apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I decant dried goods (like pasta, flour, oats etc) into glass jars - I have a large range collected over the years - I like the look of all my ingredients on display and I can buy in bulk and just have enough of the product in the glass jar to make it manageable - but I do keep a list in the larder of the expiry date and I empty totally before I refill so I don't mix batches

However, I do think this is excessive for bathroom products - I'd rather spend my time having a life...

I think this is a great idea.

I received a gift set from Starbucks of coffee and mugs, and just having those mugs with the big label in my cupboard was driving me crazy. (Granted, I like handmade pottery mugs)

My other small nod to this is removing price tags from everything, particularly in the bathroom. I think it would be nice to remove the visual clutter tho, so i think I will take it a step or two further. Thanks for the inspiration.

Where did you get those squeeze bottles? I was admiring them in your most recent post of your place. I recently got pump dispensers for a couple of the products I use in the shower--for speed, so I don't have to open bottles everytime I'm taking a shower--but might have got these instead, since they look great and I imagine might have cost less than what I got.

Interesting thoughts on labels. I'm sure I'll be mulling that over...

My only concern would be the mixing up of products that look alike. A visiting friend put liquid soap on his face thinking it was lotion. I make sure everyting is labelled now.

i've actually been planning to do this for my bathroom using pump, rather than squeeze, bottles. anyone have any past experience finding pumps in varying sizes? i'd love to just recycle old bottles by adding a screw on pump.

I've been thinking about this ever since I saw your most recent apartment tour.

Now if I can just convince my girlfriend to do this with her bazillion products versus my one bottle of shampoo and one bottle of shaving cream :)

Illustrator, Keri Smith did a similar project for a week. She created 'skins' for her products to cover the labels. Click on my name for a link to her blog with pictures :)

I also decided to store all my dry goods in glass jars. It makes the food look so much more appealing and lovely!

Sounds like a good idea uless there is a recall on a product. You no longer have the lot number or manufacture date. Given the recent pet food mess, I will stay with labels and having the products in the conatiners that they are sold in.

I like the idea of removing the labels, not pouring one product into another receptacle. The latter creates just as much waste. It's only an aesthetic cure if you pour one into the other.

Amen. I've done the same thing although maybe not to the same extent. Most of my labeled goods are stored in the pantry or medicine cabinet.

I think the same thing applies to clocks (especially in the kitchen). Every appliance has a clock...and if they don't keep consistent time it's incredibly annoying to see different readouts in every corner of the kitchen. So I only program one clock and as long the rest don't blink and just show zeroes or nothing, I'm good.

How do you do this for toothpaste?

http://chicago.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/towels-bathware/limmaren-bottle-set-019773

Anyone see AT:Chicago's Ikea bottle post? Could do different colors for different items maybe.

I did this in the kitchen, where the liquid handsoap and small dishwashing liquid dispensers(both Method) are the only products out on the countertop. Luckily, Method's packaging is nicely designed and their product stickers peel off easily.

I love the idea. I'm an avid cyclist but can't stand all the labels and stickers on most bikes these days. I've done up one of my bikes completely stealth--not a single sticker remains anywhere on it and I love it... (helps prevent envy theft as well).

My general solution to both label clutter and excess packaging is to buy my dry goods and some bathroom products in bulk, and to take my own containers to the store when I need refills.

Between tag sales, the hardware store, and the food coop I've found a nice assortment of glass and plastic containers for everything from shampoo to honey to pasta.

We do the same thing, but for another reason. We try to buy what we can in large quantities from BJ's (Sam's Club is another) like window and bath cleaners and shampoos. We pay less per unit by buying that way. And we end up throwing out less plastic. For everything whether it be a cleaner, personal product or food, I mark the date and what it is on the bottom with a Sharpee. And I do like having the 'generic', but clean looking containers instead of a thousand advertising labels around the house.

I use Kiehl's products (extremely plain packaging) and re-use those bottles for other products largely because they are so convenient, but the lack of glaring advertising is nice also. The design of the containers also make them perfect for travel, so I can just throw them in a suitcase straight from the shelf.

I'm giggling over here. My fiance did this to his car. He couldn't stand having the Toyota logo and whatnot all over it. He took them off prett easily - they're just stickers.

Tessa:
"My general solution to both label clutter and excess packaging is to buy my dry goods and some bathroom products in bulk, and to take my own containers to the store when I need refills."

Where do you go to buy products in bulk, and use your own containers?

I like to remove all paper towels, toilet paper and bars of soap from their original packaging as soon as I get home. I enjoy the look of all the plain white items in my bathroom closet.

I'd really like to do this, but I'm wondering what you use to label the containers. When I've tried to label plain travel containers with a sharpie, the writing eventually rubs off. Are there stickers that you can buy that are waterproof? Do they need to be special in some way?

I have been doing this for years with my shampoos, and my dishwashing liquids. I take the labels off of my soaps and antibacterial stuff also. But I do keep all of my non pasta food in their original containers-mainly for exp. dates and recall info,but they are in a pantry so it bothers me less. Mason jars are great repackaging bottles for smaller pasta and rice, coffee etc.... Also, never remove medicine from their original packaging. Their death labels are important.

nj_gal:

I don't know about Tessa, but I do that at my local health food store. I buy all loose grains there.

I also do a combination of these approaches--hide things that stay in their packaging, transfer some things into containers that stay out (dishwashing liquid, for example), and buy in bulk when I can (health food store, like carla).

I recently did this with my shampoo, conditioner and body wash for under ten dollars. My main motivation actually wasn't aesthetics, but pragmatism- my huge round shampoo bottles wouldnt fit in the little suction-cup-mounted wire basket on my claw-foot tub.

So I went to Target and bought three bottles of the new bodywash (don't remember what it was called, but one of the scents was lime verbena, and the one in the pink bottle was something-cinnamon.) They were still cylindrical, but they were much smaller and enlongated cylinders.

If you wanted to, you could have gotten three different colors of bottles, but the only ones that went with my bathroom were pink and green, and I needed three. SO

I pulled off the labels, and emptied the product into mason jars. I rinsed the two pink bottles. Since they are semi-translucent, I put shampoo in one pink bottle and conditioner in the other. So now, when I look at them in the shower, one appears lighter than the other. To avoid confusing my bodywash with my shampoo (both are a clear liquid) I put it in the green bottle.

Hope this helped. It's a small fix, but it's made my baths so much less stressful not to have a stack of bottles come crashing onto my legs.

Hmmm, I'm getting inspired. But what DO you do about toothpaste? That's tricky.

Oh, btw the bodywash was Suave, that's why it was so cheap. But it had nice silver plastic lids that I liked

Sorry, but this seems like overkill to me. I can understand hiding labeled products in drawers/cupboards, but to go as far as removing labels? People obviously have too much time on their hands.

dymo labelers are great. seems waterproof enough...

http://global.dymo.com/enUS/Categories/Personal_Manual_Labelmakers.html

I like the idea, not that I would have time for it, but I can see where you are coming from.

However, in the kitchen and I suppose the bathroom, you might have to occasionally check ingredients of things due to guests with allergies to certain substances. I end up having to do this for two constant guests. I'm not complaining of course, I'm someone like that in a few other people's houses.

Have you all COMPLETELY lost your minds?

I do this in my bathroom, and I have an answer to both the pump and toothpaste questions. For the pumps/bottles, I went to

www.sunburstbottle.com

and ordered a bunch of stuff. They have a really big selection & their prices are very reasonable.

In terms of toothpase, if you use a lotion pump (which is different from a soap pump, apparently) you can use any of the liquid-gel toothpastes from Crest, Colgate, etc. It works great, imho.

I love this idea! I'm a sucker for good packaging, and removing labels lets you appreciate the package more, esp. if you're already familiar w/ the product and don't need the info anymore.

But I must say there are some labels that are just so well designed & pretty they add to your decor.

I do this in the bathroom: removing the label from shaving cream leaves a stainless stell container that matches some holders for cotton/ swabs et al.

But with open shelves in our kitchen, I actually enjoy all the brights colors of food packaging.

I actually did this for a while in my bathroom. It was very time consuming filing the "plain" bottles. It would literally take me a half hour every weekend to fill them all. And, since I could only justify doing this by purchasing huge containers of shampoo, conditioner, body soap, etc. that I used to fill the little "plain" containers, I ended up busting out of what little storage space I have. I finally just ran out of patience with it all. And, I thought that the time would be better spent by actually cleaning my bathroom, playing with my cat or doing something more productive. I now purchase items in decent packaging and reasonable sizes. If I get all OCD the I just close the shower curtain. It is all about priorities, I guess.

Instead of removing labels, sometimes it's easier to cover them with a plain label of your own - such as contact paper.

I've gone in another direction. Our toothbrushes have these large handles which do no fit in the toothbrush holder. I've taken two empty spice bottles filled each with rice and now our toothbrushes can stand upright and dry in the two bottles. The herb contents are painted on so I made no effort to remove them. My toothbrush bottle says "parsley."

I agree with etslee. While I do put my flour, oatmeal, sugar, grains blah-blah-blahs...in nice glass containers and decant my soap and some bathroom products into other containers, Goo-Gone-ing the labels off of everything is obsessive and sorta hilarious. Labels on, for example, a tube of toothpaste, aren't so much about branding as it is about information. Who made the toothpaste, what does it do, what are it's benefits, who can I contact if I have questions..these are all pieces of information. Billboards, advertisements in magazine, retail displays..these are all branding. Putting a nice bamboo motif on your tube of toothpaste is really nice..but won't the paper get wet and wrinkle and just generally look sloppy and sorta bacteria-y?

If you're doing this for a nice visual unity in your home, then that's fine. But to dedicate a room to placing your branded products (which really is everything) is slightly whack and screams "God, I love me. My precious state of being cannot be bothered by the visual clutter that is the Quacker Oat man,and oh, Honey, could you stop at Whole Foods and get me some organic soy products and the new ish of Dwell?"

Everything is 'branded.' From the shape of an eames rocker (the shape is unique to Eames furniture and there's a 'branding' on the bottom of its fiberglass seat that states it's an Eames piece) to your television (which probably states that Sony manufactured it) to a Saarinen table (the pedastal dip and rounded shape are branding courtesy of Herman Miller).

Here are a couple of sources the should have bulk products available.

in Manhattan

http://www.panix.com/~foodcoop/twiki/bin/view.cgi/Main/WebHome

in Brooklyn

www.foodcoop.com

You know, I personally purchase products by devoting an unfair quantity of my "reasons for purchasing" factors to the packaging--ESPECIALLY for toiletries.

I mean, maybe I'm weird (or just work in advertising) but I don't buy things that don't look good if I can help it.

And, I can find joy in mundane things just the way they are. I happen to like the shiny green cardboard my dishwashing powder comes in (yes, I'm switching back to using standard dish powder. My bottle of 7th Generation is completely garbage for getting things clean). I'd love for it to come in something sleeker, but it doesn't, so I find a way to love it anyway.

I can see the point in this no-label stuff, though. I've always dreamt of uniform glass containers for my spices.

Does having fewer labels really do that much for those of you that use this system? I'm quite interested...

Ditto WAF.

And, I thought that the time would be better spent by actually cleaning my bathroom, playing with my cat or doing something more productive.

Ditto pj

I repackage a lot of things in my kitchen in glass jars - some are purchased like the glass storage jars from Ikea and some are reused like the lovely french lemonade bottles with the metal hinge clasps. I label mine with a sharpie - and yes the label does wash off but I think this is an advantage as I can change the contents, add a fill or expiration date or cooking instructions.
I also buy the Casabella spray bottles for homemade cleaning sprays (10% bleach mix or 50% vinegar mix or my special rug cleaner) and label them with a sharpie too.
I really like the look of the hand-written scrawl of a sharpie on a bottle. And ... since it does wash off with a little elbow grease, if it doesn't look perfect I know I'll get it right next time.
A word of caution - be sure to carefully label poisons such as bleach and lye. If someone in your house drinks from the bottle you and the emergency room doctors need to know what they just swallowed.

Once, when we lived in New York, we had kitchen cupboard doors with painted-over glass (we hadn't done the painting). For a while we lived with a broken pane of glass, and when I closed the cupboard door, the Quaker Oats man would peek out.

I like the look of a brand-free bathroom (I try to keep all my food in the cupboards in my kitchen, although my potholders do say "Williams-Sonoma"), but I don't know if it would be realistic for me. It's hard enough for me to remember the brand and name of the products I use even if I look at the bottles every day. I can't imagine me trying to buy conditioner without being able to find the one with the green label and taking it home and comparing it to the one I have to make sure I got the right one.

Ditto WAF.

WTF? I have way more important issues to solve in my home.

for toothpaste/toothbrushes, you can always just buy the combo OHSO device (click on my name) and then stick them in spice bottles as ebrown suggested. i am sure the OHSO name can be removed easily.

oops, sorry...try this link instead (click my name again)

To me this isn't spa-like at all--it's kind of clinical and almost creepy, in a way.

maxwell that is so cool i have to like try this too. since i dumped all my books in cure 2 like you told us to i have lots of time to take off all my labels. i am starting with all my meds. they look so cool now in plain white bottles with no labels.

Ah, a topic dear to my heart.
I do this for things out in the open: shampoo, bodywash, conditioner, hand soap, lotion, and dish liquid in the kitchen. I put everything in plain pump bottles. I don't need labels, as I know what they are.

But for those that asked about labels - there is a good solution. The Container Store sells labels for toiletry bottles that are very plain - just clear with black print, and you can stick them on any bottle. I do use those for my travel toiletries, placed all the way at the bottom of the bottle. They sell them right by their travel bottles.

For those who have said they think this is a waste of time: for you, it certainly would be. But for those of us who do it, it is sooooo worth the extra effort!!!

I like labels. They're pretty. I have a bottle of talcum powder from thailand with a snake on it I bought just because it looks so groovy. And I like to know what I'm smearing on my face or pouring into a bowl. so I'll keep the labels. Thanks much.

I store food in jars because it keeps better. I peel labels off jars that have started the job themselves. I think it is unsafe to be removing labels because it can creatre a hazard. If you have little ones (whether residents or visitors) or inquisitive pets you better be sure you can tel poison control what they just consumed. Older visitors and those with certain ailments have a dimished sense of smell and sight and they can make an embarassing or dangerous mistake faced with a labeless bottle. I have a hyperallergenic niece as well. Her parents need to know if there are ingredients that will cause a problem--they do a sweep when they first arrive, before we discuss where the epi-pen will be kept.

lol this is kind of funny because im one who doesnt like much advertisements. I think this idea is a bit much however, there are certain things which look nice in a clear containers, especially if its out in the open. cookie jars, spice containers, or things like that, i agree that without the labels it might get a bit confusing, it happens now even with the labels (oops i grabbed conditioner instead of shampoo :)

i've done this in the kitchen, but not thebathroom. thanks for the inspiration.

I wrote the frickin post and i laughed out loud at WAF!

It is true, I think we've all completely lost our minds....;-)

But it sure is fun.

Joan A.,

your oats story gave me a good chuckle.

I just wanted to share that a touch of vegetable oil takes off most label adhesive. You just have to let it sit for a bit. Goo Gone is soooo stinky, I try to avoid using it.

I peeled the label off two or three soap pump bottles whose shape I liked. These are now my "generic bottles". I now buy my handsoap, washing up liquid and shower gel in big bottles (cheaper & less plastic) or pouches, and refill those self-made generic bottles. No need to go looking for non-labelled containers -and fuel another polluting industry- when you can just un-label your regular supermarket stuff and re-use it over and over again.

I peeled the label off two or three soap pump bottles whose shape I liked. These are now my "generic bottles". I now buy my handsoap, washing up liquid and shower gel in big bottles or pouches(cheaper & less plastic), and refill those self-made generic bottles. No need to go looking for non-labelled containers -and fuel another polluting industry- when you can just un-label your regular supermarket stuff and re-use it over and over again.

Before Whole Foods and the like, the only places to buy a lot of the sort of stuff now in Whole Foods was in food co-ops or buying clubs or small natural food stores. Of course, there still are big, booming co-ops. But liquids--soaps, oils, maple syrup, honey, tamari--were/are available in bulk for cheaper than pre-bottled, so you could/can either bring your own container or buy one to fill. And there's all the other dry stuff in bulk, like oatmeal, of course now available in other places too, like Whole Foods. And before that, in the old general store on the frontier...

I'm admiring the scar on my arm that's a result of using athlete's foot medication on a cut when I thought I was reaching for neosporin. The tubes are identical in shape and color, and I didn't have my glasses on.

Labels: not just branding, but a way of knowing if you're using the right product!

wow, I can't believe this never occurred to me. Thanks for the idea!

(and I think this is worthwhile for apartments like ours, where storage space in bathroom is nonexistent - everything is seen!)

HUHHHHH!!!!!

THANKS JOEY for www.sunburstbottle.com!!!

i've been wanting to put everything in beautiful generic bottles for years, but couldn't figure out what to do with toothpaste and shaving cream. i guess i can squeeze both into the pumps.

hopefully, i can find something for my ugly bright green ban roll-on deodorant!

i love the idea of removing the labels. refreshing. i wouldnt go as far as repackaging - wastes time and product.

and DROPPERS or ATOMIZERS for my rogaine!!!! I'M IN HEAVEN!!!!!!

A link was posted above but to be sure those who don't click through get it... for bulk foods go to the 4th Street Coop, south side of the street between Bowery and 2nd, open until 9:00 every night. Not only do they have food (from dried fruit to nuts, beans, flour, rice) but also everything from shampoo to soap in bulk. With Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods, opening around the corner it would be good to support them anyway.

For those of you who laugh at label removers here's one for you: I take a Sharpie or whatever I can come up with to get the brand name off electronics.

i LOVE so much of the packaging out there. i would LOVE to have everything kiehl's or mario badescu, but i don't like all of their products. therefore, generic bottles will look great in my medicine cabinet.

that sunburstbottle site even has simple containers for lipbalm!!!