It is essential to clean silver jewelry in order to ensure that it does not lose its natural shine or brilliance. The following methods can help to get rid of dirt and they will also help to prevent the silver from turning into a lackluster, dull color.

Required Tools and Materials to Clean Silver Jewelry

The following tools and materials can be used to clean silver jewelry.

• baking soda (1/4 cup)
• salt (1/3 cup)
• towel
• container (large enough to hold all the jewelry if you are dipping all of them them at the same time)
• strainer
• aluminum foil
• liquid dish soap (1/4 cup)
• plastic spoon
• water (half a gallon)
• stovetop

Instructions to Clean Silver Jewelry

The following simple steps are involved in the process of cleaning silver jewelry.

• First, cover the container or pot with the aluminum foil. Gather the ingredients listed and pour everything in the container.
• Use the spoon to stir the mix. Gather the silver jewelry. Place them in the pot.
• Set the pot on the stove (if it isn’t already). Allow the mix to boil for no more than 5 minutes.
• The next step to cleaning silver jewelry is removing the pot from the stove after 5 minutes.
• Allow the mixture to cool down for a few minutes. Use the strainer and take everything out of the pot.
• Get the jewelry and wash them with cold water. Set each one on the towel.
• Let them dry completely.

Using Polishes and Silver Dips

When using silver dips and polishes, do not immerse it in the mixture longer than indicated. If you do, white stains will appear on the jewelry. Be sure to rinse each piece thoroughly. Any leftover stains might damage the ornament.

If there are no specific instructions, just dip the piece and quickly take it out. For drying, cotton cloth is usually used. Sunshine Cloth works just as well if not better, for cleaning silver jewelry. This material actually puts some anti-tarnish protection on the piece.

If using lacquer shields, it is best to apply the material on soft cloth and polish. Dipping might produce film in certain areas.

Tips and Warnings

Here are a few points to remember when cleaning. Use a large piece of cloth. When you have cleaned one piece, lay the piece on a separate cloth. Never use the area you used to dab the jewelry with the other pieces. Wipe with another section of the cloth.

Wipe the jewelry in an up and down motion. Keep wiping and cleaning silver jewelry until the tarnish no longer appears on the cloth. Count all the pieces if you are dipping them in a solution. You do not want to throw some jewelry along with the cleaning liquid.

There are special silver cleaning pastes for intricately designed ornaments. Apply some paste into a soft cloth and gently wipe. You can use also apply the paste on a wet toothbrush. This should help remove some of the deeply embedded tarnish. Clean in an up and down motion.

Do not move the toothbrush in a circular motion. It is not going to remove the dirt. Always follow the instructions for any silver dip you are using. Excessive application could tarnish the product even more.

Cleaning silver jewelry does not take a lot of time. But you need to use the right ingredients. Using the wrong materials might cause permanent damage and so, make sure the proper techniques and materials are used.

With the invention of plastic comes a whole variety of usable materials and equipment. One particularly useful way to apply our technology on plastic is to use this material as a protective surface. So today, we have plastic coverings for a variety of surfaces which includes our counter tops. One interesting thing about plastic surfaces is that it is usually very easy to clean. Cleaning plastic surfaces will require the usual cleansers and cleaning implements you normally would use.

Required Cleaning Implements

Here are the things you’ll need in cleaning plastic surfaces. You’ll need a spray kitchen cleaner, a mild detergent, and a sponge. Take note that when you use these cleansers be careful not to scratch the surface so as to keep the plastic smooth with a glossy finish.

Other stuff that you will need will include a bucket, water, a vegetable brush, and a mild glass cleaner. To wipe things clean when you’re done, you’ll need soft cloths and soft paper towels.

Cleaning Plastic Surfaces

Mix a small amount of mild detergent in a bucket of water. If in case your sink is not in use and the area you’re cleaning is right by it then mix the detergent in your sink. A bucket, obviously, will allow you to move around in case the plastic surface you’re cleaning is in another nearby area.

Soak a soft cloth in the detergent solution you just made and use it to wipe dirt and grime. This is basically the sum of the process of cleaning plastic surfaces. If you’re lucky and the dirt isn’t that bad, this will be all that you will be doing and then you rinse off the detergent.

When cleaning plastic surfaces, work your way through from the top to bottom. Use a kitchen cleaner and spray the area as an added help. Now, you’ll definitely encounter tough areas that will require added work. Use a sponge for the stubborn dirt that just won’t come off. A little warning though is that even if you’re using a sponge, be careful not to apply too much pressure as that will also damage the plastic surface.

Some plastic surfaces are textured so using a sponge won’t help that much. This is where your soft vegetable brush comes into play. As always, brush gently to avoid scratch marks on the surface you’re cleaning. A good tip is to always brush or scrub in a circular motion.

Finish

Here are the last steps in cleaning plastic surfaces. Using a soft clean cloth, wipe away any remaining cleansers on the surface. Rinse areas where the solution remains with a clean moistened cloth. Dry the entire surface with a soft cloth and buff it using a soft paper towel. To take care of the streaks, spray the surface with a mild glass cleaner and wipe it away with a clean cloth.

Aluminum is among the most common element present in various household items. It ranges from cookware and coffee pots to furniture legs and window frames and many others. Cleaning aluminum is relatively easy to do and will just take minutes to finish.

Cookware

It is quite a task when it comes to cleaning aluminum cookware. This is true especially if there are burnt-on food residues on the surface of the cookware. In order to bring back the clean look of your aluminum cookware, using a mixture of white vinegar and water is the easiest way to do it. Prepare a mixture of one part vinegar to two parts of water and bring to a boil. Soak the aluminum cookware in the boiled mixture for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This will loosen the hard to scrape burnt-on food residues. Once loosen, scrape the cookware with a non-abrasive cleaning pad to totally clean it.

Tea Kettles

Using vinegar is an effective way to cleaning aluminum on the tea kettles’ exterior area. Prepare a mixture of two tablespoons of white vinegar and two pints of water. Soak a clean cloth into it and wipe the exterior area of the tea kettles very gently. This is an easy to clean aluminum while bringing back the natural luster of the exterior area.

Kitchen Utensils

Immerse the kitchen utensils in a mixture of vinegar and hot water. You can also use a clean cloth soaked in the vinegar and water mixture to wipe the aluminum kitchen utensils. This vinegar and water mixture can also be used in cleaning aluminum glasses even if they are colored.

Window Frames

Unpainted aluminum window frames can be cleaned by using a mixture of warm water with a small quantity of mild detergent. Use a clean sponge or washcloth in applying the mixture to the window frames and wash thoroughly. For the mild detergent, you can use either your dishwashing liquid or liquid hand soaps. Any of these will work well with cleaning aluminum window frames.

Furniture Legs and Armrests

In cleaning aluminum furniture legs and armrests, the same mixture of hot water and mild detergent is needed. Wipe the mixture to the furniture legs and armrests using a sponge or soft cloth and wash thoroughly afterwards. Applying a thin coating of car wax on the aluminum furniture once it is dry will give added protection and shine.

Tip

Using abrasive cleaners or pads on any aluminum household items is not a good thing to do because it will leave visible scratch marks on the surface. Use baking soda instead and rub it with a dampen cloth in order to make your aluminum item free from scratches in the surface.

There are a lot of reasons why stainless steel is quite favored. This is especially true when it comes to cookware and other kitchen equipment. It is well known to resist corrosion. Stainless steel surfaces appear naturally clean and rust free. However, dust, dirt, and grime presents themselves as threats which will eventually lead to rust and corrosion over time. The good news is that all you need to do is to clean stainless steel in order to avoid future predicaments.

Needed Equipment

You’ll need the following to clean stainless steel surfaces and cookware. Bring out a pair of rubber gloves, paper towels, water, non-gel toothpaste, soft cloths that are lint free, water softener, silver polish, and bleach.

How to Clean Stainless Steel

Mix a gallon of hot water, a fourth cup of water softener, and a fourth cup of chlorine bleach. Mix all these up in any non-aluminum container that is big enough. If you have a non-aluminum sink then you can very well just mix them up there.

You can start to clean stainless steel cutlery in this solution. Just leave them soaked in it for 30 minutes. After soaking, just wash these like you usually do. If you prefer to use a dishwasher then by all means use one.

Tough Spots

There will sometimes be tough spots on stainless steel cutlery that soaking can’t take out. Using a soft cloth, apply some toothpaste on these tough spots, rinse, and then dry. If that doesn’t work mix some silver polish with an equal amount of ammonia instead of toothpaste.

Burned Food

Here’s how you clean stainless steel pans with burned food. Fill pan with burned food with water and drop a sheet of dryer fabric softener and let it soak for half an hour. If the burned food on your pan is really bad you might have to soak all night. Burned food will come off easily after soaking.

Discolored Insides

Use tomatoes to get rid of stains on the inside of your pots. Crush a tomato, even ones that you were planning to throw away will work. Place it in the pot, add some water, and simmer for half an hour. Clean your stainless steel pot as usual.

Burned Bottoms

Discolored burned bottoms may be all too familiar. Clean the bottoms using steel wool that you can buy from a hardware store. Buy the ones that are very fine and rub it on the bottoms without soap or water. After you have taken all the burned parts off wash your pots.

Sprayer

You might want to use a sprayer to clean stainless steel surfaces in your kitchen or other appliances. Grab a spray bottle and fill it half full with rubbing alcohol and then fill the rest with water. Use this solution to clean kitchen surfaces and other appliances.

Since cleaning is already a part of our daily life, then having a good judgment in choosing cleaning products is definitely essential. We all know that there are hundreds of cleaning products out there in the market nowadays. Most of us becomes confused on what cleaning product should we use. Plus, our personal judgment is already affected by many advertisements and promotional materials we can see everywhere. Here are some aspects that you need to consider in choosing cleaning products.

Identify the Surface to Clean

This is very necessary so that you will know what ideal cleaning product you must use on it. Individual surfaces such as glasses, fabrics, woods, tiles, and others have specific cleaning solutions that you need to use on them. Surface damages are prevented if you are using the right cleaning product for a specific surface to clean.

Check the Effectiveness of the Product

There are cleaning products that are labeled as multi-purpose cleaners. That means that they can be used to clean different kinds of surfaces such as plastic, glasses, and even woods. But the turning point is that how effective really are these products. It is one of the basics in choosing cleaning products to check their effectiveness. Scrutinize how spotless can your mirror be when cleaned with a glass cleaner compared with a multi-purpose cleaner. Right cleaning product cleans better for a particular surface.

Make a Trial Application

Prepare a small part of the surface and test the cleaning product on it. Observe how really effective is the cleansing power of the product. Trial application is really advisable so as to limit the damage done when the cleaning product is not effective at all.

Personal Safety

You should also consider your personal safety in choosing cleaning products. If you will read the ingredients contained in cleaning products, there are some that contain harmful chemicals that can be dangerous to our general health. There are cleaning products that can burn your skin when spatter. Others can also cause respiratory problems when breathed in. Minimize or even avoid using such cleaning products and don’t put yourself at risk.

Choose Environment-Friendly Cleaning Products

Choosing cleaning products that are environment-friendly will help a lot to preserve nature. Biodegradable, organic, or non-biodegradable substances are key ingredients to all cleaning products in the market today. As a consumer, we must come to a decision to use a cleaning product that we really prefer and not just because it is advertised widely.

It’s not really that complicated in choosing cleaning products. If the product is effective and safe to use, then the good quality of the surface to be cleaned will be retained over time.