(couldn’t resist a little Lord of the Rings reference)
Mrs. Bell Pepper’s most recent post about ring holders really got me thinking…. How often do you take off your engagement/wedding ring?
I eat, sleep, shower, swim, cook, and craft with my engagement ring. In fact, the only time I take off my ring is to get it cleaned or when I’m making meatballs (for which I use my hands, and I’m afraid to get meat bacteria all stuck up in my ring).
On the other hand, my sister never sleeps or showers with her engagement ring on. She waits until she’s walking out the door to work to slip it back on after a whole night of being ring-less. I can’t do this because I’m afraid I’d forget it all the time, and my left ring finger just feels naked without it!
So where do you ladies fall in this spectrum? Do you take your ring off for specific activities or leave it on all the time?
I take mine off to sleep, shower, and wash my hands (and also during Ukrainian dance rehearsals and performances!)
I am one to take off my rings when I wash the dishes, shower, clean my hand, sleep. My fingers are the type that swell up at night, so I get annoyed by my rings and have to take them off….
but like you, I feel naked when I dont have my rings on…
and unfortunately Ive been feeling extremely naked and sad, because I lost my enagement ring… 
I was sooo upset for weeks. And no - i havent found it. So believe me when I say that my wedding ring… I will crazy glue it to my finger (well not really…but you get the idea)
I’m in the middle somewhere. I don’t sleep in it (learned that lesson after poking my poor fiance in the eye!) I don’t shower in it (it gets caught on my hair.) And I too don’t make meatballs wearing it. 
But I put it back on the second I’m awake or done with those activities.
Mine comes off only for showering and cooking. I really need to get a special spot to put it for those times though!
I take mine off when I brush my teeth and get ready for bed - and leave it on a little doggy-shaped ring holder next to my bathroom sink. I put it back on as I leave for work.
My rings don’t match up very well, and so they scratch easily when I wear them too much. (one is white gold, one platinum)- otherwise I’d wear it 24 hours a day.
hehe. I wrote a post on the same topic not long ago …
(http://tiffanyandcolin.blogspot.com/2007/09/i-wear-my-sunglasses-at-night.html)
I take mine off anytime anything “bad” could happen to it - meaning I don’t sleep, shower, clean, or cook with it on. I just like to keep it clean - I also clean it at least once a month. (yup, I’m a crazy.)
Like you, I take mine off for cooking. No sense in getting e.coli or whatnot all in there. And I take it off when I’m lotioning, since it’s got engravings that could get all gunky. Otherwise, it never comes off!
I take it off when I get home. I don’t like to cook, do dishes, shower, work out with them on. I have a pave-like setting with alot of little nooks and crannies for dirt and crud to seep into!
I have a very high setting, so I don’t wear mine to sleep for fear of scratching. I generally put it on after my shower, and since mine is white gold - my jeweler said that chlorine is horrible for jewelry, so I don’t swim in it either.
I keep mine on 24/7. I have taken it off a couple times when it was professionally cleaned, but it went right back on. And I have a sonic cleaner at home (gift from Mom) and use that a couple times a month, but otherwise, it doesn’t leave my finger. It’s a part of me now, I hate when it’s not on me.
I take mine off for showering, doing dishes, cooking, and running outside. I leave it on when I’m at the gym, though. I can’t imagine sleeping without it, though - I think I would wake up in the middle of the night wondering where it was!
My ring is the first thing I take off when I get home and the last thing I put on when I head out the door. I’m allergic to it so the less I wear it the less I break out!
I just wrote a post on that myself…I’ve been shopping for a ring holder as I fall into the “take it off semi-regularly” category.
My rings come off the moment I get home and don’t get put back on until I walk out the door again.
i also take mine off when i’m home, and i put it in a small bowl on my night stand. i would never leave the house without it, but my fingers swell at night and i feel uncomfortable. i tried to sleep with it on one night… and it didn’t work!
Even though the entire thing is plantinum, I’m still terrified of having one of the four prongs break/bend and loosing my center diamond after a horror story I heard from the jeweler. So call me paranoid, but I take it off doing anything that could bump it.
I have it on all the time. The only time I take it off is to clean it or if I know I’m going to do some heavy damage to it like playing sports or when I was doing weight training.
I take mine off a lot (playing in the garden, cooking with meat, sleep, shower, doing almost anything dirty with my hands). I also take off my mala beads for these activities and my ring is always with my beads either on my hand or with my beads tied around it so it is big and cumbersome and easy to find anywhere.
Ohmigawd, Kelly!! That is my most horrible fear. I’m one of the “take it off as soon as I get home” crowd and I’m deathly afraid that I’ll lose it. I used to put it in my pants pocket until one day I forgot it was in there and it went through the entire wash cycle! It came out none the worse for wear (thank goodness!) and since then I make sure to put it in my jewelry box.
I take mine off a lot, for almost all the same reasons mentioned above, but I do leave it on to sleep. It’s not too tight so doesn’t cause any swelling. But washing the hands, showering, cooking, gardening, working out - yup, off it comes!
I wear mine most of the time.
It only comes off for the shower, nightly face washing/flossing/tooth brushing, heavy duty cleaning, painting our house, hands in the food cooking - e.g. meatballs, and when I put hand lotion on.
When it’s off for the shower or my nightly clean up, it goes in the jewelry box in our bedroom. When it’s off for major cleaning or cooking it goes in the ultrasonic cleaner I have at home. Gotta love that thing!
Unfortunately I have to take my ring off for most of the day. I have super sensitive skin and even soap gets me all irritated.
I really only wear my ring during the daytime and really have to dry my finger after washing.
If it wasn’t for my poor skin I would leave it on 24/7
Never take mine off unless I know there could be irrevocable damage (such as paint :P). I always wear rubber gloves for dish washing or household chores, so that’s not an issue.
Like Elizabeth & Mrs. Spider above, my ring is the first thing that comes off me the moment I walk in the door, and the last thing I put on when I leave the next day. I have a little elephant ring holder I bought from BB&B to place the ring for safe keeping.
I never take mine off!!
I lost my beautiful tanzanite/diamond ring my parents gave me for graduation (I wore it EVERYDAY for 5 solid years) and while putting sunscreen on FI’s back at a concert I took it off and set it ontop of my purse. I forgot I took it off and picked up my purse and it must have fallen on the ground. We went back 5 minutes later and it was gone forever.
That is the reason I NEVER take my engagement ring off… Not for a split second.
And we also have it insured though our HOI just incase the stone falls out, ect. It is covered!
BerryBride2007: We got a personal articles insurance policy on the ring, so that’s probably one reason I’m a little less worried about it than some other girls.
For the girls that have lost their rings/are worried about it: My FMIL lost her wedding rings and months later found it on the bumper of her car! By that point, though, she had already upgraded to another ring.
When I first got engaged, I was so torn as to what to do! I was afraid to take it off, for fear something might happen to it. But I was also afraid to shower, sleep, cook, wash hands, work out, etc. with it on for fear I might hurt it!
I mentioned this to the jeweler one day when I was in getting my ring cleaned. He encouraged me to continue taking it off when doing those things in order to preserve the diamond longer. He even gave me a cute little ring holder thingy so I’d always know where it was if it wasn’t on my hand!
Just in case, we have this baby insured, so even if something happens, I’ll be ok.
Oh, and tyffaknee, I’m crazy like that too. I get mine cleaned all the time!
I only wear my ring when I’m out with the exception of the gym or when I go the spa or get a manicure. My ring has a high setting, engraving on the side and pave diamonds so I don’t want to wear out my ring or get stuff stuck in it.
I keep my ring on for most of the day. But like the others, I take it off for cooking, cleaning, taking a shower & because my fingers swell, I usually take it off before bed. I have the same cute elephant ring holder from BB&B that knoayjpark has.
Now I think I need one for the kitchen too!
I only take mine off when I shower, wash my face/hands, clean, cook and practice yoga. Otherwise, I always have it on my hand…I feel naked without it too.
Meatballs and hair gel (the latter occurs every night for 5 minutes…)
Have a very small rabbit figurine that the FH gave me early on in our relationship and the ring gets popped onto one of the rabbit’s ears when I take it off. Geeky.
I take it off to shower, lift weights, and bike. It goes back on as soon as I’m clean and lotioned up.
I had his grandmother’s wedding/engagement set for my engagement ring, and it’s fifty years old. I worried about it getting damaged, but I also loved to see it on, so stopped putting my hands in my jeans pockets for a while and bought a ring holder (the before mentioned lenox salt swan), and tried to remember to take it off when I went swimming, showering, hiking etc.
I was really nervous about taking it off since I had already lost a ring as a kid and always thought my hands didn’t look quite right without it, but sense won out. Now that I have a more sturdy wedding band, I don’t have to worry anymore.
I’m with you– I wear mine constantly, except when kneading bread dough or making meatballs. I used to worry about it, but my jeweler kept telling me, “wear and enjoy– that’s what it’s for!” so I did!
I take mine off when I do anything where my hands will get wet. If I don’t then my finger will start to peel.
I have been collecting impression glass chickens since I was young (if you ever go to flea market in the south you know what I am talking about, it is a candy dish with a lid that looks like a pastel opaque chicken), I use them now as ring holders. I keep one by each sink and my bed. Somehow I feel like the lid keeps it extra safe.
I hardly ever take mine off. Only when I’m doing some heavy duty working out, like lifting weights. Or baking something that requires me to get my hands dirty. Otherwise that little sucker stays put!
I’m the same as most, where I take my ring off during activities that may damage it. I’ve seen girls at the gym wear theirs and I don’t understand how they can do that. Although I do get kind of nervous leaving my ring in the locker. (I usually go the gym straight after work) I take mine off when I sleep and keep it in the same ring box that it came in. I love the ring box. I can’t sleep with any jewelry on, it bugs me!
Do ya’ll remember the scene in Apollo 13 where, the morning of the launch, the wife loses her engagement ring down the shower drain? Scares.me.to.death!
So, whenever I’m near running water (shower, dishes, swimming pool) my ring is off of my hand and in a lovely little tray on my dresser. The rest of the time, I keep it on.
I take it off to sleep and to shower and to gym and to put hand cream on. I was afraid at first that I would forget to put it on in the morning but I keep it on my bedside table and have only forgotten once.
I only take mine off in the shower and when I put on lotion. I heard a story of these girls that went on vacation and someone broke into their house and whoever had their ring at bedside had it stolen and the ones who slept with it on didn’t have it stolen…therefore I always sleep with it on…
I only remove my wedding band when I’m making bread or something else sticky. Otherwise, it’s on all the time… there’s a nifty little dent in my finger now.
I take it off when I go to sleep, and then put it on after I’m done getting ready in the morning. If I’m just hanging around the house at night or on the weekend, I’ll have it on, unless I’m cleaning. I also take it off when I put on lotion.
My fingers swell easily, so I take mine off when I feel them start to swell. During the summers, I never wore it b/c of the swelling, so my FI too pity and got me a second ring to wear during summers. (A gorgeous sapphire!) I also never wear it sleeping, showering or swimming. I’m too afraid to lose it. I know we were poor college students when we bought it and can afford to replace it with a bigger and better ring, but it wouldn’t feel right. I have a small heart shaped ring box that I keep both rings in when I’m not wearing them.
I used to take it off each night and put it back in the box it was presented to me in, but then whenever I travel to see my boy, or just away for the weekend, I leave it on the whole time, so I’ve gotten in the habit of just leaving it on. I was THRILLED to get a tan line from my ring this summer — I actually thought the salt water of the ocean, plus the sunblock, plus the sand on the beach made my ring shine even more!!
for the first month - i didn’t take it off except when i showered. i didn’t want the soap residue. i even took it off and held it in a pocket when i washed my hands after using the restroom.
but now..i take it off right when i get home. but i never forget to put it on when i leave..even to check the mail! hahaha.
it’s off whenever i’m cooking, cleaning or showering. otherwise it’s on at all times. i’m afraid of it slipping off and down the drain!
i think i wore mine non-stop for the first couple of weeks. i take it off when i’m sleeping/showering/working out. i have a ring holder on the bathroom sink.
i take imy e-ring off when i get into bed and put it back on in the morning after i shower. i usually take it off i have to wash dishes, repot a plant, make messy food, etc. also i’ll occasionally take it off to dry my hands after washing them or if I’m putting on lotion. sometimes I get nervous at the gym or playing volleyball or something else like but leave it on. I forgot to put it on before work 2 times since i got engaged Dec 2006 & I realized within an hour or so. then the whole day i felt naked, and kept wondering if anyone would notice I wasnt wearing my ring & think something was up!!!
i don’t normally wear my rings when i’m at home. i only wear them when when i’m out of the house (same with FI).
i once wore my engagement ring all the time, until the diamond loosened from the setting! i’m quite rough with my hands and i do a lot of handwashing in the hospital. also, the ring is snug around my knuckle but kind of loose passed the knuckle, so the diamond spins around sometimes. lately i have been more careful and have been takin goff the rings whenever i cook, shower, sleep, and work out.
Mine is off to sleep (I’d probably scratch my face off if I left it on), to shower, to wash my hands (when I feel it’s safe), and anything else that gets my hands really dirty. I’ve only ever slept with it on twice - once at a friend’s house who has cats and once when I couldn’t find a safe place to keep it. I turn the stone in to my palm when that happens, because seriously, I would hurt myself with it.
I wear mine all the time except when I shower, wash dishes, and work with raw meat. If I am away from home, the ring does not come off at all!
It has taken me awhile to build up a sense of “it is okay to leave it on” even though I still cringe when it scraps my bedroom walls at night.
I take it off when I’m getting some kind of gunk on my hands (food, lotion, excessive sweat).
There was an almost disastrous situation that involved waxing and almost losing my ring. That’s what made me resolve to keep my ring on more.
I only wear my engagement reing on the weekends. I move heavy boxes at work and with my high setting, I’m paranoid that I might knock the diamond out. My wedding ring comes off right when I get home. It’s weird, I feel naked without it outside but when i’m at home, I can’t stand to have any rings or my watch on me.
It probably sounds stupid, but I’m afraid I’m going to ruin/break my engagement ring (or lose it, which i’m GREAT at doing with anything important lol), so I don’t wear it as much as I should. I don’t sleep, shower, do dishes, cook, etc., with it on.
I don’t usually wear rings though, so I’m still getting used to having one on.
The ring I got, I wear all the time- OTOH, my ring isn’t terribly expensive. It’s going to get cleaned 2x a year, because that’s how often I have to take it in to Kay’s for an inspection to keep the insurance coverage (all $50 of it- probably what one repair would cost, since it’s not a very expensive ring anyway, but it also came with free sizing for life, and it needed to be sized before I could even wear it, so I am sure I’ll be getting my money’s worth on that, as long as I keep it current). However, I decided against another style that I really liked, also, because it had a spiky sort of setting that stuck up very high, and I knew I’d be taking it off all the time to prevent snagging/ get my gloves on in the winter time
I take mine off for dishes, shower, and sleep. So does my husband. We always put them in the same spot: a beautiful silver heart-shaped silver box on our bathroom counter that he gave me as a wedding gift for this exact purpose. It is engraved with my married name and our wedding date. I cried when I opened it, just before the ceremony.
I take mine off to sleep, shower, and if I’m cooking and have to touch raw meat (like meatballs as you mentioned).
Mine comes off when I’m showering and doing my hair as it tends to get caught.
I also try to take it off when I do dishes, but I often forget to.
I also take it off when I make bread or anything that might get it all goopy.
I do leave it on when I sleep.
I wear mine all the time. Diamonds are more indestructible than anything else, and what’s the point of taking it off all the time? It’s meant to be worn and loved! Right after my ring arrived, my fiancee told me he didn’t want me to worry about it getting banged up- if a prong was bent, we’d fix it, but the scratches it would inevitably get would be a sign that I had worn it and loved it. It took me awhile to realise that he was right, but now I completely agree. Your ring isn’t going to look clean all the time, or perfect or without scratches. Wear it and love it! Shampoo won’t hurt your diamonds!
Miss Chickadee, Peoria, IL
Age and Occupation: 22, Freelance Advertising
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Mechanical Engineer
Engagement Date: February 10, 2007
Wedding Date: June, 2008
Blogging Since: September 13, 2006
Venue: Methodist Church/Country Club
About Me: My parents always said I should wait until graduating college before getting married…Mr. Chickadee and I finally graduated this past spring and we didn’t waste any time getting straight down to business. It’s been four long years, but the wedding planning is finally underway!
I take my own when I shower/sleep/cook/go to the gym — I have ring holders next to my bed and in the kitchen.