Do you have some silver cutlery that you hardly use because it is a pain to clean?
I’ve got a couple of serving spoons that I inherited from my Omi and for the longest time they looked like this:
Which of course meant, that I wasn’t using them. It’s such a shame because I truly think you should be using your heirlooms and treasures as often as you possibly can. They should give you joy in the everyday. Because our life is made up of a lot of ‘every day’ and only a tiny few ‘special occasions’.
taking care of your belongings
Apart from the fact that I think we should use the beautiful things in our life, it is also really important to me to teach a sense of appreciation to my children. And appreciation means, you take care of the things you own. I fear as a society we are loosing the ability to maintain, fix and mend the stuff in our lives, because it is so cheap to buy something new. Don’t get me wrong, I love buying something new as much as the next person! But I try to balance that out by taking great care of the things that I own. That means using, storing and maintaining things with love and gratitude.
simple steps to clean your silver
I technically knew about easy ways to clean silver. But sometimes we need to experience the ease of something before we are ready to incorporate it into our lives. Until then it just seems like a hassle, doesn’t it.
If you’re in the same boat, I encourage you to have a quick look at those simple steps (and ingredients, that you might already have in your cupboard), and get cleaning. My Omi’s serving spoons are now a regular on our dining table and I’m thrilled every time I use them.
I truly would love for you to experience the same, so get your pretty silver out and let’s start cleaning!
- Line a bowl, large enough to hold your cutlery, with aluminium foil.
- Sprinkle in 1 heaped tbs bicarb soda and 1 tbs salt.
- Pour in 1/2 cup white vinegar and watch it bubble!
- Place the cutlery into the bowl.
- Top it up with boiling water until the cutlery is completely submerged.
- Watch the magic happen!
Be careful taking it out of the hot solution and give it a final polish with a cloth if you wish. My Omi’s spoons were so tarnished that I did two rounds of the above steps to get rid of all the darkness. If you are cleaning a lot of cutlery you may also need to replace the foil. You’ll see what I mean, it will change colour as your heirlooms become clean. Fascinating really.
You could use a disposable aluminium container for this, but in my opinion that causes way too much waste, when a bit of foil does the trick just fine. Once you’re finished you can throw the used aluminium foil in the recycling.
the steps in pictures
- Line a bowl, large enough to hold your cutlery, with aluminium foil:
- Sprinkle in 1 heaped tbs bicarb soda and 1 tbs salt:
- Pour in 1/2 cup white vinegar and watch it bubble:
- Place the cutlery into the bowl.
- Top it up with boiling water until the cutlery is completely submerged:
- Watch the magic happen!
- Tadaaaaa!!
Getting used to this super simple process means it can either be part of your weekly or monthly routine. Or, if you’re a little routine-averse like me, you know that once you see them darken, you just quickly need to throw together this little bath and have them sparkling again in now time!
Much love,
Katrine x