Spring often motivates people to tidy up and even purge lots of clutter. If you’re in the Spring cleaning mood, don't forget your jewelry.
Go through your jewelry box and gently pull out all of your jewelry. If you’re anything like me, you have a few boxes or areas that you keep your jewelry. Tackle one stash of jewelry at a time so it’s not overwhelming.
Divide the jewelry into four categories:
1. Damaged
Take the damaged jewelry to your local jewelry shop and see what they can repair. It might be worth it, especially if it’s something you loved wearing.
2. Ditch it
Looking at our jewelry each Spring gives us a chance to decide if we really want to keep items. We get jewelry as gifts, but that doesn’t mean we have to keep it forever. Consider donating it to Dress for Success, Goodwill or another organization in your area. If it’s fine jewelry you might want to get an appraisal from your local jewelry shop. Just keep in mind that an appraisal costs money. You’ll need to decide if the appraisal cost is worth it.
3. Re-purpose
I’ve met plenty of people who inherit jewelry and know they will never wear it. Maybe Aunt Dorothy had vastly different taste than you. You can take that piece of jewelry to a jeweler and the two of you can brainstorm ideas. Sometimes stones can be removed and set into a completely different, custom piece. Other times the piece can be altered a bit and turned into another type of jewelry; a brooch can be turned into a pendant or one earring becomes a charm. There are usually several possibilities.
4. Keep it
Take the jewelry you want to keep and clean it! That local jeweler of yours has the equipment to safely and thoroughly clean your jewelry. Also, she can check and make sure there are no loose prongs, thinning links in your chains or other issues. A yearly professional cleaning and inspection are especially important for your fine jewelry. It will last longer.
Before putting your clean jewelry back into your jewelry box, give that box a cleaning and consider placing your jewelry in pouches or even small resealable plastic bag so they don’t bump together. This can reduce tarnishing too.
Bonus tip: Chains won’t tangle if you bag each one in its own small, resealable plastic bag and leave the clasp hanging out.