Jewelry

Earrings

• Maybelline Clear Nail Polish. To prevent inexpensive earrings from irritating skin, paint a protective coating of Maybelline Clear Nail Polish over the posts and let it dry completely. (Every few weeks clean off the nail polish with Cutex Nail Polish Remover and apply a new coat of clear nail polish to the posts.)

Gold, Platinum, and Gemstones

• Alka-Seltzer. To clean jewelry, drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes. The effervescent action of the sodium bicarbonate does the trick.

• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. Instead of buying jewelry cleaner, make a paste from Arm & Hammer Baking Soda and water and use it to clean your jewelry. Baking Soda is a mild abrasive.

• Canada Dry Club Soda. To clean diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emer-alds, soak the gems in Canada Dry Club Soda.

• Colgate Regular Flavor Toothpaste. To clean jewelry, squeeze a dab of Colgate Regular Flavor Toothpaste on a clean, soft cloth as a nontoxic cleaning agent. Then rinse clean.

• Efferdent. Drop two Efferdent denture cleansing tablets in a glass of water, soak the diamond jewelry in the solution until the water turns clear, and rinse the diamond ring thoroughly. Efferdent is strong enough to clean gunk from dentures, but gentle enough not to harm the dentures. A diamond is one of the strongest substances known to man, so the Efferdent won't harm the diamond. Also, you can kill two birds with one stone by cleaning your diamond ring together with your dentures. (Do not use Efferdent to clean silver jewelry, otherwise you risk darkening and pitting the silver.)

• Parsons' Ammonia and Oral-B Toothbrush. Mix one part Parsons' Am-monia and two parts warm water and soak diamond and gold jewelry in the so-lution for five minutes. Brush the jewelry with a clean, used soft Oral-B Toothbrush and rinse clean with water.

• Pink Pearl Eraser. Use a Pink Pearl Eraser to gently scour gold plated items to remove grease and grime.

• Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer. To clean gemstones and gold jewelry, use a few drops of Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer—the soapless, antibacterial hand sanitizer—and wipe clean with a soft cloth.

• Scrubbing Bubbles. To clean a diamond engagement ring, spray Scrubbing Bubbles into a small cup, drop in the ring, let sit overnight, and rinse clean with hot water in the morning.

• Simple Green. Place gold jewelry in a drinking glass, fill with Simple Green all-purpose cleaner (from the trigger-spray bottle), swirl the jewelry a few times, and let stand for one hour. Rinse thoroughly with water and dry.

• Smirnoff Vodka. Soak gold and diamond jewelry in Smirnoff Vodka for five minutes, then rinse and dry.

Necklaces

• Glad Flexible Straws. To prevent tangles in a fine chain necklace when storing, feed the end of the chain through a length of Glad Flexible Straw and fasten the catch around the outside of the straw.

• Johnson's Baby Oil and Reynolds Cut-Rite Wax Paper. To detangle a knot from a fine chain necklace, place the chain on a sheet of Reynolds Cut-Rite Wax Paper and put a drop of Johnson's Baby Oil on the knot. Using two sewing pins, slowly and carefully pick out the knot.

• Johnson's Baby Powder. To untangle a fine chain necklace, dust the chain with Johnson's Baby Powder and slowly undo the knots. The baby powder lubricates the metal.

Pearls

• Star Olive Oil. To clean pearls, rub a dab of Star Olive Oil over each pearl individually and buff dry with a chamois cloth.

Restringing

• Scotch Transparent Tape. To restring a necklace of beads of graduated sizes, tape a strip of Scotch Transparent Tape, sticky side up, on a desktop. Arrange the beads in order on the tape, then restring.

Silver

• Alberto VO5 Conditioning Hairdressing. After cleaning your silver jewelry, prevent it from tarnishing by applying a thin coat of Alberto VO5 Conditioning Hairdressing with a soft cloth. Wipe off excess, leaving behind a very thin, virtually invisible protective coating.

• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. To remove tarnish from silver jewelry, mix a thick paste of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda with water, apply to the silver with a damp sponge, rub, rinse, and buff dry.

• Arm & Hammer Baking Sodaand Reynolds Wrap. To clean tarnish from silver jewelry effortlessly, line a metal cake pan with Reynolds Wrap and fill with enough water to cover the silverware. Add two tablespoons baking soda per quart of water. Heat the water above 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the tarnished silver in the pan so it touches the aluminum foil. Do not let the water boil. The hydrogen produced by boiling baking soda combines with the sulfur in the tarnish, removing the stains. (This technique also removes the patina from silver jewelry, so make certain you're willing to do that before embracing this cleaning method.)

• Colgate Regular Flavor Toothpaste. A mild abrasive, Colgate Regular Flavor Toothpaste does an excellent job cleaning silver jewelry. Squeeze a dab of toothpaste on a soft, clean cloth, rub vigorously, and rinse thoroughly with water.

• Heinz Ketchup. To remove black gunk from silver jewelry, squirt some Heinz Ketchup on a paper towel and rub it gently into the tarnish. For stubborn tarnish, coat the item with ketchup, wait fifteen minutes, then rub the item with a soft cloth, and rinse clean. (Do not soak silver jewelry in ketchup too long; the acids can ruin the finish.)

• McCormick Cream of Tartar. Use a paste made from McCormick Cream of Tartar and water to clean silver jewelry.

• Morton Salt and ReaLemon. To clean tarnish from silver jewelry, mix two tablespoons Morton Salt to one tablespoon ReaLemon Lemon Juice. Gently rub the paste on the tarnished silver item and then wipe clean with a dry cloth.

• Parsons' Ammonia and Oral-B Toothbrush. Mix one part Parsons' Ammonia and two parts warm water and soak silver jewelry in the solution for five minutes. Brush the jewelry with a clean, used soft Oral-B Toothbrush and rinse clean with water.

• Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer. To clean silver jewelry, use a few drops of Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer—the soapless, antibacterial hand sanitizer—and wipe clean with a soft cloth.

• Windex. Windex removes light tarnish from silver. Spray and buff clean with a soft cloth.

Storage

• Crayola Chalk. To absorb moisture from a jewelry box and prevent jewelry from tarnishing as quickly, place a stick or two of Crayola Chalk in the box.

• Ziploc Storage Bags. Organize rings, earrings, necklaces, and brooches in Ziploc Storage Bags.

Stuck Ring

• Alberto VO5 Conditioning Hairdressing. To remove a ring stuck on a finger, rub a little Alberto VO5 Conditioning Hairdressing around the ring and finger and slide off the ring.

• ChapStick. Coat the affected ring and finger with ChapStick and slide the ring off.

• Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening. Use a dab of Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening to grease the ring and finger so you can glide the ring off the finger.

• Jif Peanut Butter. The oils in Jif Peanut Butter can lubricate that stuck ring enough to slide it off a finger.

• Johnson's Baby Oil. To remove a ring struck on a finger, lubricate the ring and finger with a few drops of Johnson's Baby Oil.

• Land O Lakes Butter. To get a stubborn ring off a finger, coat the affected area with Land O Lakes Butter and slide the ring right off.

• Lubriderm. To slide a ring off a finger easily, rub Lubriderm moisturizing lotion around the ring band and finger.

• Miracle Whip. Smear some Miracle Whip on the affected ring finger and slide the ring off.

• Oral-B Dental Floss. To get a stuck ring off a finger, tuck one end of a piece of Oral-B Dental Floss through the ring, then wrap the floss around the ring finger, making a spiral from the ring to the fingertip. Unwrap the floss starting at base, and the ring will be slowly and gently work itself off the finger.

• Pam Cooking Spray. Got a ring stuck on your finger? Spray the finger with Pam Cooking Spray and slide the ring off.

• Preparation H. To remove a ring stuck on a swollen finger, coat the finger with Preparation H cream to reduce the swelling and lubricate the finger, allowing the ring to slide off.

• Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. Coat a ring stuck on a finger with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly and slide the ring off.

• WD-40. Several medical journals suggest using WD-40 to remove a ring stuck on a finger.

• Windex. Spraying a ring stuck on a finger with Windex makes the finger slippery enough to remove the ring with ease.

Tarnish

• Crayola Chalk. To prevent costume jewelry from tarnishing, place a stick of Crayola Chalk in your jewelry box. Chalk absorbs the moisture that causes jewelry to tarnish.

• Maybelline Clear Nail Polish. To prevent inexpensive jewelry from turning your skin green, paint the inside of the ring or the back of the bracelet with Maybelline Clear Nail Polish to create a protective barrier.

Wristwatches

• ChapStick. To clean a scratch from the glass face of a wristwatch, rub a little ChapStick lip balm over the mark and buff clean.

• Colgate Regular Flavor Toothpaste. To clean a scratch from the glass face of a wristwatch, rub a dab of Colgate Regular Flavor Toothpaste over the mark and buff well.

• Cutex Nail Polish Remover and Q-Tips Cotton Swabs. To repair scratches on the plastic face of a wristwatch, dip a Q-Tips Cotton Swab in Cutex Nail Polish Remover and gently rub it over the face of the watch until the scratches vanish, then wipe clean.

• Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer. To clean a scratch from the glass face of a wristwatch, put a few drops of Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer—the soap-less, antibacterial hand sanitizer—on the mark and buff clean.