Samantha Brown's Last-Minute Jewelry Organizer Hack Is A Packing Game-Changer

Have you ever dumped your jewelry into a sandwich bag instead of a purpose-built case to save weight and space in your luggage? Then you've probably also had the experience of finding your fine filigree so hopelessly knotted into a ball that you broke a strand of your favorite layered necklace trying to untangle the whole mess. Not wanting to be late for the luau, you simply give up and head out the door of your hotel room unadorned. And you had so wanted to sparkle and shine by the light of those flickering tiki torches. Sigh.

Well, Samantha Brown, the ever-stylish and never-tangled host of "Samantha Brown's Places to Love," has the answer, and it doesn't involve buying anything at all. Just a T-shirt and a couple of hair-ties will do ya. "I've always found travel cases for jewelry to always fall short of what they were intended to do," Brown writes on Instagram. "Well...t-Shirt to the rescue!" In the accompanying reel, she demonstrates exactly how to lay out necklaces vertically along the shirt body, tuck rings and earrings in as you fold the edges, then roll. Securing the ends with hair ties keeps everything together, and lets you know which shirt holds the jewelry.

If you've ever eaten a burrito, you know the folding architecture of this solution. If you're rocking a Halle Berry pixie cut or Miley Cyrus Mohawk and don't do hair ties, you can just grab the blue rubber bands that held together the bunch of Asparagus you bought at Whole Foods last night. Not a T-shirt person, you say? Any soft, rollable item of clothing will do, from a dress to a swim cover-up. You should be rolling your clothes military-style anyway when you pack your suitcase, as it's the ultimate space-saving technique.

Consider leaving the costume jewelry behind if you're traveling to a warm, sticky climate. The heat and humidity can oxidize and tarnish cheaper metals, leaving that greenish residue on your skin, or on the T-shirt you roll them up in for the journey home. The only thing that should be turning you green on this vacation is your envy at the colossal colonnade of fruit topping the Mai Tais the couple at the pool cabana next to you just ordered. Time for one more round before parasailing?

Just because your jewelry is rolled neatly into a T-shirt, don't put it inside your checked baggage. You should tuck the roll into a carry-on for safekeeping. Even if that groovy peace sign pendant your grandmother gave you is not particularly valuable, why create the temptation for unscrupulous baggage handlers to open and peruse? And while a jewelry case may be overkill, organizing your rolled clothing in Samatha Brown's packing cubes will save you space and keep rummaging to a minimum, so that's one added item that actually saves space overall, at a very slight weight penalty. If you're always pawing through your suitcase chaotically looking for the mate to a sock, it'll save your sanity, too.

And when it comes to jewelry, less can be more. Notice how Samantha Brown herself wore only a modest pair of superb earrings to the 2019 Emmy Awards? And what do you want to bet the low-key yet always impeccably glamorous travel host rolled that pair of statuettes in a couple of T-shirts at the end of the night before stashing them in her suitcase. 

If you're embarking on a vacation that involves any kind of adventuring, like a trek along the Camino Santiago, or surf lessons in Maui, consider going ornament-free. A new trend among married daredevils, inexpensive yet hip and stylish silicone wedding bands express the same level of spousal commitment, without the risk of traveling with valuables, or worse, the danger of catching your valuable ring on a piece of sporting gear and breaking a finger. You can put a real ring on it all over again when you get home.

You can also skip packing jewelry and simply make local adornment one of your favorite new souvenir hunts — a pair of earrings are a lot easier to take home than a tea set or rug, after all. You can just wear it onto the plane. For that surf trip, buy a puka or cowrie shell necklace right on the beach in Waikiki for about the cost of a fruit smoothie, and you'll fit right in as you hang ten. When driving Route 66 through Kingman, Arizona, you can stop and buy a pair of earrings at the historic Kingman Mine. Oaxaca is known for its chunky silver pieces, which pair great with a bikini. Or follow this Redditor's lead when looking for something memorable to bring home from your trip to Sweden: "In Stockholm, I got a Sami bracelet that's handwoven metal coils, braided together, and backed with leather with a reindeer horn button clasp. One of my favorite souvenirs of all time. Unique jewelry is one of my favorite things to get abroad."