How To Organize Your Accessories- Tips I've Learned

1. My bracelets, rings, and earrings- Oh man you should have seen how ugly my organization was with my jewelry prior to last November! I'm telling ya earrings everywhere, I had no idea what I had! Thank God I got this earring rack for my birthday! I'm loving it (so much in fact, I just purchased another). It honestly makes a huge difference. I love being able to see all the earrings that I have everything I go to put together an outfit.

I've had this ring (dish?) forever. I'm starting to get more into rings (if you know me well, you know I'll wear a ring for a couple hours then it'll bug me and be put away in my purse only to be found two months later! I'm really into southwestern style rings (coral, turquoise, orange, rustic gold) and I've been finding really good deals on them lately, so I may have to invest in a new ring dish/tray/saucer/whatever soon. Again, it helps me to really see what the heck I have!

Bracelets were always the problem for me. I didn't have a lot until this past year, and I just shoved them in random drawers until I realized that I never wear them because I can't remember which drawer I put them in! Enter: paper towel holder. This is a genius idea that my mom actually came up with (although I'm sure she's not the first haha) and it works perfectly! Definitely a low cost item that you may already have extra lying around the house.

2. Shoe display/book holders- Yeah, I'm a weirdo. Every time I get a new pair of shoes I keep them out to look at for a day or two because I'm so excited. See, told ya. In this case, I've been 'displaying; my glitter open toe pumps that I bought for NYE and using them as a book holder on the headboard of my bed. I think I'll keep them there. I love these shoes and I don't want them getting lost in the shuffle that is my closet.

As far as my other shoes go- I have a rotating shoe holder for my sandals/summer/spring shoes and racks for my boots/heavier shoes. I keep this in the bottom of my closet. Maybe someday I won't be embarrassed of the chaos ensuing in my closet and will take a picture for you. Maybe. One brilliant idea that I recently came across in shoe organization was to purchase an old video store rack. I saw this one in my local video store that was selling for $20 and I'm still considering buying it. The width of the racks are wide enough for any shoe, and it's double-sided! I bet all together one could hold at least 35 pairs of shoes. Hmmmm.

At this point (since I have a slight obsession with boots) I keep the shoes I regularly wear during a season in the front of my shoe rack, lined up on the floor closest to the door. This way I don't have to go digging for my go-to shoes that season. When the seasons change, I rotate the shoes and get rid of pairs that I know I won't wear again.

3. Hats/Bags/Scarves- I recently cleaned the top of my closet to reveal (ta da!) tons of extra room for things I usually stuff wherever. Hats and scarves usually fall victim to this habit. So, what to do with all this extra room...hmmm...I stacked my hats according to type and got two old boot boxes out to organize my purses, scarves, and clutches! One box is for my scarves (lightweight, thick, and stoles), and the other is for my clutches and small handbags. I line my larger handbags up next to these boxes so that I can see what I have.

4. Necklaces/Watches/Headbands- A couple of years ago, I first knew that I had to start hanging up my necklaces if I was to avoid that super fun game where you take an hour to untangle a knot in your silver chain necklace. I honestly feel like I'm trying to figure out a Rubik's cube when I'm doing this so I thought screw it- let's hang up a tie rack! I love this idea because I can hang two necklaces on each peg and there are two rows of pegs to hang them from!

Worked perfectly...until...I went nuts and bought a ton of new necklaces last year. Oops. Luckily, I've been trolling stores for the perfect accessory rack and finally found one that was marked $5 down from $30 and snatched it up! (After Christmas sales are perfect for snagging these sorts of deals) This new rack has space for 100 pairs of earrings, a tray where I keep my watches, brooches, and pins, and hooks for 30 necklaces! Since the decorative metal detailing on the top of the rack has hooks too, I decided to hang my headbands and headscarves on it as well. I absolutely love this thing! I hung these racks right above my desk so that when I'm putting on my makeup I can also decide what jewelry to wear. I love having everything central- guess I'm a little O.C.D. in this way...


5. Lastly, I just wanted to show you guys one of my latest thrift finds! I purchased this Dooney and Burke leather messenger bag for an outrageous discount last week at a new thrift store near where I go to grad school. No joke, I also found high-waisted black silk Prada pants the very same day! Definitely going back! Pin It Now!