11 Top Places for Finding Your Misplaced Jewelry

Allurez – 11 Top Places to Find Your Misplaced Jewelry

If you’re searching for something, look in the last place you saw it… right?

That has to be some of the most annoying advice on the planet. The truth is, when you misplace something as important and emotionally significant as a wedding ring or heirloom necklace, you want to find it as soon as possible. One moment of lapsed concentration and — POOF! — your earrings seem to vanish into thin air.

If you’re missing your favorite anklet or can’t find your anniversary bracelet in time for dinner, try working your way through this list of places where people most commonly find their misplaced jewels.

1. Your Jewelry Box

Surprise! Many times, people find their “lost” jewels right where they’re supposed to be: in their jewelry box. Those luxe, velvet-lined containers have a lot of nooks and crannies that can hide smaller items like stud earrings or cufflinks. Boxes with multiple pockets or drawers are even trickier.

Run your finger in between the cushioned rolls normally used to hold high-end watches and rings steady. Check underneath the jewelry box, too. Even a quick sweep through the back corners of those dark little drawers might reveal a little nose ring that you thought was gone for good.

2. Behind or Around Your Bed

Think about your nighttime ritual. You’re exhausted from a long day at work or tired because you got home late from a wonderful evening of dinner, a movie and a couple of night caps with friends. You fall into bed only to realize you still have your earrings in, so you remove them and put them on your nightstand — or so you think.

In reality, your brain was already halfway to la la land, so you missed the nightstand, and your earrings fell into that pesky gap between pieces of furniture. Behind the headboard is another sneaky spot jewelry can hide, and there’s more than one person who has discovered a long-lost bauble in the metal part of the bed designed to hold the box spring in place (a spot also known to swallow pens, bobby pins and even the bedroom TV remote).

3. In the Sink (or Worse, Down the Drain)

You put your engagement ring on the bathroom counter, and then OOPS! You knocked it into the open drain while you were fumbling with your deodorant or reaching for a hairbrush. While this isn’t a total mystery scenario — you know where your missing jewelry is, you just can’t get to it — it can still feel like a total nightmare. Luckily, experts are familiar with this kind of accident and there’s still hope.

If a small piece of jewelry falls into the kitchen or bathroom sink and goes down the drain, immediately turn off any running water. You may be able to use a magnet to quickly retrieve jewelry made of magnetic metals like steel, iron and nickel, but most likely, you’ll have to unscrew and check the drain trap under the sink. This is a fairly easy job, and you can find tutorials to guide your DIY job online. But if you have any doubt you’re up to the task, call in a plumber, and they will hopefully be able to retrieve your ring.

4. In Your Car

Americans spend an average of 18 whole days driving every year. That’s about 432 hours or 25,920 minutes of time when you could accidentally stick a piece of jewelry in the cup holder for “safe keeping” or stuff your watch in the glove compartment so it’s out of sight while you hit the spa. Only you might find that hiding spot is out of mind when you’re frantically trying to locate your jewelry later on.

If you feel like you’ve looked everywhere and still can’t find your missing jewelry, perhaps it’s time to clean out the car. Empty out every pocket, compartment and organizer basket you have, and then slide the seats back and check underneath both the seats themselves and the floor mats. Shine a flashlight into the tracks for the chairs to see if anything’s caught there and between the seats and the center console, too.

5. At the Dry Cleaner or Laundromat

Sunglasses, pens, lip balm, lighters, pocket change, matchbooks, business cards, medicine, asthma inhalers, car keys, love notes, compact mirrors, key cards for work, train tickets, snacks, kids’ toys, cat treats and, yes, jewelry — all things actual dry cleaners and laundromat crews have found left in clothes dropped off to be cleaned or in washing machines and dryers after customers have long since folded their duds and headed home.

It’s always a good idea to check all the pockets of your garments before dropping off your dry cleaning, and the same goes for running a hand through public washing machines just in case. Another key hiding spot: the lint trap in your clothes dryer. But nobody’s perfect, and items frequently get left behind. If you’re wondering where to look for missing jewelry and you’ve cleaned clothes outside the house recently, it’s time to make a call and see if anyone has found that oh-so special holiday brooch.

6. Your Home Office — And Your “Real” One Too

Another place to find lost jewelry is in your office. Whether you work from home or commute to your company’s HQ, there’s likely been at least a few times that you took off an earring to make it more comfortable while holding the phone’s receiver to your ear or slipped off your wedding ring to put on some lotion. If you got distracted before you had a chance to put it back on, your missing jewelry could be sitting at your desk!

There’s a chance you’ll scan your desktop and find the missing link (cufflink, that is) immediately, but it’s more likely that you’ll have to do a bit more detective work. Maybe after-hours cleaning staff discovered your lost sparkler and put it in your thumbtack dish or desk drawer for safe keeping. If you’re particularly disorganized (no judgment here!) you may find missing jewelry under a stack of folders or mixed in with the mail you keep meaning to sort.

There are even stories of people finding a loose ring in a filing cabinet after it apparently fell off while the owner was flipping through folders in search of a document.

7. Lost and Found at the Gym

Picture this: You’ve worked hard at the gym, sweating to the oldies as you gallop along on the treadmill, and suddenly you wave to a friend and your ring goes flying off your finger without you noticing. Or maybe you purposely took off your watch or statement necklace so you could hit it hard in your aerobics class or stretch your way through yoga without jewelry interfering, but in your haste to pack up post-workout, you didn’t check out your locker thoroughly before running to your car.

It’s easy to accidentally leave behind jewelry at your gym, Pilate’s studio or go-to CrossFit spot, but hopefully your fellow fitness fanatics will do the right thing and turn in found pieces to the front desk. If you’re looking for missing jewelry, call up reception or ask for lost and found.

8. Your Handbag, Backpack or Purse

Much like Mary Poppins’ magical carpetbag, many purses seem larger on the inside than they appear on the outside. That makes it pretty easy to lose jewelry in the lining of the bag or to put it in the side pocket for safekeeping and completely forget that you did so.

If you’re wondering where to find lost jewelry and can’t seem to locate that treasured watch or tennis bracelet no matter how hard you try, empty your bags (all of them — even the ones you don’t use every day) and flip them inside out. Run your fingers along the lining to check for any rips or gaps a ring or earring could slip through. The same goes for your wallet or any small pouches like a coin purse or makeup bag you might have stowed inside your backpack or briefcase.

9. The Jewelry Store

When you buy pricey jewelry like a bridal set, your jeweler will probably suggest you bring your pieces in at least once a year for an inspection and polish. Often, these inspections are part of your ring’s insurance policy and don’t cost a penny. But when you already have a lot on your plate, it’s easy to forget you dropped your ring off to be cleaned, and the longer it’s left at the store, the more likely it is you’ll look everywhere but the jeweler’s counter.

In the same vein, experts recommend cleaning your engagement and wedding rings at home every two weeks to help reduce bacteria and maintain your gemstone’s signature sparkle. If you clean your jewelry at home and a piece suddenly comes up missing, check your little cleaning pot or wherever else you put pieces while they’re in the cleaning process. You may just stumble across the very thing you’ve been looking for.

10. In Your Couch Cushions

You reach down between the cushions to locate the TV remote, and when you pull it out, you unwittingly leave behind your ring or oversized bangle. Couches, easy chairs, loveseats and recliners are the hungriest pieces of furniture around. They’ll gobble up everything from loose change to articles of clothing without a second thought.

Add a couch deep clean, including removing all the cushions and vacuuming down into the crevices, to your regular house cleaning routine, and you may just find all kinds of AWOL gadgets, writing utensils and so on that you’ve been hunting for a long time.

11. Wherever Your Kids and Pets Stow Stolen Items

Let’s face it: Kids and pets can be adorable little thieves. It’s hard for ornery cats or even more ornery toddlers to turn away from the glittering magnificence of a brilliant birthstone necklace you meant to set aside for the right moment. In an instant, your treasure becomes their treasure. Look in the playroom, in their miniature jewelry boxes, in the cat’s litter box (sorry, but it happens!), in the toilet, in food bowls and water cups and even in the garbage can. You never know where your little ones might stow their newfound favorite toy.

Still on the hunt and wondering how to find missing jewelry? It may be time to call in help. You can post in local lost and found groups and neighborhood groups on Facebook. Let friends and family you’ve visited with recently know that you’ve misplaced something important, and if you think you dropped a ring or watch in a public place like a park, hang up posters with a picture of the jewelry, your contact information and the amount you’re offering as a reward, if applicable.

As a last resort, consider calling in the cavalry. In this case, we mean someone with a metal detector. There are jewelry-finding services that specialize in detecting metal in areas like a sandy beach or grassy park, and they might be all that’s standing between you and your ring recovery.

Once your jewelry is back home where it belongs, keep it safe in one of these jewelry storage options from Allurez. We offer everything from traditional jewelry and watch boxes to safe units and travel-focused designs to help you safeguard your buys so you have them to wear today, tomorrow and for years to come.