Almost all households have some form of silver jewelry as it readily available as well as affordable. Men’s chains and bracelets to the innumerable ornaments of women, all are made of either sterling silver or rhodium plated silver. While silver jewelry is a great accessory, it is not as durable as gold and gold plated jewelry as it is prone to get tarnished, stains, scratches, grime and other elements of wear and tear. Though these can be cleaned and repaired, there’s no need to waste money going to the jewelers to do it for you when there are easy ways for cleaning silver jewelry at home.

The most effective way to get the shine back in you silver jewelry is to clean it with baking soda. This can be done in two ways. One is through using raw baking soda; the other is using baking soda within toothpaste. For the first methods you’ll need enough boiling water to cover the jewelry that needs to be cleaned. Line a glass dish with aluminum foil or keep an aluminum pan aside for this purpose if you live in a moisture high area and as a result have lots of jewelry that needs to be cleaned readily.

After the pan is ready, place the jewelry on the foiled dish and sprinkle it with baking soda and then pour the boiling water over it. This will result in bubbles and a putrid smell, not to worry, this means there’s cleaning going on. Use a utensil made of plastic or wood to move the objects around to make sure they’re all exposed to the cleaning agents. Once the silver is bright, drain the water and rinse the jewelry.

The other form of cleaning silver jewelry at home is by using toothpaste as it also contains baking soda. This method is good for cleaning tough stained jewelry as you can scrub them with an old toothbrush or a rag after applying toothpaste. Rub until the surface is clean, and then wash off with water.  However do not use these chemicals on rhodium plated and titanium polished jewelry as it will only quicken their fading. In addition to that, bejeweled silver jewelry are better left for professionals to handle as some gemstones are susceptible to damage by certain chemicals or scrubbing might cause them to come loose.

In order to avoid constantly cleaning silver jewelry at home, place your jewelry in plastic sandwich bags or some other moisture preventing object or place. This will lead to having your silver jewelry looking new for long periods of time.