Inspired Living: How to Organize Necklaces With Cup Hooks

Before this month, my necklace storage solution was a bit of a disaster. Basically, I just hung them up all over the place.

On bookshelves. My mirror. Door handles. I'd leave them in the soap dish in the bathroom. In cups near the sink. 

I'd essentially come home, take off my necklace, and then hang it in the first place I saw.

This meant that, come time to get dressed, I'd end up wandering around the apartment trying to find the necklace I wanted to wear.

But not anymore!

A couple weeks ago, I decided to create an easy (and pretty!) solution to my necklace problem.

First, I bought two packages of inexpensive cup hooks at Home Depot (they were about $2 for a pack of 25). Then I pulled out a quart of the paint I used in my bedroom (if possible, you should always get an extra quart for touch-ups and little projects like this one), and painted the hooks to match.

(The best way to do this is to stick them in a piece of foam and paint away.)

You don't have to paint the hooks, but I like the way they disappear into the wall and just leave the necklaces as the focal point.

I let these dry for 24 hours, and then took a ruler and marked dots about 1 1/2" apart on a portion of my wall next to my dresser. How many you make depends on the size of your space and how many necklaces you want to hang.

I made another similar row with holes 2" apart about 14" above the first row. The plan was to put shorter, wider necklaces on top, and thinner longer necklaces on the bottom. Again...your distribution will depend on what kind of jewelry you have.

I used a hammer and small nail to make "starter" holes in each dot, then screwed the cup hooks in.

Then I hung my necklaces up, leaving a few empty hooks for future necklace purchases. (I also added a few hooks along the side to hang some bangles and small headbands.)

I love the way this looks--it's organized, but it's also like a work of art in itself. It makes getting ready a lot more fun, and makes it easy to keep track of my jewelry.

P.S. You could also do this for belts!

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13+ Reader Tips for Reducing Food Waste in Your Kitchen

Last week I wrote a post featuring 10 tips to reduce food waste this year. The post featured some ideas that I've been incorporating in my own kitchen in order to save money, eat healthier, and stop wasting so much food. With the recent devastation in Haiti, it's become impossible in the past week to ignore the amount of poverty and lack of food that people in this world are living with. It's also made a lot of us even more aware of just how much STUFF we all have and buy and consume and (unfortunately) waste.

While it's true that making the effort to not waste a bag of arugula is not actually going to make a difference in the life a hungry family elsewhere in the world; I still strongly believe that it's our duty to be good stewards of all that we've been blessed with. That stewardship starts at home, and there is no better place to begin than in our own kitchens.

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Kitchen Tip: 10 Tips for Reducing Food Waste

Despite my best intentions, I've realized that each week, I throw out at least a couple bags or containers of spoiled food. I don't know about you, but I get an awful feeling watching the once lush bag of cilantro sitting in a murky and slimy green puddle on top of the trash.

I know I'm not alone; a recent study found that Americans throw away 50% more food today than they did back in 1974. How awful is that? Not only is 50% more food going to waste, a lot of money is also being tossed away along with the slimy parsley and shriveled carrots.

In my apartment, I've estimated that I probably throw out about 10 to 15 dollars worth of unwanted food a week (think freezer-burned leftovers, poorly stored grains, spoiled produce, etc.). In a year, that's enough money for a decadent multi-course dinner at a top NY restaurant or a round-trip ticket to the Caribbean!

In an effort to reduce food waste in my own kitchen, I've started incorporating the following tips into my regular routine and will try to make a habit of each of them by year's end. Even just by following one or two of these, I've found that I'm throwing out a heck of a lot less. If you're looking for ways to curb food waste in your own home, perhaps some of these tips will help:

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