Pin-spired: Homemade Jewelry Cleaner

I never take my wedding rings off. Ever. So, as you can imagine, they get pretty nasty. Especially due to the way my diamonds are set (see right). I also wear my diamond studs almost as much as my rings, so they are equally dingy.

I try to get to my jeweler a couple times a year to have them cleaned, but in case you haven't noticed, I have 4 things keeping me from doing much these days.

So, I have been searching for a homemade remedy for my jewelry nastiness.  I tried one of those little at home sonic jewelry cleaner things with a store bought solution that promised sparkling jewelry in 30 minutes.  Yeah, that was a HUGE waste of money.

Next step - Pinterest, of course.  I found a bunch of "recipes" with different amounts, but all with the same ingredients: baking soda, salt, and Dawn.

In addition to the same ingredients, all the recipes had aluminum foil in common.

I totally forgot to take a photo of how nasty my jewelry was before, but it worked GREAT - here is what I did (sort of a combination of the 3-4 links I looked at):

1. Line a bowl with aluminum foil.

2. Drop your jewelry into the bowl.

3. Cover jewelry with baking soda.

4. Cover jewelry & baking soda with salt.

5. Cover the salt layer with a layer of Dawn.

6. Pour in hot water to fill the bowl.

7. Let sit. (I am not sure exactly how long I let it sit - maybe 2 hours?  I have no idea how long I should have left it, that was just how much time it took me to make dinner, feed the kids, get them to bed and remember to take the jewelry back out.

After I took my jewelry out I rinsed with water and dried with a paper towel.

Here are some after shots of my wedding and engagement rings (please ignore my serious need for a manicure - remember those 4 things keeping me from doing things I mentioned earlier?)

And the diamond studs (can we say "BLING"!?!?!)

Success!  Plus, in addition to my newly sparkly jewelry, I didn't have to leave the house and the solution costs pennies!