Unless you use your fine silver on a daily basis, then you really don’t need to clean it more than twice a year. The goal in cleaning silver is to remove tarnish and return it to its original shine.
Fortunately, there are a number of products on the market that make cleaning silver a fairly simple process. Personally, I love silver cleaning wipes. Oneida sells the wipes 10 in a box for about ten to 12 bucks. They are very easy to use; simply wet the silver item that needs polishing, and then rub it with the wipe. Once the tarnish lifts, rinse the item and dry it gently with a soft cloth.
The wipes have silver cleaner imbedded in their fibers. The moisture from the water helps release the odor-less cleaner and allows you to eliminate tannish with a few strokes. The wipes come in handy when you are expecting a few guests and you don’t have time to deep clean your entire silver collection. The only drawback to the wipes is that they are designed primarily for touch-up jobs. On the flipside you are left with a sparkling silver item that also features an anti-tarnish coating, and the wipes are disposable, so clean up is a breeze.
Another decent cleaning option is a polish mitt. Oneida, Town Talk, and Goddard’s sell these mitts that clean sterling silver, silver plate and gold plate items. If you are looking for a fast and convenient way to polish pieces and keep them tarnish-free, then you might opt to clean with the mitts. All you need to do is to put them on your hands and rub the items to remove the tarnish.
The downside to the cleaning mitts is that they become less effective over time. Oneida suggests that you wash their mitts when the anti-tarnishing ingredients become compromised. However, if you use the mitts on an entire collection of silver items, then I would suggest getting new ones, because there are only so many items a single pair of mitts can clean.