Oxiclean makes labels float right off!
I got this little jewel from my Brew Master husband. When he bottles his own beer, he collects beer bottles from neighbors, co-workers, and anyone who would be willing to give them up. Of course they all have labels on them and scrubbing them off is a pain in the rear.
One of his brew books let him know about how to remove labels easily by adding a scoop of Oxiclean to a sink full of warm water and dumping them all in to soak. Walk away and in about 30 minutes all of the labels magically float off. Plus, Oxiclean is cheap and easy to find! You can buy it on Amazon for cheap.
Interesting, because I always walk away from thrift store finds because I’m too lazy to get the labels off. Terrible, I know right? I have a “Sprinkle Party” (a second baby shower if your second child is a different gender than the first) that I’m hosting for a friend coming up. We’re doing a Tea Party (a frugal Tea Party, so I’m sure there will be a post on that coming up) and there are so many amazing tea cups in thrift stores!
I went and collected enough white tea cups from the thrift stores to have one for each guest. They can keep the cup as a favor. At a cost of only .49 to .99 cents per piece! Ahhhh, I love being cheap.
One of my favorite pieces is a Dansk Tea Cup being sold for $8.99 commercially. I stuck a scoop of Oxiclean in the sink, dumped all my teacups in and came back in thirty minutes to all of the labels floating on top of the water. I stuck the teacups in the dishwasher and now I have perfectly clean, good as new teacups to monogram and bake.
Now that I know how to remove labels easily, I can work on replacing all of my cheap Ikea dishes with vintage white pieces that compliment but don’t match. I heart thrift stores! 🙂
Update: 4/13/2015
Almost 3 years later and I’ve used this trick more times than I can count! From thrift store find to glass storage containers. I even used it to remove the labels from almost 50 baby food jars to re-purpose into spice jars (that can fit into a pull out drawer!).
If you don’t have Oxiclean in your local store, it’s super easy to buy on Amazon.
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Shared on Thrifty Thursday and Frugal Friday.
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We will definitely have to try this! My husband brews beer too and is so tired of scrubbing the labels off. He’s tried boiling water, steel wool, tons of dish soap, etc. It’s a pain in the butt! Thanks so much for the tip 🙂
Ok, so my hubby tried this last night and he said I HAD to tell you it was amazing! All the labels immediately came off and floated to the top, just like you said. He says a big thank you!
Happy to help! Easy brew nights for hubby means a happy hubby and peaceful night for us!
Has anyone tried this on fine China with a platinum band and pattern? I have been avoiding unpacking the rest of our wedding China because each box set has 5 pieces…ALL with a label! To this point I have only unpacked and removed labels from 4 of the 12 place settings. Each box has taken anywhere from 15-30 minutes to remove all the labels and sticky residue. This technique would be a HUGE time saver if it is safe enough for fine China!
You can try acetone, but don’t touch the gold. If comes off but you still have to work on it. If you can let it sit for a while it is easier.
Olive oil will remove adhesive residue and is safer to use on dishes. Peel off as much of the paper as you can then rub with oil. Let soak in and most adhesives rub right off.
use WD-40 – let it sit for about 1/2 hr then wash off.
sadly this technique didn’t work for me on wine bottles. Maybe the labels were too big and sticky.
I have been using charcoal lighter fluid to dissolve the adhesive and have been very happy with those results. It is quick, but you have to wipe away the glue. I use paper towels. This method is probably much less toxic.
Don’t know what they use now, but for many years, well-known department stores used lighter fluid for cleaning crystal and china items. However, they were also putting labels on, not taking them off, unless it was being wrapped for a gift.
This is a life saver, so glad I found your post through Pinterest 🙂 I have about 100 glass bottles, jars, etc to get the labels off of.
This is great, so happy I found your post through Pinterest! I have about 50 glass bottles, jars, etc to get the labels off of. Thanks!
I like the sound of this – great when you have lots of labels to remove. I sometime will use my hairdryer. The heat helps loosen the sticky glue and make is easier to scrap off. Good find, pinning.
If you do find items that are too large to effectively use this solution, you want an easy & non-toxic solution as well, you can use lemon essential oil. Just a drop works wonders, you can usually find it pretty inexpensively and it has a great, natural scent. You may, should you need to get rid of any oil residue, need to wash it afterwards.
This worked great on glass, but sadly had no effect on plastic, so the new thermal coffee cup my son got for Christmas and my 3-year old salad spinner will be wearing their labels a while longer.
Thanks for this tip. I always tried to get them off by hand, but then it left that sticky residue behind.
I have tried WD-40, corn oil, vasoline, olive oil, peanut butter, water, soap, detergent and stain remover to get labels off glass and plastic bottles. I have found that the most efficient and reliable is to first soak the label/bottle in warm, soapy water–don’t scrape off soaked label. Next, place a folded paper towel over the label and pour olive oil on the towel liberally. Then, just leave it alone, checking back on it every few hours…or just forget it for 24 hours. Eventually, the label will just slide off with no residue. You will have to wash off the oil but you can do that pretty easily with a regular dishwasher or wash by hand.
I have to say, soaking in warm water to remove the label and then using olive oil with a plastic scourer to remove any non water soluble adhesive is the way forward. Your oxi-action (sodium percarbonate) will probably work on water soluble adhesives though.
An easy way to remove stickers with no mess is to heat them with a blow dryer, this weakens the glue, then you just need to pull it off while still warm, and it is GONE. I did it on small stickers and also did it on the large label kind that comes on boxes with your address on it that are impossible to remove, they all came off no tearing of the cardboard box either.
I have used the hair dryer method for glass & plastic, but never thought to use it on cardboard boxes. I am always wanting to remove those labels, but usually just cover them. Wondering if this would work on labels attached to books? I buy used library books often, but remove labels so they look nicer on shelves. They are a pain to remove. Will be trying this on them as well as cardboard. Thanks for tip.
Glass or plastic – the best solution is “Goo Gone” spray gel by Magic Ametican Products. Works also on chewing gum, crayon, makeup, pcandle wax, glue, tat, bugs, grease etc…
With the labels: get most of them first either by scraping, pulling them off or soaked with water, than put some of the Goo gone on paper towel ann get off the rest. Works all the time!
Glass or plastic – the best solution is “Goo Gone” spray gel by Magic Ametican Products. Works also on chewing gum, crayon, makeup, pcandle wax, glue, tat, bugs, grease etc…
With the labels: get most of them first either by scraping, pulling them off or soaked with water, than put some of the Goo gone on paper towel ann get off the rest. Works all the time!
Sounds like a great idea, but in my country there is such a product, I can tell the components?
Hey, I was just reading this post and I will try it for shore, but can u give me links of those baking the sharpie monograms on the cups that u wrote about? Thanks in advance ! 😀
Here ya go: http://dontmindifidoblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/diy-personalized-mugs.html?m=1
Sure!
Here it is:
http://dontmindifidoblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/diy-personalized-mugs.html?m=1
Seriously? I had no idea! I’ll have to head over there. Hubby moved to kegs (he built a keezer in our dining room), but still uses bottles for quite a few competitions.
Pure genius! I did this last night and w\it worked like a charm!
Isn’t it neat? I haven’t scrubbed a label in forever!
That sounds awesome, does it work on plastic? I found a VERY easy way to get labels off glass bottles, put in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, the label comes off in one piece, then I sprayed Pam on the left over glue while bottles are hot & it wipes right off. We are making wine bottle centerpieces for wedding & it works FANTASTIC!!
I’ve never tried it on plastic Marie! Let me know if you try it on plastic if it works. 🙂
Wow! Thank you all for the great ideas to remove labels.
Living overseas I appreciate some food items from IKEA and
Want to use the quality jars for later.
Thankfully, whenever I return back to the USA, I buy a bar or two of
LAVA soap. After using any of your suggestion, LAVA soap makes the
Surface squeaky clean…..even my hands too.??
Hello
I will try it for shore, but can u give me links of those baking the sharpie monograms on the cups that u wrote about? Thanks in advance
I worked in a china store for a few years. We would spray the price tags with Windex and let them sit 10-15 minutes. It disintegrates the glue; you just lift them off and wipe.
Use peanut butter. Peal off what paper you can cover with creamy peanut butter and leave overnight. Wipe off with paper towel….dun!! I use this for ALL kinds of sticky glue.