it down sometimes and figure out a better way.  Anyway, for those of you who want to know here it is.

When hanging multiple necklaces on one bar they can easily get tangled and be a real pain sometimes to remove without dislodging all the other necklaces on the bar.  I finally realized that by putting each necklace on looped around the bar it keeps them in place and you can undo one necklace at a time easily.  First take the back end of the chain and drop it over the bar.

Then you pull your necklace through the loop and push the pendant down.  This puts a knot on the bar and holds the necklace in place and keeps it from sliding down the bar if you move it or when unhooking other necklaces.  How simple and how sweet is that?

So there you have friends!  It's certainly not the most adorable way I have seen to organize jewelry but it works and its very functional and that's whats important to me.  I've learned sometimes you really just have to look for simpler solutions rather then waiting for the best all of the time.  Learning to work with what you have, space, resources and money is always wise.  I'm all for dreaming you know, but I'm all for logic as well and this to me was the best combination of the two.   But best of all , it's done and it feels so much cleaner and more accessible.  Now I'll spend less time searching and deciding and more time getting my bling on!

Hope you enjoyed todays post and todays jewelry organizing tips.  You may want to check out a few more inspiring posts @ Metamorphosis Monday.

So glad you stopped by today.  Have a great day!

Hugs and Waves,

Mary