Jazzing up jewelry: Tips to accessorize with frugality

Storing jewelry can be surprisingly difficult in a small college bedroom or dorm room. Here are some creative ideas for displaying and keeping track of your accessories:

1. What a stud:

Small pairs of stud earrings are so easy to lose, no thanks to their miniscule size. To find the set you’re looking for more easily, stick them through the holes of a spare watch band. Sure saves you some time!

2. A frosty fix:

Organize that tangled knot of necklaces into an array of art with ice cube trays! They’re shallow enough to fit in a drawer, and provide tiny necklace, earring or slim bracelet-sized compartments for easy organization and super space-saving storage. They even stack on top of each other for multiple layers.

3. Button up:

If you’ve ever broken the clasp on a necklace, you know how annoying it is to fix. Do you tape it together or glue it? Or maybe you just forget about it? Never fear, the safety pin is here! Super cheap and super cute, a button pin or safety pin can easily replace broken clasps. Slide both ends of the chain through the pin, and close.

4. You're such a pill:

Do you have an extra weekly pill case lying around? No? Ask your grandparents, they’ll hook you up! Instead of using it for medicine, use it as a travel jewelry case. Going home for a weekend wedding? Throw in a few different earring choices and your two favorite necklaces.

5. Erase your mistakes:

Have you ever lost an earring thanks to a loose earring back falling off? It’s such a pain, because let’s face it - you know you’re not hip enough to wear mismatched earrings. But now you don't have to hide from Aunt Sue the fact that you lost one of the earrings she gave you for your birthday. Just snip the eraser off the top of that pencil on your desk and stick that onto the back of your earring. Voilà!

6. Boxed, bagged or brown paper wrapped:

     We all know that jewelry can make the best gift, and those cute little boxes – love ‘em! But what do you do when you don’t want to throw them out and now you have a pile of 13 of them? Why, organize your desk drawer of course! They fit perfectly together – since they’re squares and all – and they even stack to better use the space in a deeper draw. Put paperclips in one, erasers in another and love notes in the one way in the back.

7. Bejeweled silk:

If you dislike bare walls and have a few pairs of earrings that you'd like to show off, make a fun display out of pashminas and scarves. I don’t suggest real silk scarves, but plain viscose pashminas and the like are perfect for hanging, pinning or even sticky-squaring to the wall. Make a graceful arc and then freely hang earrings from it.