Cleaning the Family Silver

Alison Johnston General

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We use Grandma Johnston’s silver every day. It is mixed in with my stainless, and no, they don’t match! But I love that we are using something that belonged to this amazingly strong, farm woman and teacher. My stainless cleans beautifully in the dishwasher, but the silver suffers a bit. When I looked into my drawer and saw brown utensils, I knew it was time to clean. Except I don’t want to spend my Friday afternoon scrubbing silver. That’s when I found this great post at the blog On Sutton Place and thought “Better Living Through Chemistry!”

Cleaning Silver

Cleaning Silver

I placed it all in my sink on a sheet of tin foil with a 1/2 cup of baking soda and a 1/2 cup salt. Poured boiling water on top and waited 5 minutes. The tarnish faded!

Clean Silver

Clean Silver

It’s not up to Mr. Carson’s standards, but it is clean and shiny and has that lovely warm hue of true silver. Back in the drawer, and back in business.

What piece of elegance do you own from your past? Don’t save it for later. You deserve the best today!