In week 12 of the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge, we wrap up our closet clear-out by sorting and decluttering accessories and jewellery, things we often overlook when we do a closet purge. In addition to jewellery, today’s task involves scarves and belts. There’s a pretty good chance you’ve got a lot of these items taking up space in your home.
This post was originally published in March 2021 and republished in March 2024.
What is the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge?
In this year-long journey, we’re tackling one task at a time with the goal of cleaning up and organizing our homes. If you’ve just joined us, no worries. You can jump right in with this week’s challenge. Just check out the first two posts in the series to download your free checklists.
You can get easy access to all previous weekly posts on the main Decluttering page.
Are you ready for week 12? Let’s get decluttering!
Week 12 – Decluttering accessories and jewellery
In the past, when I’ve cleared out my closet, I’ve completely overlooked small accessories like scarves, belts and jewellery. To say this task was long overdue for me is definitely an understatement.
When I gathered all these items together, I was surprised at how many I had. Here’s an inventory of where I started.
Considering I rarely wear belts or scarves, I was surprised when I counted 8 belts and 11 scarves.
As for jewellery, I knew this would be interesting. In week 7, I said band t-shirts are my biggest obsession. Well, costume jewellery is definitely a close second. I have accumulated a lot of it over the years. I’m clearly not alone because this research study says that the global costume jewellery market was $25 Billion USD in 2018.
Not counting my wedding and engagement rings, here’s the count of what I started with:
- 5 watches
- 9 brooches
- 30 necklaces
- 3 rings
- 29 ½ pairs of earrings – surprisingly, out of all those earrings, I only had one with no mate
I had totally forgotten I even had some of these items. I haven’t worn a watch in years, so why did I have five of them? Similarly, I never wear pins and brooches, yet I had 9 of them in my jewellery box.
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This week’s decluttering and organizing tips
Here are my tips and learnings from week 12.
- Out of sight, out of mind definitely applies to these small items. Most of the things I found that I’d forgotten about were tucked away in my jewellery box. It was a good reminder of why it’s important to regularly set aside time to organize and declutter.
- A quick win was getting rid of coloured jewellery I bought to match specific outfits. I chose to keep versatile pieces I can wear with a variety of outfits. Real or fake—gold, silver, pearls, and diamonds go with everything.
- Marie Kondo would disagree, but I think it’s okay to keep jewellery that has sentimental value even if you don’t wear it often. I have a silver charm bracelet that I haven’t worn in 30 years. I kept it because every charm is a special memory. Similarly, I have this pin that my husband bought me when my daughter Laura was a baby. Three years later, we added a charm when Colleen was born. Just looking at it makes me smile so it’s staying put!
- This hanger is a simple solution to organize scarves. It takes up very little space and it’s easy to find what you’re looking for at a quick glance.
- Similarly, my hanging jewellery organizer was a great find when I bought it a few years ago. It has loops on one side for necklaces. On the other side, it has pockets for earrings and pins.
What I got rid of
In total, I got rid of 47 ½ items this week. I posted the watches and jewellery on the local Buy Nothing Facebook group and it was all claimed in short order. I’ll donate the scarves and belts to our local thrift store.
2024 update
It has been three years so I’m rebooting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge to see how much I can get rid of in 2024.
With a couple of exceptions, I’ve resisted the urge to add new accessories and jewellery to my collection. This time around, I was only able to find 4 items to get rid of.
So that’s a wrap on closet decluttering. Next week, we’ll move on to another area of the home.
If you have friends or family members who could benefit from a little less clutter in their lives, please share this post and spread the word!
How did you make out with decluttering accessories and jewellery this week? Tell us below.
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Weirdest thing ever about this challenge Michelle- I think our thoughts are synced in some mysterious way. I seem to always choose the “next in Michelles” lineup and complete it the week prior to your release of each new challenge. Just did my small assortment of earrings about 1 1/2 weeks ago!
Well that is downright spooky, Deb! I find the same thing with Vicki Atkinson. Often she’ll write about something that was just in my head, or I had just done. I think we’re all kindred spirits who met up in WordPressLand!
You may be correct Michelle! We’ll have to see if the trend continues 🙂
Love your suggestions about keeping pieces that you’re likely to wear and truly love IN SIGHT. Hanging them up. That works better for me and I find I naturally purge because I only really wear a few pieces. The rest? Just clutter. Thanks, Michelle for the continuing boosts! 🥰
Right! I have a big jewellery box and, other than one drawer where I keep my rings and my “everyday” earrings, I rarely open it. When I’m looking for something to wear, I always go to my hanging organizer.
I’m so glad you’re revisiting and sharing the decluttering challenge with us. Thank you for the reminder to think about the small things. They do add up! You’re right, there can be so much sentiment attached to pieces.🙂
Thanks for reading. You’re right about the small things often being overlooked. But they definitely take up space in our homes…and our heads.
I’m not a big jewel wearer, so this is always somewhat sparse for me to start with. I have a few faves I always wear, and some I keep for oomph. I could probably get rid of a few
I love jewellery and it’s so hard to resist the urge to buy more. It’s one of my “go tos”.
30 necklaces?! Wow that’s insane! I think I have about two … as for the scarves and belts, were these gifts?
Yes, for a while I was buying a necklace and earrings pretty much every time I bought a new outfit.
I went through a phase where I thought scarves were cool so I bought most of them myself. Then, I realized I couldn’t be bothered fiddling with them.
Yeah I can relate. I am trying to declutter my closet too
Thanks Helen. It feels good to get rid of things I no longer use. I am really enjoying the extra space.
I am afraid to look at my jewelry, Michelle! LOL I know that most of it (costume jewelry) I haven’t worn in ages, and not just because of the pandemic. I seem to gravitate towards a couple of things that go with a lot of outfits, so why am I hanging onto the rest of it? Now that I’ve seen your post, I’ll be going through the necklaces, etc.! Thank you, Michelle; you are inspiring all of us! xoxoxo
Thanks Cher. I was the same. I have several “go to” pieces that I wear regularly. So much of what I had, I hadn’t worn in years. It feels good to declutter this kind of stuff. I am always amazed at what I find.
I am definitely adding jewelry decluttering to my list, Michelle! LOL Oh yes, isn’t it interesting to see what we have and no idea where it came from, or that you forgot you had it? LOL
I’ve even got one earrings out of pairs, in case I find the other one! And I’ve got watches that I don’t wear because I keep thinking I’ll get batteries for them!
I am the same with watches. The batteries are always dead. I haven’t worn a watch since I got my first FitBit years ago.
I don’t wear watches, these days.
I am a big jewelry connoisseur, and I often receive jewelry, necklaces, rings, and bracelets as gifts. I also cannot resist picking up quirky items when I happen to be out shopping around thrift shops (the last time was several years ago!)
I try to go through my collection on a yearly basis and clear out things I have not worn in the past months. Nice way to free up space!
I do love jewellery too but it had been way too long since I had a clearout.
A couple of years ago when I decluttered my closet, I found 5 scarves that had been gifted to me but hadn’t been worn. My oldest daughter was helping and she quickly suggested that I give them to her. Since then, they have become favorite dress-up pieces for my girls.
Every time I see my girls playing with the scarves, it reminds me of the importance of decluttering. Normally, when I give my belongings away, I don’t get to see how much someone else loves them. To me, the scarves were just wasting space but to my girls, they are so much more.
I had a similar experience when my girls were small. They came up from the basement wearing some of my old bridesmaids dresses that were hanging in the closet down there. I took pictures and showed them to the friends whose weddings I had bought the dresses for. I was happy to see my girls wearing them because I was never going to wear them again. My daughter Laura even turned one of them into a Halloween costume.