The Holidays are Coming - Is You Dinning Room Ready

Cleaning and Storing Crystal Silver and China By Cassandra Cooper

Somewhere in our lifetime most of us have either purchased, inherited, or received as a gift a piece(s) of china, crystal or silver. They are very nice to look at, but in order to keep them looking good I would like to pass on a few tips that may help you keep them looking and lasting you for many years to come. Several years ago, I sold china, crystal and silver. I took some job training in order to be able to answer customers questions and so here are some things that you may or may not know about:

The biggest problem that most people have is with their crystal cracking with use. This problem has two main causes that can be avoided. Storage Never store your glasses, stemware or any type of crystal glass upside down. Most of us do this in order to keep the inside clean and ready to use. Glasses and stemware are not made to balance their weight on the lip of the glass. Bases are usually heavier and sometimes even broader to support the weight of the glass as well as the extra weight of the liquid. The only way to store your crystal, glasses or stemware is with the bottom down!   The only exception for this would be if you had a rack to store your stemware. The kind of rack you want is one that fits under a cupboard and has slides to hang the stemware.

Cleaning Crystal  - care needs to be used to keep it from getting brittle.   I know that it is hard to think of crystal as drying out, but that is basically what happens when you only use it occasionally. The next time you are having a special dinner you pull out the crystal and fill a glass. Next thing you know, you hear a crack, or you clink the crystal against something and a crack starts to form. Before you use the crystal washing them in the sink would be a good way to get them not only clean but give them the chance to soak in the water. This soaking will help prepare them for use. When you wash your fine crystal, make sure that the bottoms of you sink has either a mat or use a dishtowel to prevent any breakage from the hard surface of the sink. Never wash crystal in the dishwasher. Most china will have a label on the back, which will tell you whether or not you can place them in the dishwasher. Never use your fine china in the microwave. Padded china bags are a wonderful way to store between uses.

If you have any silver, it must be washed in the sink and not the dishwasher. Making sure it is completely dry before you put it away. You can purchase silver bags for storage that will keep the silver from tarnishing. If they do tarnish, there are many wonderful silver cleaners on the market.

Display  - I have a lovely china hutch. It is very special to me as I won it in a contest at a furniture store!! The inside has cupboard has 3 glass shelves behind 3 glass door. The hutch has a light bulb in the top. I thought that I could have a better display. I took small Christmas lights and placed them in and around the crystal and china on the shelves. The smaller lights make each shelve sparkle. And, even though I am not using the crystal I can enjoy the way it sparkles. One of the mistakes that most of us make is not using our crystal unless it is a special occasion. Who is more special then your family!!

About the author - Cassandra Cooper is a professional organizer and owner of Professional Services. She specializes in tailoring an organizing system to fit the needs of each client. Contact Cassandra at The Time Miner