Tiny Tip: My favourite little habit pays for my holidays

Tiny but impactful jewellery tips from jewel & i

If you are a beader and work with sterling silver or solid gold, here’s a little secret that quietly pays for my holidays…

I keep every single silver off-cut, broken clasp, mis-stamped tag, inferior component, returned pieces, engraving errors, random bit of scrap sterling silver from my bench throughout the year from making my orders for customers. I’m talking the tiny curls you snip off wire, the odd jump ring that didn’t make it into a bracelet – every single bit of it. Rather than chucking them away (if that is ever what you do!), I pop them into a little tub (like mine in the image above) or jar on my workbench and forget about them until the end of the year. When it’s full, I send the whole lot off for recycling.

I use Cooksongold’s scrap metal recycling service – they weigh your silver or gold and pay you for it based on the current metal price. It’s super straightforward, and it feels oddly satisfying turning those tiny rejects into something useful indeed…cash!

For instance, this year my very full jar earned me £575!!
That’s an actual holiday cost – from scrap!!

It’s one of those simple habits that just makes sense:
✨ Keeps your workspace tidy
✨ Better for the environment to recycle
✨ And gives you a lovely surprise payout at the end of the year

When I had my larger jewellery and gift business of 30+ staff, I made all the makers and engravers have their own scrap jars and their scraps use to pay for our company christmas party each year.

So, start saving those shiny scraps. They may look like nothing now, but once built up in a jar, they might just buy you a plane ticket. ✈️

Start your own scrap jar today – grab your glass jar here!