In our last post "How to Clean Your Jewelry", we gave you a step-by-step guide to clean your silver (and non-silver) jewelry items. Now that your items are looking bright and shiny, you can begin to get your jewelry in order. After all, cleaning is just half the battle. The other half? Organizing of course! 

Arranging a jumbled mess of chains and baubles may seem like a daunting task. Not to worry, this task can be easily accomplished with what we like to call the "4 S" system:

1. SCAN. Pick out broken pieces and any other items that you no longer want to keep. Maybe some of your jewelry has loose or missing stones or you have clasps that need to be replaced. If these items are worth repairing, take them to a professional jeweler to be fixed. Once these items are repaired, they can be stored away until you are ready to wear them again. Since you will not be taking them out often, these pieces should be kept in a protected, enclosed space.

2. SORT. With the remaining jewelry, take your out-of-season, holiday or other rarely worn jewelry out of the mix. These pieces can be stored as you will not be wearing them in the near future. Again, make sure these items are clean and dry before storage.

3. SEPARATE. Now separate your everyday jewelry from the remaining items. Because everyday pieces, such as watches, are worn frequently, they generally will not tarnish as quickly as jewelry worn less often. Therefore, these pieces should be kept in an easily accessible jewelry box, drawer or fabric jewelry pouches. Separating your pieces this way will also give you an idea of what jewelry you actually wear and what you may not want to keep around.

4. SELECT. The next step is simply to determine what products will work best for you. The right jewelry organization really depends on your individual jewelry assortment. If you are someone who owns a lot of earrings or rings, perhaps a jewelry tray or a hanging organizer with small pockets is for you. Maybe you own a variety and a jewelry roll or jewelry armoire better suits your collection.

In order to protect your jewelry properly, it is important to make sure that the type of jewelry you are storing agrees with the manner in which it is stored. For example, while many products contain hooks to hang necklaces, you do not want to hang stranded necklaces like pearls as they can stretch out. Jewelry trees are also popular but because they leave your jewelry exposed to air and subject to tarnish they would not be the best choice for silver jewelry storage. The bottom line is to make sure the way you choose to organize a jewelry item makes sense for that specific piece.

With any kind of jewelry organizing product, you want your pieces stored safely, not in something that can cause scratching. On that note, we also recommend not storing too many pieces together as this can cause them to knock against each other. When you pull out a piece of jewelry, you want it to be in good condition and ready to wear, not tarnished or damaged. Happy organizing!