In the last post I mentioned that I had cleaned some of my newly re-discovered silver jewellery and I thought you might be interested in how I did this.
I didn't use any fancy products, or even go out and buy anything. I already had everything I needed in my kitchen!
I lined a pyrex dish (any dish will do) with some foil and filled it up with quite warm water. I then added some salt and bicarbonate of soda and swirled it round to make sure it had dissolved. Then I put in the pieces that I wanted to clean and left them for a bit.
The solution did its job and the items were as good as new.
What pieces do you have that could be rejuvenated by this really simple process?
The Declutter Diarist
PS - didn't take any photos for a before and after but my husband has just found a St Christopher chain of his, so when I work my magic I will post the results - DD
Showing posts with label jewellery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jewellery. Show all posts
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Hidden Treasure
So, today is Day One of my decluttering task. I have started off with a fairly small task - sorting out my jewellery boxes.
I have a large wooden box with a drawer and two smaller mirrored boxes, and basically everything was just slung in. I don't wear jewellery very often and no wonder really, finding matching earrings or an untangled necklace was just too much like hard work.
Here is a photo of the before, pretty crazy eh?!
There was all sorts in the boxes that didn't fall under the category of jewellery. Things I found included spare buttons that had come with clothes, general rubbish, curler pins and 78p in loose change. If I keep finding that amount of change every time I do a bit of decluttering I could make a small fortune!
It took a couple of hours to go through the boxes, but it was worth it in the end. Earrings have been reunited with their other half, necklaces have been untangled, silver has been cleaned and I have rediscovered items I had completely forgotten that I owned.
I also took the opportunity to get rid of pieces that I know I won't wear in the future. Some will go to the charity shop, other bits were just broken and needed to be thrown away. There is one silver bracelet that I got from a friend that is lovely but just not my taste which I will sell.
One of the downsides of this decluttering is that I have found stuff that I don't have a place for yet, like the spare buttons. Now, I plan to have a sewing box in the future but until then I need to keep these bits together. So I have designated a shoe box as a 'repatriation box'. When I create a place for things, I will check the box to see if there is anything ready to go home.
It felt good to have started the decluttering project, and I am really please with the results. I think that I may not have the right box to keep all of my jewellery in, and if I buy any more I will have to think very carefully about how I will keep it - but that may not be a bad thing, I might stop spending money on bits and bats now I can actually see what I have!
So here are the results, much better I am sure you will agree!
Happy New Year Everyone!
The Declutter Diarist
I have a large wooden box with a drawer and two smaller mirrored boxes, and basically everything was just slung in. I don't wear jewellery very often and no wonder really, finding matching earrings or an untangled necklace was just too much like hard work.
Here is a photo of the before, pretty crazy eh?!
There was all sorts in the boxes that didn't fall under the category of jewellery. Things I found included spare buttons that had come with clothes, general rubbish, curler pins and 78p in loose change. If I keep finding that amount of change every time I do a bit of decluttering I could make a small fortune!
It took a couple of hours to go through the boxes, but it was worth it in the end. Earrings have been reunited with their other half, necklaces have been untangled, silver has been cleaned and I have rediscovered items I had completely forgotten that I owned.
I also took the opportunity to get rid of pieces that I know I won't wear in the future. Some will go to the charity shop, other bits were just broken and needed to be thrown away. There is one silver bracelet that I got from a friend that is lovely but just not my taste which I will sell.
One of the downsides of this decluttering is that I have found stuff that I don't have a place for yet, like the spare buttons. Now, I plan to have a sewing box in the future but until then I need to keep these bits together. So I have designated a shoe box as a 'repatriation box'. When I create a place for things, I will check the box to see if there is anything ready to go home.
It felt good to have started the decluttering project, and I am really please with the results. I think that I may not have the right box to keep all of my jewellery in, and if I buy any more I will have to think very carefully about how I will keep it - but that may not be a bad thing, I might stop spending money on bits and bats now I can actually see what I have!
So here are the results, much better I am sure you will agree!
Happy New Year Everyone!
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