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How I clean jewelry

I learned to clean jewelry a couple of years ago and I think it is such a useful skill to have if you are blessed to have one or two pieces of fine jewelry that you wear frequently. Like the obvious example that most women who get married have an expensive diamond ring. Or even if you only wear costume jewelry but want to brighten it up a little bit, I've done this on my inexpensive jewelry too with good results.

I'm not a jewelry expert, clearly, but I figure I'm going to die eventually and my jewelry will end up in a yard sale pile or something, so why not have it bright and twinkly while I'm still around to enjoy it? I mean, if you are going to wear a beautiful diamond ring all the time anyway, why let it be dingy? Keep it sparkling! So here is what I do:

1. Soak

Squirt some dishsoap in a small bowl and fill it with warm water. Drop the jewelry in to soak. A couple of hours is best. I soak mine overnight. Put the bowl in a safe place where no one will dump your jewelry down the sink by accident.

2. Scrub

Find an old soft toothbrush. I like to use a kid's toothbrush.

Then -- I learned this the hard way -- spread a washcloth over the drain in the sink so that you don't accidentally drop a ring or earring down the drain while you're scrubbing. (Sorry for those times you had to take out the sink trap to retrieve jewelry, Christopher.)

Put some baking soda in a dish. Wet the toothbrush and dip it into the baking soda so you get a good layer of gooey paste on there. Gently scrub the jewelry with the baking soda toothbrush, especially paying attention to the gem settings that have all those crevices for dust and grime to accumulate.

3. Carefully rinse off all the baking soda. If you leave any on the jewelry it will be cloudy. Dry with a soft cloth.

4. Look down. You will probably have white baking soda specks on your shirt from standing at the sink scrubbing with a toothbrush. Brush off the specks. (This step wasn't included where I originally learned to clean jewelry, but I was obliged to add it for myself.)

5. Enjoy your glittering clean jewelry!