Since my first “Closet Care” post concentrated on bags and shoes, today I thought I would show you how I clean and take care of another segment of accessories – jewelry. I love all kinds of jewelry and most of my pieces have a very specific memory or celebration associated with them. I try to take as good of care of them as possible! I’ve had a few requests for this post and so tried to be as thorough as possible and document all the steps.
For me, the first step of taking care of jewelry is actually right when you get home each day – take it off! Just like how I change straight into pajamas when I get home, I also take off all of my jewelry. It helps to reduce wear and tear, especially during activities like cooking, cleaning, and the like.
All right – now onto the cleaning! About once a week on the weekend, I do a quick cleaning of the jewelry I’ve worn most that week. The whole process takes about ~10 minutes at the most. Here are the basics you need: some gentle dishwashing detergent (I use Method’s), a small dish or bowl, a microfiber cloth, and a soft bristled toothbrush (not shown).
The first thing I do is squirt a tiny amount of dishwashing liquid into the bowl.
Then, I mix it with warm to very warm water, which creates a good lathery mix.
After that, I drop all of the NON jeweled, except for diamond (this is important) items into here – items like my wedding ring/band, pendants, my stud earrings. Please don’t put anything but diamond items in here without checking with somebody knowledgeable! Especially anything like pearls.
Then, I putter around the house and let the items soak for about 30 minutes to an hour.
After the time has elapsed, I come back and drop my watch in for about a minute. The watches I clean in this way are water resistant up to a certain degree – but before I drop them in, I always check that the gaskets are screwed in nice and tight. Continue Reading
