Home Base: The Life Domestic - How to get Sticky Labels Off Jam Jars + An Introduction

When I got married to my awesome husband, I was the most undomesticated person ever. Sure, I lived independently for four years, but I had a housemate during most of that era (holla Sheva). We were focused on our careers, we rarely did anything for our house, and we basically lived on canned goods, instant noodles, and fastfood takeout and delivery. I never had any interest in domestic life.

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!