Earrings Overhaul

I did it. The procrastination-led build up was, as always, far worse than once I’d actually started. But as the memes have taught us, I will learn precisely nothing from this experience. And it doesn’t matter because I hope this to have been a one-off task. My earrings collection (though admittedly, not all of it) has been rearranged, separated from the things I don’t intend to keep and I’ve made some notes on what else I might need. And this is how it all went:

The Process

Pretty much transferred from the nightstand onto my bed as is.

This is what I started with: a pile of mess. Because mess has a tendency to spread, so whatever wasn’t immediately put back on one of these organisers, was sitting in a pile on my nightstand. More importantly, even though it was messy, with the majority of my collection it was all too easy to ignore just how much I had.

I knew I had a lot, but even I was surprised how much 'a lot' really meant.

A fact that became instantly clear once I’d taken every pair off and laid it out on the bed. I decided to sort them roughly by colour, which was an excellent shout. It let me see more clearly the patterns of my past earring shopping habits. It was actually surprising to see how many black and pink/lilac pairs I had or how few blue ones. As I did all this I also got a glimpse into my literal past and the various things I was into. There was an owl phase (no-one needs five pairs of owl earrings), the vaguely ethnic/hippie one (easier to identify due to size, though I know I have some other ones tucked away elsewhere), all the sweets ones I bought in my early lolita days that I hardly ever wore, and oof at the emo phase that I was actually too chicken to properly have and contained it to mismatched edgy earrings (skulls, crosses, a wing, key and lock etc.). When I got my ears re-pierced at the age of 14, my goal was to obtain a hundred pairs of earrings and whilst I didn’t count how many there are here, I clearly wasn’t very far off thanks to cheap multipacks from Primark and Claire’s.

Just removing what I didn't want made such a difference.

I started by removing the pairs that I knew I didn’t want to keep. In the process I also ended up with a much smaller ‘maybe’ pile and I’ll decide its fate later, after it sits in that box for a bit to think about what it’s done. What was left is still quite a collection though it even looks far more manageable. Whilst my entire decision process was simply asking myself “do I like it” and “do I think that I’ll wear it (for lolita or not)”, it speaks to how much my taste has changed that I was able to offload so many. They may have been mostly the smaller studs, but that still makes a big difference.

And with that done, it was time to put them back on the organisers. I seem to recall that when I first got that paravan rack, I had some sort of a system in mind, but for the life of me I’ve no clue now what it was. Sticking to organising them by colour made the most sense and it also let me decide on what is it that I might be missing. So allow me to go through them just like I did on the day, one colour group by another.

Where We're At

That bottom left pair literally stayed by the skin of its teeth, saved by this one coord from February.

As I already mentioned, I was surprised to see so few blue earrings in general. To be perfectly honest, I’m still unsure about that moon and sun pair, but that’s because it’s cheaply made and the stones have fallen out of it so badly. The design is still nice, so whilst I’ve never done any resin crafting, I’d love to one day fill the gaps with something. What I’m missing is something elegant and classy in navy. No doubts I will never learn to stop searching for the perfect sax pair, but for now I am not allowing myself any more of those.

It's odd to think of this small pile as just right, yet that's exactly what it is.

The green pile is exactly the same in numbers as the blue one, it’s just that it’s so much smaller in size. But unlike the blue pile, this one seems pretty spot on. Of course, I would love something emerald and pearl, as we’ve discovered during the last AYWi30C post, however, it’s not a pressing need. If it happens, it happens, I won’t go out looking for one.

The same-yness of some of these is not lost on me, I promise. But it's also why I can't pick one pair over another.

Whilst I can’t with a hand on heart say that I actually need this many pairs of black earrings, they’re all too pretty for me to resist. Yes, some look almost exactly like one another - and screw that, I like them just as is. Even though I recently lamented not getting the matching earrings for my gunmetal x clear white necklace from Puvithel, now I see that I can more than likely get by. Not that it stops me from wanting it regardless… But I don’t think that there are any actual gaps here that’d need filling, is what I’m saying.

If you'd have asked me before this overhaul what my pink earrings are, these are the ones I would've been able to remember. The only sign I needed to get rid of the other ones.

Next I moved onto pink/lilac ones, which was probably the most reduced in numbers of all the piles (maybe except for the silver one). But also one that doesn’t need anything more added to it. Yes, those macarons being purple and not pink still bothers me. And maybe something else on the large side that’s classic and elegant (and maybe not floral) would be nice. Though is it really a need? Can I really not make do with some of the gold and/or pearl things in the meantime? I probably can - so again, not an actual wishlist addition, just something to note for if I find anything nice.

Such an off mix of themes. Very me nonetheless. Is this my syle summed up by a pile of earrings?

The gold/brown pile is an interesting one. A true mix of themes: florals, sweets, snowflakes, nautical, bears… and Batman. Is anything really amiss here? Not really. The biggest problem I have with this pile is that those biscuits are actually clip ons and they get quite painful to wear for long periods of time. At the same time, they’re too cute to just let go. Having a pair of larger biscuit/cookie-themed earrings feels useful, I do sometimes dip into that theme and a less painful pair would get worn more often. Ooh, maybe I can just replace the clip-on backing with an earring one? I might have something in my crafts box. That would be the ideal solution here.

Another lot that feels just right, balancing the wants with the needs.

After removing only two pairs from this colour column, this became a pretty perfect pile for what I need. There are options big and small, classic and sweet, cutesy and elegant, bold and unassuming. The only pair I’m still a bit on the fence about is that gunmetal(ish) one because it’s so dark - but it does look gorgeous, both on its own and worn. Oh no, let this not be my cue for trying to find a necklace that matches it…

I guess this pile can be summed up with "It sparkly... Oooh, cats!". Which is also me down to a t.

The white/silver pile is the least likely to be worn with lolita. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, most of these are very neutral designs that would work with the fashion. It’s just that I so rarely wear silver these days that I don’t have much to go with them. Most of these are remnants of my earliest earring collecting days, with a few later extras, and pretty much all the ones I removed were from the very earliest days, if not literally some of the first pairs of earrings I bought. So unless the rest of my jewellery collection suddenly grows in similarly light things, I expect this pile to stay as it is. And now that I look at it - maybe those top left corner earrings would work with my gunmetal x clear white Puvithel necklace? I should try that one day.

The moment you refuse to acknowledge that you have a problem, even though you know perfectly well that you have a problem.

Lastly the biggest pile: pearls and ivory things. Or the proof that I never learn and keep falling for the “but ivory is versatile”, whether that be socks or earrings, always forgetting what is it that I actually own and ending up with lots of similar things. Which means that I will have to work very hard to not buy more. This should be enough. And to ensure that I have a better view of this pile, this is the one that lives separately on that unicorn organiser. Hopefully it won’t let me lose track of how many pearl/ivory options I already have.

The Discards

The 'definitely nots'. Some of these were actualy firm favourites back in their days, so it's a touch bittersweet, even if it's also the right thing to do.

And the 'maybes', which I will revisit sometime in the future. Not actually sure why I'm indulging such indecisiveness, so many of these have not been worn in years, but I guess hoarder habits die hard.

In the interest of not being wasteful, I don’t want to just throw these out, which is inevitably what I would’ve done had I done this overhaul a few years back. It wouldn’t have even crossed my mind that I could repurpose them somehow, I wouldn’t have had any know-how to do it and selling used earrings, when most of these are fast fashion ones with no value, is more hassle than is worth in the potential gains. Sadly, plenty of my discards are as such because my tastes has changed or the earrings themselves wouldn’t work with my current style and colour palette. I’m also very low on ideas on what to do with them in general.

As such, for now they’re all sitting in two boxes, one for the ‘definitely nots’ and one for the ‘maybes’. Eventually I will figure out what to do with them, find a craft technique that I’d like to experiment with. And if not, maybe find someone locally who would love to reuse these themselves. I would happily give them out to someone for the cost of postage and/or a cup of tea. Until that day they’re with me, awaiting their inevitable fate. If you have any craft suggestions or links to tutorials, I would really appreciate those.

Summary

The biggest gain I’ve made with this overhaul is a peace of mind. My earrings have always lived on my nightstand and as the mess was growing, so has my sense of shame whenever I looked there. But now order has been restored, the nightstand doesn’t look so cluttered anymore, moreover - there’s actually more space there than there was before! This is the biggest success of this whole endeavour.

The biggest surprise was finding out how little I actually need/am missing. Yes, there may be fewer blue pairs than I thought I had, but the ones that I do have get worn. That’s already more than I could’ve said about most of the pairs that I got rid of. I’m not as avid an earring wearer as I was when I first re-pierced my ears, in equal parts due to comfort and laziness. So what I have seems more than adequate for my fashion needs right now. Of course, as a magpie with a tendency to hoard/collect, I doubt that I’ll be able to fully resist getting new things. But at least now I know which temptations I should be firmly ignoring and which I can indulge in. As such, besides a classy pair of navy earrings, the only things I can think of as being expectantly wanted are more large themed/novelty pairs. Which by no means is permission to just get anything.

For now the biggest goal is to wear what I own more. And after I’m done with it, actually put it back instead of starting a new pile of mess.