Hack Of The Week
How to remove labels from glass and plastic containers and upcycle like a champ.
Hi, I’m Lindsay and I collect way too many glass jars. Like, it’s kind of ridiculous how many I have, but I own this about myself. After all, I do make a lot of home-cooked stuff, and I like to share it with my family, friends, and neighbors, so I need a lot of storage containers. (Right? Right?!) When we renovated our kitchen a few years ago, I spent hours prior to demo day going through cabinets in order to thin things out and pack things up. After I emptied out two entire cabinets filled with glass jars and bottles, I realized I had an issue. But the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, so I culled my collection significantly and decided I would no longer allow myself to buy any new jars or bottles going forward. And I’ve kept that vow! However, no one said anything about upcycling.
This week’s hack—which seems kind of insane now that I’m writing it down, but at the risk of making myself also seem kind of insane, it truly was life-changing when I learned it—is how to remove stubborn labels from that cool jar or bottle you just emptied out so you can upcycle and use it for other things. All you need are the cool jar or bottle in question, a bowl of soapy water, some paper towels and plastic wrap, and some Goo Gone; I am partial to the spray bottle format.
Wash out the inside of the jar, them submerge it in a bowl of hot and soapy water; let it sit several hours or even overnight. With your fingernail, scrape off as much of the paper part of label as you can; what will be left is the sticky glue that never seems to come off. Here’s the key part of the hack:
Spray or pour some Goo Gone over the sticky part.
Spray or pour some Goo Gone on a piece of paper towel as well, and cover the sticky part with the paper towel.
Wrap the whole thing in a piece of plastic wrap and let it sit for a few hours.
Unwrap the jar, using the paper towel to wipe off the now-dislodged sticky part and then wash it well using hot and soapy water and a scrubbing sponge. Violà!
If you really want to take things to the next level consider spray-painting the lids, to spruce them up and to cover any brand names or logos. That definitely doesn’t seem insane. (Right? Right?!) This method works on plastic containers as well; I have a bunch of Snyder’s Honey Wheat Pretzels canisters (these pretzels are *that yummy* that we go through a ton of them) that I now use to store stuff like sewing and craft supplies.
A gentle reminder that The Big Meal is a judgment-free zone. So, hi, I’m Lindsay, and I go to extreme lengths to upcycle jars and bottles. Don’t yuck my yum. 🤪