How to Keep Your Jewelry Clean Between Trips to the Jeweler

When was the last time you cleaned your jewelry? Bet you can't remember. That's alright. We can fix that. Here's how. And you don't need any fancy-schmancy equipment to get the job done, either.

GOLD jewelry: Fill a large (like a salad bowl) bowl with tepid or lukewarmwater. The container should be big enough to hold about a quart of water . DO NOT USE AMMONIA! DO NOT USE ANYTHING WITH CHOLRINE! Chlorine dissolves gold, so if you clean house with your jewelry, you're losing gold everytime.Squirt a little dishwashing liquid in, about a quarter teaspoonful.I prefer Dawn(it's petroluem based, did you know that?) because it's inexpensive and effective at lifting the skin oils, lotion, hairspray, makeup, etc. away. Add one capeful of rubbing alcohol. When you put your necklaces and bracelets into the bowl, make sure you've closed the clasps. If you've got earrings to clean, pour some of your cleaning water into a teacup, and drop in your earrings. If they've got posts with backs, take them off and drop them in with the earrings.

Let everything soak for a little while. Take an old toothbrush, and if you've still got crud on the earring nuts, or on the clasps, gently scrub them with the toothbrush to loosen it up. Use the bristles to get underneath the mounted stones. When you're ready to rinse, fill another big bowl with tepid or lukewarm water. Put the jewelry in the clean water and swoosh everything around very gently. Get a clean towel, and lay everything out to air dry on the towel, except the earrings.

For the earrings, get a tea strainer or a tea ball, and put them in there, and then put that into the bowl of water to rinse. That way those little pieces won't get away from you. I DO NOT recomment rinsing your jewelry out under running water in to sink. That's a great way to lose an earring or an earring back and we don't want that to happen. If you give a little shake to the strainer or tea ball, anything your brushing and soaking didn't remove should lift off the earrings. Note: when pouring out the water, pour it out through a strainer, just to make sure you don't lose anything! Use a seperate clean washcloth to lay out your earrings to air dry on.

If you don't have a polishing cloth, use an old cotton (nylon or acrylic socks aren't absorbant) sock to polish, and wipe away any excess moisture. If you use polishing cloths, you'll need one for you silver, and one ofr the gold, or platinum. Silver tarnishes like crazy (I know you've noticed) and you don't want to rub that onto you nice clean gold. Gold tarnishes too; it just takes longer.

If you have lots of chains, do them seperately from your pearls or other gemstone and bead jewelry. I recommend doing them last, after the earrings. Make sure they're clasped. If you don't have a jewelry box with hangers for them, I suggest keeping them in seperate lunch baggies. That way they won't get tangled up together between wearings, and they're less likely to get kinked.
SILVER:
Keeping silver free and clean from tarnish can also be a challenge. A good quality paste silver polish generally can be found at your local hardware store. In a pinch, baking soda may be used. Pour a some into a saucer. Dab it with a soft damp cloth. Rub gently on the silver. Be very careful that you do not scratch the suface! Rinse thoroughly with cold water. Pat dry with clean, soft cloth.

Remember:
DO NOT USE AMMONIA! It will pit and blacken your silver!
DO NOT SWIM IN CHLORINATED POOLS OR ALLOW CHLORINE to touch your jewelry. Chlorine with dissolve it, little by little.

Always take your jewelry with prongs, like earrings and rings to your jeweler once a year to have them checked. That way, if one has gotten a little loose, you can have that fixed, and hopefully not lose the stone. And a good jeweler generally will not charge you for that service, unless a prong needs to be replaced, which is more cost effective than replacing the stone!

And, as general rule, never go into a pool with any jewelry, or anything loose. It can:
a) come off and go into the drain
b) if you're in it, YOU can get stuck along with it.
c) if you're in a body of water, like the ocean, Gulf, lake or river, a good current can pull your rings from your fingers, and your earrings out of your ears. I witnessed a woman lose her engagement ring at the beach in St.Petersburg. She was not a happy camper. (Nor was her husband)

Final Note:
To prevent build-up of tarnish, when piece is clean (brand new, BEFORE it's worn) paint item with clear nail polish, on one side. Let dry thoroughly. Do other side.

And for good measure, when it's not being used, store your silver in an air-tight container, like a baggie. The next time you are at your favorite jewelry store buying silver, ask your jeweler for some anti-tarnish strips, so that you can keep your silver shiny.