How to Care for Sterling Silver

We have covered how to clean your silver jewelry and silverware in our posts Polish Your Silver With Zero Effort and Eco-Friendly Silver Polish For Really Tough Stains. The better solution is to keep the tarnish off of your silver in the first place. Here are some tips to help:

• Store your silver items in a ziplock bag - Sulfur in the air is silver's enemy. By keeping your items in a ziplock bag you will drastically cut down the amount of tarnish that will form over time. Be sure to squeeze as much air out of the bag.
• Limit exposure to rubber, acidic foods, hair spray and detergents.
• If you have high sulfur content water, clean your silver with distilled water.
  

The Cleaning Powers Of Salt

Salt is another eco-cleaner we use often around our house. Salt is a good cleaner because it is an abrasive and dissolves easily into water. Salt dissolved into a solution creates an electrolyte. Electrolytes have the ability to transmit electricity. This property of electrolytes can boost the cleaning power of solutions, making chemical reactions possible. Our homemade silver cleaning tip uses these properties to transfer the tarnish on silver to the aluminum foil.

Salt can be used to clean carpets, cast iron, egg spills, grease, laundry stains, soot, stainless steel sinks, and wine stains.

Eco-Friendly Silver Polish For Really Tough Stains

Regular toothpaste works great to remove old tarnish from silver. Make sure to not use gel toothpaste. Regular toothpaste has just enough abrasiveness to cut through the toughest spots, but is gentle enough to not damage the surface. Always test your toothpaste in an inconspicuous spot, as their are many different brands out there. To clean, just use a clean microfiber cloth and work in circular patterns. Toothpaste is much safer than the commercial polishes and cleaners which often contain petroleum-based ingredients and other potentially dangerous chemicals.

Polish your silver with zero effort

I have been collecting coins all of my life and the one thing I always hated was cleaning and polishing the coins. I found this trick to clean my coins, but it is also useful for silverware, teapots, trays, etc. Basically this will clean anything that is silver.

1. Get a large pot or you can use your kitchen sink and fill it with hot water, the hotter the better.
2. Place a 1 foot by 1 foot sheet of aluminum foil at the bottom.
3. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of baking soda for every half gallon of water.
4. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of salt for every half gallon of water.
5. Place your item into the mixture for up to five minutes.
6. Rinse your item in fresh water and dry with a soft cloth.
7. Enjoy your newly cleaned item.

This is great to do with the kids, they'll think it is magic!!!