3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House
  • Home
  • Our Family
  • Categories
    • Categories Part 1
      • PARENTING
      • LIFESTYLE
      • TRAVEL
      • HOME DECOR
      • MARRIAGE
      • FOOD
      • PARTY
      • PETS
      • PREGNANCY
      • SKIN JOURNEY
    • Categories Part 2
      • JEWELLERY
      • BEAUTY
      • FASHION
      • TOYS
      • SPONSORED
      • GIVEAWAYS
      • MOM WITH TATTOO’S
      • MIXED RACE RELATIONSHIPS
      • OTHER
  • Work with Me
  • CONTACT ME
  • Home
  • Our Family
  • Categories
    • Categories Part 1
      • PARENTING
      • LIFESTYLE
      • TRAVEL
      • HOME DECOR
      • MARRIAGE
      • FOOD
      • PARTY
      • PETS
      • PREGNANCY
      • SKIN JOURNEY
    • Categories Part 2
      • JEWELLERY
      • BEAUTY
      • FASHION
      • TOYS
      • SPONSORED
      • GIVEAWAYS
      • MOM WITH TATTOO’S
      • MIXED RACE RELATIONSHIPS
      • OTHER
  • Work with Me
  • CONTACT ME

3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House

A Day In The Life Of The Alfino'sCreationsFrom MomHOME DECORKnoxMemorable MomentsNew House LoveParenting Fail

On Life Lessons And How To Get Labels Off Glass Jars

25 November 2013
3 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

This weekend was a blur of Christmas trees, airport adventures, decorations EVERYWHERE, fun family playdates and twinkly lights.  Which, if you need a quick translation, means that it was actually pretty great.

IMG_7285

But I realised that no matter how many times we do this to ourselves we just never learn – putting up the tree this early always makes us want to rip it down the morning of the 26th already.  But we do it anyway, because the tree is ridiculously huge and takes forever to put up so I want to get enough reward from all the effort, it’s fun and also – TWINKLY LIGHTS!  I love good old twinkle lights all over the place, Seth is just rolling his eyes at me now when I point to a space that isn’t lit.

Anyway, I got this bright idea into my head that I was going to get a head start on Christmas presents (in my attempt to make things simpler this year).  And by head start I mean that I am actually going to make some of them, so I got out my mason jars that we’d been storing at the back of the cupboard for a rainy day and wanted to start prepping them.  We got these from possibly the best (convenience) soups out there and the jars had already been in the dish washer before we packed them up and stored them away – they even survived the move.

The labels did not budge an inch during any of it.

IMG_7239

So I took out the jars with their fully intact label and, like any normal person, used Pinterest to figure out how to remove the label the fastest, easiest way without leaving any residue behind.  The internet is a crazy place and I found some interesting answers:

  • Cup of vinegar in a sink full of boiling water for 20 minutes.  If any residue put back in for longer.
  • Rub butter or peanut butter on the area and leave overnight.
  • Pour boiling water into the jar and wait till you can peel the label off.
  • Olive oil and orange essence – I stopped reading here because like, who has orange essence on hand?!
  • Rubbing alcohol – again, is it just me that is doesn’t have this kind of thing in my cupboards?

Obviously I filtered the information in my mind, crossed out the ones that I didn’t have key ingredients for, then crossed out the ones that seemed too easy because well, it just can’t be that easy and that left me with the vinegar in a sink situation.  In case you are super observant and you noticed, our sinks plug has um, lack of working plug issues… So I decided to use a metal bowl instead.

In went the vinegar, the boiling water and the jars for 20 minutes – because I follow instructions like a boss.

IMG_7250

Nearly 30 minutes later when I got around to checking it (I’m a Mom of 3 OK?!), the labels peeled off but left like ALL of the residue behind.  Seriously pretty much ALL of it.  Bummed is a bit of an understatement of what I felt at this point, but I persevered.  I mean I KNEW it was going to be difficult, which is why I checked it out on Pinterest first anyway – to save time.  So the jars went back in for a second round.

IMG_7252

Because I have like 10 jars to do, (and because I wanted this to be a thorough solution) I then decided to do the only other method that I could and I rubbed it down with butter.  I put it aside to leave overnight.

IMG_7256

Having a few moments to just stand and stare at my kitchen – that was becoming increasingly full of jars that still had labels on them – but now also had gunk on them that I couldn’t touch.  I was holding another jar that I was contemplating filling with boiling water (just to see if anything would happen) and while my mind was contemplating, my fingers were tugging at the sides of the label.  I started noticing what I was doing and I pulled a little harder and with purpose…

And what do you know…  It came right off.  With absolutely NO residue whatsoever.  

IMG_7259

IMG_7269

Are you freaking kidding me right now?!

While I am super grateful to find a much simpler and less time consuming solution, it did make me realise how silly I was for not trying to think for myself before going to the internet to find an answer.

So if you are looking for a real tip – try and pull off the label first, then try any and all of the above methods.  

Needless to say, the jar with butter on it went straight into the dishwasher and the other 2 with residue are just sitting in the corner feeling sorry for themselves (although if I’d cared to, I’m pretty sure I could have gotten the residue off with just a little bit of a rub)…

On Life Lessons And How To Get Labels Off Glass Jars was last modified: November 25th, 2013 by Cindy
activitiesblogCape Townfunhome stuffhow tohow to get labels off glass jarskidslabels off jarsparentingpersonalstorytip
10 comments
3
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
previous post
Please Stop Time
next post
So Christmas And Stuff

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

10 comments

Taryn 25 November 2013 at 8:35 AM

Lol! I feel for you. I had the same issue when cleaning up jars for Christmas gifts. I found the easiest method to be plain ol’ vegetable / cooking oil and a rub. It gets it all off in no time. It’ll work for those two jars that are feeling sorry for themselves. 🙂

Reply
Kathleen 25 November 2013 at 10:25 AM

I’ll definitely try this. 🙂 Thanks Cindy.

Reply
cat@jugglingact 25 November 2013 at 10:47 AM

The very best way to remove labels or residue (if just pulling off does not work) is Mr Min – spray on liberally, leave for about 5 minutes and rub off. Works like a charm on anything even book labels. Learned this trick from shopfront installers that have to get rid of the residue packaging tape leaves

Reply
Michi vd Berg 25 November 2013 at 5:50 PM

What I like to do (after puling the label off) is use methylated spirits on newspaper or paper towel to get rid of residue – that stuff is amazing! And available at hardware stores and the like. Also works well for getting old licence stickers off the inside of your car’s windscreen 🙂

Reply
Roly 26 November 2013 at 9:10 AM

Remove the residue with butter

Reply
Seth Alfino 27 November 2013 at 8:02 AM

I think the labels that came off without effort had something to do with dish-washing it first.

Reply
The End Of The School Year (Also, Our Homemade Teachers Gifts) | 3 Kids, 2 Dogs, 1 Old House 5 December 2013 at 2:53 PM

[…] every day to teaching my kids new things about life and so I hauled out my empty mason jars (tips on how to remove labels here) and got started on a cute little “brownie in a jar” present for each of […]

Reply
How To Make Your Own Sweet Potato House Plants – It’s Weird – But I Like It. | 3 Kids, 2 Dogs, 1 Old House 18 February 2014 at 7:21 AM

[…] I had some jars left over from the “brownie in a jar” idea and all I had to do was get the labels off.  Which was awesome, because besides a sweet potato, that is the only other thing that you need to […]

Reply
amanda 20 November 2014 at 1:18 PM

benzene works well to remove the sticky left behind
we soak in water overnight and peel off what can be peeled

Reply
Talana 9 January 2015 at 11:28 PM

loving your blog. to get the residue off I use an old sponge (the green and yellow kind) and sunflower cooking oil (im sure any oil will do), the gunk comes off really easily 🙂 I have taken LOTS of labels off wine bottles, i soak them in hot soapy water a while, then scrape off as much label as i can, then use the sponge with oil 🙂 rinse bottle and you done 🙂

Reply

About Us

About Us

HI THERE - WE'RE THE ALFINOS

After living a very normal suburban life we packed up everything to live in a VW van for a year as a family of 5. Now that we have traveled our beautiful country we are back to normal but trying to remember what it was like to live with less, spend time in nature and build on our family bonds. Join us on the journey.

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Youtube Bloglovin

Catch Us On Facebook

Facebook

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kqh5upir7c

Some Of Our Best Posts

  • Say Hello To Our Little Herb...

    5 Nov 2019
  • Maletsunyane Falls – The Highest Single...

    17 Oct 2019
  • WIN A Rookie USA Voucher for...

    10 Sep 2019
  • Our DIY Harry Potter Party

    8 Aug 2019
  • CURRENTLY – We’re Home, Now What?

    14 May 2019

On Pinterest

@cindyalfino

Check In On Instagram

Instagram requires authorization to view a user profile. Use autorized account in widget settings
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Youtube
  • Bloglovin

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © CINDY ALFINO. WEBSITE BY BIRD & DESIGN.


Back To Top