How to Cost-Effectively Clean Your Sterling Silver Jewelry

First off, it should be noted that I am completely addicted to Pinterest. I just LOVE a great DIY project, "life hack" (something that just makes life easier to navigate), or recipe! Lord knows I've tried, succeeded and failed at my share of Pinterest ideas, but I stumbled upon a winner featured on the Stuff Grandma Made blog. I tweaked it slightly, but followed all of her instructions. I used it on two Tiffany's necklaces. One of the necklaces I gifted my Mother a few years back and it had tarnished a good deal.

My results were phenomenal! The best thing about this cleaner is that most everyone has the items needed already in their pantry and it's chemical-free! Excited yet? Go gather up your jewelry and these items:

• a glass baking dish (I used a ceramic bowl since I only cleaned two necklaces)
• aluminum foil (enough to cover the inside of your bowl or baking dish)
• steaming hot water (enough to fill the inside of your dish)
• 2-3 tsp. salt
• 2-3 tsp. baking soda

Line the dish with the appropriate amount of aluminum foil. Fill your dish with the steaming hot water (I used freshly boiled water from my electric kettle). Add the salt and baking soda, then stir a few times to dissolve. Add your silver to the solution making sure that each piece is touching the foil and each other. Let your jewelry soak up all that homemade goodness for about 5 minutes.

Once the items have soaked, take them out to rinse and dry off. You can buff your pieces if you'd like. I buffed with a towel, but you can choose whatever you'd like!

Doesn't it look brand new?! I love how simple this was, and hopefully this recipe saves you some time, money and frustration. Be mindful of a few things when using this solution:

• sterling silver jewelry with porous gemstones (i.e. pearls, turquoise, etc.) as they can be damaged by the solution
• silver-plated jewelry may have plating imperfections and leave the inside open for attack from the solution. This could cause a weakening of the base metals in your jewelry.

Now go forth and free your sterling silver jewelry from the shackles of a tarnished life!

Love,
Charnelle

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