Easy Way to Clean Silver Jewelry
January 26, 2012 by Stephanie · 3 Comments
I’m not that much of a girly girl, but am realizing that I can get away with wearing the same plain shirt and jeans quite often if I switch up my jewelry. Recently, my friend Jennifer’s (yes, I realize ALL my friends are named Jennifer..) mom started selling jewelry, which means I’ve started to buy more pieces.
I love my new jewelry, but find that real silver tarnishes much too quick for my liking, and I stop wearing it completely after a few months. After a bit of googling, I discovered the quickest and easiest way to wash it all at once to remove the tarnish: a salt water bath with aluminum foil. The hot water and salt loosens the dirt and grime, while the aluminum foil attracts the tarnish (for the super-geeky, this is an ion exchange), and it then wipes away from the jewelry (or silver pieces) easily with a soft towel.
This wiki post intrigued me, but it was the testimonials from this message board that won me over.
I would not use this method to clean jewelry with precious stones. All the stones I dropped in the solution were made from glass.
The Ingredients.
tarnished silver jewelry, silver pieces (flatware, etc) (I also threw in a hammered copper pendant, which cleaned beautifully)
aluminum foil
1 tablespoon table salt
hot water
glass container or jar
The Directions.
Fill a glass jar or container with hot water, and stir in a tablespoon of table salt. Make sure the salt has dissolved completely, and throw in a few (I did three) 1-inch aluminum foil strips. Add jewelry. Let soak for a few hours, stirring every so often to remove dirt (the water will get brownish in color).
Dry jewelry completely with a soft towel and store in a silver cloth or tarnish-free tissue paper to keep this from happening over and over and over and over and over again. Sigh.
The Verdict.
This worked much better than I expected it to– the dirt and tarnish just wiped away with the towel. I found some of my really badly tarnished chains needed to soak longer, but they still were ready to go in a few hours. I only wish I was gutsy enough to tie the crockpot in with this one…
monday, the 297th day of the year
October 25, 2010 by Stephanie · 3 Comments
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Good morning! I hope you got a good night’s sleep and are ready to start a brand new week. What’s the weather been like where you live? Are you finished opening windows for the season, except for a little fresh air here and there?
If so, it’s time to clean the windows (from the inside) and the blinds. I do blinds with a damp cloth (old cloth diapers or t-shirts work well, unless you’ve got some microfiber dusting cloths). You can use water, but I prefer to spritz lightly with a bit of windex or the like to cut through any grease left by sticky fingers. and? I really like the smell of windex. 
Today:
clean the windows/blinds in the main living area of your house—family room, living/dining room, etc.
Wednesday, speed dust and vacuum
August 4, 2010 by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
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Happy Wednesday!
Speed dust and vacuum today–super quick, just get the main areas of the rooms. No need to obsess.
PROM the front entry way closet and guest bathroom—anywhere where a guest might hang out by his or herself—make sure the area is decluttered and maintained.
Today:
PROM guest areas
Wednesday: clobber the cobwebs
July 28, 2010 by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
209
Break out the shop vac today, or get out The Webster. Dust the tops of all your window trim and crown molding today, and get down any cobwebs or dead moths that are hanging out in the corners.
Today:
clobber the cobwebs
middle of the week Wednesday
174
Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is going really well, and that you are having fun and feeling productive. Yesterday we picked a bathroom to thoroughly clean. Tackle another one today. Change out the bathmats, scrub whatever grout lines need it, and bleach the toilet.
Today:
pick another bathroom to thoroughly clean
day 173, it’s Tuesday!
June 22, 2010 by Stephanie · 6 Comments
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I’ve got news! I don’t have a subscription to Publisher’s Weekly (you have to pay, and I’m terribly cheap), but saw this through a Google Alert, which means the news is “out there,” and I can share it with all of you!
By Publishers Lunch
NYT bestselling author MAKE IT FAST, COOK IT SLOW Stephanie O’Dea’s TOTALLY TOGETHER, an organizational planner for busy families, [...] at Berkley, for publication in 2011 [...]
Ta Da!
Thank you so much to each and every one of you for your love, support, and kindness.
Now I’ve got to edit!
Today:
play outside in the water
thoroughly clean the most-used bathroom–break out the bleach and scrub brush.
Monday, day 172
June 21, 2010 by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
172
Happy Monday! I hope all of the dads in your life had a great day yesterday. We had a fantastic weekend—lots of outdoor and family time. One really good thing about being out of the house for most of the day is that the house stays much cleaner than when we’re all at home!
Today:
PROM the outdoor area—tool shed, gardening area, swim stuff, sand toys, etc.
If it’s not fun, you’re not doing it right. –Bob Basso
it’s the middle of the week. woah.
June 16, 2010 by Stephanie · 2 Comments
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Okay. I STILL haven’t written anything up about chores, and I hate that. It’s on my to-do list, I promise.
But just like every good to-do list, wants get shoved to another day in order to deal with needs.
I’ve spent the last few days putting out fires via email and then firefighting the sibling squabbles which occur each time I sit down to the computer.
Today:
speed dust, vacuum, and quick mop
super quick: have the kids PROM their dresser drawers (again? yes, again. you’ll be surprised at how often you need to do this!). Set a timer for 10 minutes, make a game out of it. be nice. 
I’ve noticed that one thing about parents is that no matter what stage your child is in, the parents who have older children always tell you the next stage is worse. –Dave Berry
day 154: more feng shui the easy way
June 3, 2010 by Stephanie · 5 Comments
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Good morning! Thank you so much for spending another day with me—-you all are a quiet bunch, but are certainly loyal. I appreciate you all so much, thank you.
The image up above is the way your house/apartment/cabin/tent/room is divided according to feng shui principles (this diagram is taken directly from the book, Move Your Stuff Change Your Life—except I [badly] drew it out for you). You may need to click on it to make it larger so the writing can be easily read, or do Ctrl + to enlarge the screen.
The section of your life that you are most actively working on, should be the cleanest/most organized area of your life. For instance: if you are trying to attract more prosperity in your life, stand inside your front door and draw an imaginary line diagonally, and to the left, to the back quadrant of your house. That’s your prosperity corner, and it should be as clean and as clutter-free as possible. If this is already true, and you’d like to “boost” the energy up in that section, you can add bright color and something symbolic to prosperity that’s meaningful to you (like a stack of monopoly money, travel brochures, etc.)
I find this *fascinating.* (Adam continues to think I’m nuts. )
Today:
feng shui the easy way and pay attention to at least one section of your house and make sure that your energy and passion are in line with what messages your house is giving to the universe.
stop rolling your eyes…. they might stay that way! LOL ;-0
Monday–weekend recovery day
May 3, 2010 by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
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Happy day 1 2 3 !
I hope you had a great weekend, and are gearing up for a fun and busy week. I had a great weekend, and although I had nothing on the calendar to do, I ended up going: to a softball game, costco, trader joe’s, safeway and kohl’s. I cleaned: the garage, the kids’ closet, bedrooms, book cases. I vacuumed, mopped, dusted, and windexed. And I gardened. And we had a dinner party. LOL!
so much for a boring weekend with nothing to do!
Today:
under-the-bed check. Clean out under the beds, dust or vacuum. If your kids are able, have them do their own, and then check. Be nice.
use a wipie to clean the gook and dust that accumulates in the bed frame by the box springs
yesterday: a weekend of nothing.
