It is only now that I'm married that I got the compulsion to learn how to cook, decorate the house, organize things, and such. I don't know why that is, but something about married life just brought it out of me. I can now relate to my mom's hobbies, like shopping for the home, cooking, and crafting, among other things. That is why I started the Home Base section -- so I could obsess about these things.
Anyway, I was really amused yesterday when I found myself re-purposing something, so I thought I'd post it here. Have you ever tried to get sticky labels off jam jars? I keep used jam jars because reuse, reduce, recycle, right? I hate having to peel the labels off and then have to deal with sticky residue afterwards.
Last night, I tried getting a label off a jar, and underneath it was some really sticky residue. I tried hot water on it but it didn't work, so I went off to Google. Apparently, a ton of people had the same dilemma, because there were a lot of solutions online. I skipped through a ton of suggestions because they were kind of a hassle (soaking the bottles in hot water for several hours), dangerous (using some form of acid on the bottles), or not available to me (Goo Gone). I found one person who suggested peanut butter and I thought, why not? I have it in the fridge, and if it doesn't work, I'm going to give up on the idea. Obviously, it worked.
Clear glass!
I peeled the label off and then used a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter to get all the remaining paper and sticky residue off. I took a good amount of pb, rubbed it onto the glass, and then wiped it off with a paper towel. I did that about three times, and surprise! I had a clear jam jar.
What do you use on labels and sticky residue? I wish I could do this to books. I hate those sticker price tags!
