Pinterest-inspired: DIY jewelry cleaner

Hey hey! I’m back today with a Pinterest-inspired post that I’ve been meaning to share for a while now. My plan is to start writing more of these posts – taking simple projects or helpful tips I find on Pinterest and showing how they turned out for me.

This one is super simple and cheap (free if you have the basics on hand). I found this DIY jewelry cleaner while pinning months ago and it’s actually from a food site here. Which is fitting because all of the “ingredients” are from the kitchen:

You’ll need one tablespoon each of salt, baking soda and dish detergent. Also, one cup water, a piece of aluminum foil and a bowl.

Just stick the water in the microwave for one to two minutes (I do two to get it nice and hot) and while it’s heating use a piece of foil to line the bottom of the bowl:

When the water is ready, pour it in the bowl, add the tablespoons of baking soda, salt and detergent in and watch it fizz:

That’s the fun part. ;)

Then you just place your jewelry in the bowl for five to ten minutes. The ingredients eat away at the grime and dirt and my rings come out sparkling! It’s amazing!

I feel like I commercial for dish washing detergent with all the SPARKLE but it’s true – this stuff really works well. I used to use jewelry cleaner from the store, but the brush that came with it fell apart after the second use. Since then I’ve used a soft toothbrush but I find I don’t really need to use it with this recipe.

If you’ve got some major gunk on there you may still need it. When I take my rings into my jeweler to be cleaned they look at me like I have three heads and ask WHAT IN THE WORLD I have been doing. I guess the spray paint, saw dust, paint, glue and all the other DIY messes stick around. ;)

This homemade version eats away at all that stuff and makes them absolutely shine. Love it. And the ingredients are so basic I always have it all on hand. If you are cleaning a bunch of jewelry you’ll want to make a new batch each time, according to the source.

I’ve also used this on more delicate jewelry like an opal ring – it worked beautifully. Some of the reviewers on the site I linked to mentioned it messed up sterling silver jewelry, but then others said it cleaned up their silver beautifully, so try it for silver at your own risk. Check out that link for reviews before you try something you are hesitant about!

I’m thrilled with it and highly recommend it – I’ll take an easy, cheap solution any day! :)

So have you found any great tips on Pinterest lately? I hope to share some of mine with you more often – good results and the bad. Cause it’s nice to actually DO something I’ve pinned on Pinterest, you know. ;)