What to do During a Furlough, a Jewelry Take

Posted by Joanna Rubini on

We are located in Alexandria Virginia, close to the (United States) Nation's Capital, Washington DC. Not all of our customers are Federal Government employees, but a massive number of them are.  Our first week of business after the Federal Government Furlough began was awesome!  Our customers had time off and still had holiday bonuses in their bank accounts.  There was no doubt about their work yet, no doubt about purpose in life, no doubt in our government's ability to make decisions and lead us confidently, no itchy worry about money despite all past history that furloughed government employee's always get paid...that first week I liken to the time in Eden.  Everyone had their pie and ate it gladly and didn't worry.  But here we are several weeks in and our pre-programmed self-defeating habit of WORRYING has had time to get big and juicy and literally bury us in muck and mire.  And guess what folks, this SUCKS for the jewelry business. And it SUCKS for the fear-filled fuloughed folks that are our customers.

SO I'm here to offer a positive perspective.  My qualifications are: humanness.  Off we go: RIGHT NOW is a perfect time to do stuff you couldn't before. If you dreamed of taking flying lessons or any kind of lessons or activities that require moolah, and you have savings, use it and do it.  You'll rebuild your coffers, you always do. If you have extreme resistance to this concept because of your lack of savings or your need to maintain savings (I totally understand!) or your fear that back pay will not be honored this time around, then there are plenty of positive things still available.  If you've been putting off organizing your house, drawers, jewelry, the time is upon us. For purposes quite plainly obvious, I will focus upon the jewelry portion.

You have tons of: Maybe broken jewelry? Pile of unidentified jewelry to take to Rubini JewelersMaybe jewelry that you are unsure about the value and/or content of? Inherited jewelry that is not your style but you are burdened by massive guilt preventing you from either trying to sell it or redoing it? We are here to help...naturally ;o)

PROBLEM 1: If you have tons of broken jewelry and you like the jewelry enough to get it fixed, bring it in.  We can give you an estimate to repair it or resize it. ANSWER 1 You can then decide to wait. ANSWER 2 You can decide that heck, that's pretty reasonably priced, go for it. ANSWER 3 You can decide that whoa, that's a lot of moolah that you're not ready to spend just yet (this is not that great for your local Rubini Jewelers, but most important is to honor yourself and what you are comfortable with.) ANSWER 4 Whoa, that's a lot of moolah, but you have all these broken bits of gold etc that you can use to pay for the repair. ANSWER 5 Whoa, that's a lot of money, but you been wanting to get this item (these items) repaired for ages and those agreeable Rubini's said a layaway payment plan is perfectly perfect to cover all costs.  Problem 1 resolved!

PROBLEM 2: you have a ton of odds and ends of jewelry- you don't know what is what, what you want to keep, what's worth consigning or fixing or anything. BRING IT IN! ANSWER 1: you have a bunch of junk, you don't even like it, and you can safely donate the lot of it to the good will. ANSWER 2: you have a mixture, and it turns out that despite half of it being costume, you love you costume jewelry. and the 'fine jewelry' you don't even like so you easily agree to consign it and walk away dreaming of how you will spend all your money. ANSWER 3: you have all fine jewelry- some you love, some that needs tweaking for you to love, some you never want to see again because of the yuckiness it represents. Rubini Jewelers can help you by (professionally) cleaning up the good, redoing the tweakable, and you funding your entire project with the funds from your consigned jewelry. ANSWER 4: we explain what is what, which allows you to get clear on what you want to keep and what you want to either sell or redo. You return home feeling lighter, clearer, and accomplished during your furloughed time.  A blessing to be sure! Problem 2 resolved!

PROBLEM 3: You have inherited priceless jewelry that is not even close to being your style. Bring it in! ANSWER 1: We can help you make peace with your feelings about your benefactor enough so that you feel comfortable with a total redo that won't be fraught with guilt. ANSWER 2: We can help you make peace with your feelings about your benefactor enough so that you feel comfortable selling the item(s) ANSWER 3: We help you make peace with your feelings about your benefactor so that you are open to our gentle suggestions- because sometimes just a simple 'trim' will do just the trick to transform an item from garish to perfect. And then instead of the burden of constantly having the items hanging around your home, valuable but unused, you be able to wear the tweaked or redone item and enjoy it and think fondly of and feel closer to your benefactor. Even if your choice is ultimately to try selling the item on consignment, having made peace with your feelings, you'll feel lighter. and if the item sells, you'll feel gratitude to your benefactor, instead of guilt.  Problem 3 resolved!

Our lives are such gifts, though sometimes our fear clouds our logic.  Use this gift of time wisely, within your comfort level. Your Rubini Jewelers will thank you for it.


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