Friday, March 11, 2011

Cleaning jewelry with baking soda

I've had "silver polish" on my wish list for years and I'm not surprised I never received it as a gift...it's a rather boring gift. But I just couldn't bring myself to purchase any...I only need a little, and very rarely, and it isn't cheap. So a while back I researched "cleaning silver" online and discovered that many people have used baking soda with success. I then put "clean jewelry with baking soda" on my To Do list.

Months later, I finally gave it a try! I figured it was a good sitting-at-the-table task for my very pregnant self to tackle. I set Teresa up with Playdoh beside me.

Using a baking soda/water paste and several damp and dry cloths, I tackled a handful of necklaces and several pairs of earrings. While the cleaning takes a lot of elbow grease (or should I say "knuckle grease", since it's mostly the fingers working hard?) and the results aren't perfect, the baking soda is pretty effective at removing tarnish. Best of all? It's cheap, plentiful, and completely chemical-free - safe for me and the environment!

I was delighted to discover two favorite pairs of dangling earrings that I had abandoned to the jewelry box a long, long time ago due to their tarnish. Granted, I haven't been wearing much jewelry since Teresa started pulling at it. When I stopped working outside the home I went from wearing earrings daily to wearing them some Sundays.

Maybe this rediscovery and refurbishing of some of my lovely things will inspire me to start wearing them again...at least until the next baby starts pulling at them!

1 comment:

Robin said...

You can use an old toothbrush dipped into the baking soda to scrub the jewelry. This helps get into the small places.