apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

A razor blade also works well in cleaning sticker/label residue off of class.

I love:
googone
Mister Clean pads

Rubbing alcohol on cotton wool

boil water and hold the offender in the steam. takes it RIGHT off.

My mom always used Lamp Oil.
She'd dab some on a cotton ball and then just wipe the sticky off. You'd have to peel off the paper and laminate, then use the lamp oil on the thin layer of paper residue.
No elbow grease needed at all.
After, just wash off with soap!
Make sure you wash your hands too, some lamp oil have really strong smell.

"Goo Gone" works great!

Goo gone! It totally works. Sometimes you have to leave it on the residue for a while, though.

Peanut butter usually does the trick.

Goo Be Gone got off some duct tape residue that NOTHING else (not alcohol, not olive oil, NOTHING) could get off. It took about ten seconds. I am a convert.

If your in a bind, WD-40 works wonders. It may not be the greenest solution, but I've used it in desparate times.

another nod to goo gone... i was too skeptical to buy it. saw it in a friend's place and used it on a jar in her recycling. bought it that night. awesome.

here's another nod for olive oil: a coworker told me about it last week, and i tried it on (oddly enough) a fancy olive oil bottle. the label had already been loosened quite a bit from normal use, but when i dabbed a little more on to get the last bits of the label off, it worked like a charm. took barely any elbow grease (i just let it sit for 30 seconds before peeling it away).

I've thought the same thing about Kombucha bottles! Good to know I can make use of the Strawberry Serenity sitting in my fridge after I'm done now...

Goo Gone works. If you don't have any try lamp oil. Lamp oil hasn't failed me yet.

Lighter fluid (not green) or a hairdryer work as well.

As a homebrewer, I often have to clean a lot of previously used bottles, most of which have some rather stubborn labels. Quite by accident, I realized that letting the bottles soak in OxyClean for half an hour (which I was really only doing to clean the insides) makes the labels fall right off! Any glue left behind takes just a few swipes with a scouring pad. No elbow grease required, and probably slightly greener than goo gone and WD-40.

i've tried mayo....olive oil.....soaking bottles warm soapy water.....all seem to work pretty well.
any stubborn glue i just scrub off with a brillo pad, crumpled up leftover aluminum foil or sponge wrapped in plastic mesh.

i prefer to let it soak in warm soapy water while i do other stuff and scrub it off later.

lighter fluid and hairdryers.....hmmm sounds dangerous....the images that conjures up...

hmmm....oxyclean! thanks!!

Also: De-Solv-It. We use it at the museum and it'll clean up nearly anything and has a nice citrus smell. According to the website it's been used since the 30s to clean up goo. Cool!

http://www.orange-sol.com/household/index.html

According to the website it's been used since the 30s to clean up goo. Cool!

We use olive oil to get oil based paint off our hands too.

As Linnealoves says, peanut butter. Also butter, Crisco, any type of cooking oil . . . basically anything oily is the quickest, and much less toxic than solvents.

I guess any kind of oil will do?

Peanut butter. People always think I"m crazy when I mention it, but it does work (but best just for the residue, after you've tried to peel off most of the label), just let it sit for a while.

Any kind of oil works. Or anything oily. Most people have something oily in their kitchens, so why buy a specialised product just for this purpose (ie goo gone?)

true - why bother going thru the trouble of buying yet ANOTHER cleaning product to cram into storage lacking apts? screw that - i'm using whatever is already handy at home.

Really! I'd never heard that one. I just soak it in piping hot, soapy water and then put some elbow grease into it. It usually works, but this seems like a great idea for tougher cases.

I use a piece of plain tape. Just press a piece of it over the goo and peel it off. Repeat as necessary!

baby oil. works like a charm.

Speaking of Kombucha, does anyone have a mother / mushroom? Mine from last year has been sitting a little too long in the fridge.

Goo-gone never worked for me. Usually I wash repeatedly, but these sound easier.

I'm with Lisa-MN. Peanut Butter, crunchy. The crunchy bits act as a mild organic abrasive. For smaller dept store labels, Mary Kay eye make up remover is a miracle. Removes and cleans at the same time. Probably not totally green, by safe enough for the DW's eyes....

I soak bottles in a tub full of the hottest water I can get and labels (and their goo) peal right off.

bestine.

Apply Varsol or mineral spirits, and it will slide off like butter. Not green, but effective..

Fingernail polish remover does the trick as well, including the non-acetone kind.

I think almost anything oily will work on almost anything sticky. Part of the trick is getting the oil to stay on long enough to really soak in...hence the peanut butter. I have to say, though, that goo-gone works, too.

Nail polish remover works great.

Butane works well in a pinch, denatured alcohol works best. Just remember the well ventilated, do not use by small children or pets, no open flame disclaimer. If you need to clean a lot of glass and don't have time to mess around, this is the way to go.

Blowdryer works well on plastic based stickers, get it hot and it leaves less glue behind.

Those are nice bottles. Where did you buy them?

lolax: The bottles are from GT Dave's Kombucha. I think you can find them at most health food type stores. Beware: the beverage contained within is very healthy but tastes like vinegar!

sarahc: I drink my fair share of 'booch, and have these very same bottles at home. More than I care to admit! Last night I sat down to an exciting evening of sticker-peeling and olive oil-spreading and scrubbing. After one bottle I decided to try the hair dryer trick. IT'S THE BEST. You don't have to use any oil or solvent at all. Before you peel the label, warm it up with the hair dryer for 30 seconds or so. It should peel right off, very easily with no residue at all! If you start to get some tearing, heat it back up again. I peeled labels off about 5 bottles, and they all came off in one piece. This is exciting, because the Kombucha labels have probably the most persistent goo I've ever run into.

...The End.

I have been soaking a Kambucha bottle for the last day hoping it will fall right off. What a pain! Nice to find this post and to find that other people love the shape of the bottle too.

I started taking the labels off all my jars so I can use them for pantry storage/bathroom storage and flower vases. It's my new favorite obsession.

(Vinegar, really? I think it has a slight beer flavor, but only the first sip.)

pie: I don't really think it tastes like vinegar but that's the most common descriptor I get from skeptics who try a sip. Personally I really like it. Especially the ginger kind.

mineral spirits

Toss em in the dishwasher.

my Aussie husband raves about the many household uses of eucalyptus oil, and this is one of them. dab on with a cotton pad or paper towel and wipe off. done.

The greenest? Let them sit in the sink while you do dishes. The heat and soaking soapy water will do the trick and you won't use much extra water.