Regular readers of the blog will know that we’ve spoken about buying jewellery before. The actual process of going out and buying the items can be harder than you think, which is why we’ve spoken about tips to help you out in previous posts. 

However, today’s post will focus on something slightly different. Instead of tips to help you buy jewellery, we’re going to look at ways to help you cut down on buying these items. Why? Well, let’s answer that question first, before jumping into the tips!

Why should you buy less jewellery?

Firstly, it can help you save a load of money if you cut down on the jewellery pieces you buy! Rings and necklaces can be expensive, particularly if you want to get good quality ones. In fact, it’s worse when you buy the cheap stuff because it’s so cheap you don’t think twice about buying loads. In the end, you’ve spent a mini fortune on small items that really don’t need to be purchased. 

Nevertheless, the main reason to cut down on your jewellery purchases is the environment. It costs a lot of natural resources to make jewellery, so if everyone keeps buying loads of the stuff, it increases the demand to mine for precious gems and stones. Overall, this harms the environment and we should try to cut down – just like we should cut down on fast fashion. 

How can you buy less jewellery?

You’ve seen the why, now for the how. How can you start buying fewer jewellery items? Well, it requires a great deal of mental fortitude, but it can be done. Here are some tips: 

Focus on meaningful items

Instead of just buying anything to go with any outfit, focus on only buying a small handful of meaningful items of jewellery. Something like a pendant with a special stone in it or someone’s picture can mean so much to you. You can get some of the best Claddagh rings that symbolise love and togetherness, adding more sentimental value to the item. The idea is to purchase things that actually mean something to you. This way, you stop buying loads of small pieces that end up discarded in your jewellery box after wearing them once. Your meaningful items will stay with you for a long time!

Take care of your current items

A big reason people keep buying the same jewellery is that their old stuff breaks. You had a nice ring or set of earrings, but they slowly started becoming chipped and damaged. The earrings had pieces breaking, so you couldn’t wear them anymore. This type of thing happens all the time, meaning you have to go out and spend more money replacing the items. 

Instead, you could just take better care of everything. As a general rule, stop wearing your jewellery in the shower. Even if it is technically safe to do so, water can damage most metals – especially cheap jewellery. The metal starts to corrode and peel off, leaving you with a damaged piece that needs to be replaced. Similarly, stop wearing things to bed. Earrings can definitely break while you sleep, so ensure you take things off and leave them in a safe place to avoid any damage. Therefore, everything lasts for longer and you don’t require constant replacements!

Invest in high-quality pieces

As with most fashion items you buy, it is often better to get expensive things than cheap things. Why? Well, as mentioned earlier, cheap things don’t last for a very long time. They’re easy to break and can deteriorate quicker than it takes you to recite the alphabet. So, what seems like a money-saving purchase ends up costing more because you’re constantly rebuying the same thing again and again. 

You bought a £20 ring, but it barely lasts a few months of regular wear, so you end up buying another after half a year, then replacing it again after six more months. In five years, you may have spent close to £300 on cheap rings. If you spent this much on a good ring initially, you can almost guarantee it would last for years, possibly even decades. It can be daunting to buy expensive jewellery, but if the quality is there, it is definitely worth it. 

We should all make more conscious decisions to reduce the jewellery we buy, slowing down the industry and saving the planet. It can be difficult, but these three tips show that it isn’t that hard to do if you are strong enough!

Jewellery can vary in price from a few pounds for little earrings and ornamental rings to hundreds of thousands of pounds for luxury items (or more). The urge to look good or show off is balanced by the concern of spending too much money, and the struggle leads many people to purchase the wrong thing. Here are some common jewellery-buying mistakes and what to do differently.

Forgetting Quality Is Important 

Too many people have purchased a low-cost silver-coloured ring only to have an adverse response to the nickel or other materials used. Overemphasizing price vs value results in someone owning an off colour diamond because it has a particular amount of carats or an odd form of gold because it is less expensive than 14K and 18K gold, both of which hold their worth for centuries. Compare the cost of the jewellery to its long-term worth. Cheap jewellery that you toss away, keep having to fix, or regret owning two years later isn’t worth the modest price you paid for it. If the owner intends to wear the jewellery for a lifetime, only purchase items that will endure that long. This might mean paying more, but it will be worth it. 

Not Thinking About Size 

If you’re not thinking about the size of the piece of jewellery you buy, you could be making a big mistake. Of course, if you buy a necklace and it’s too long or short, you can add links to it in many cases. The same can be true of bracelets. However, if you buy a ring that doesn’t fit, you’ll need to pay to have it resized, and that can be expensive, not to mention the fact that you – or the person you bought it for – won’t be able to wear it. 

Of course, the piece of jewellery itself is not the only thing to consider when we talk about size. The stones are also a crucial element to think about. For every one carat that a diamond increases, for example, the price also increases – a lot. Rather than buying the biggest stone you can see and paying a fortune for it, why not look at a slightly smaller one. The difference in price between a 1.9-carat diamond and a two-carat diamond is huge, but the two look identical to the naked eye. 

Not Letting Your Tastes Dictate What You Buy 

As with everything, from clothes to how you decorate your home, there are trends. These trends come and go and with them, the ability to keep your wardrobe or home décor the same without it looking distinctly out of date. You then have to spend money and take time to make changes to keep up with the new trends. The same is true of jewellery. 

So why not forget this altogether? Why not ignore the trends and instead just buy what you like and what you think looks good? If you want a plain piece of jewellery or a fancy one, a colourful one, or a specific item so you look at small Monroe piercing jewelry options, that’s what you should have. 

The less you worry about trends and keeping up with fashion, and the more you think about buying things that you just like and that you’ll be happy to wear for a long time to come, the more comfortable you’ll be, and the happier you’ll be with your purchases. You won’t suddenly regret them when you notice no one else is wearing them anymore. 

Not Understanding The Different Metals 

When you’re shopping for jewellery, you should always know what it’s made of. If the seller doesn’t say what the designs are made of, it’s probably not silver, gold, rose gold, or another precious metal. If you don’t understand something, you should always ask before buying, especially for more expensive items.

Even if a piece of jewellery looks like gold or silver, that doesn’t mean it’s made of those metals. Especially if a piece of jewellery looks like gold but isn’t very expensive, it’s probably not gold at all; at best, it will only be extremely thin gold plate. Gold is a very expensive metal, and you can’t buy cheap gold jewellery. 

Base metal jewellery, like brass or nickel, won’t last long and may discolour your skin over time. It could even cause allergic reactions or worse, which is especially true of nickel, which you should avoid wearing as much as possible. Thinly plated jewellery can get worn down to the base metal pretty quickly.