A great way to stay organized and eco-friendly is to reuse those old containers. But sticky labels and printed dates are tacky and need to go! Here is a simple and easy way to get rid of them once and for all.
Items needed:
warm water
baking soda or salt
oil
dish scraper
scrub pad (I love this one)
dish soap
*If using a plastic container, I suggest keeping the lid on, so it will keep its shape while you scrub.
1. Soak in warm water for several minutes. You can either submerge the container or place a wet rag over the label. You can skip this, but you'll have to put a little more elbow grease into the next steps.
2. Manually remove as much of the label as you can. I like to use my dish scrapper for this job, it's quick and easy.
3. Sprinkle baking soda over the entire area. The baking soda acts as an abrasive. You can also use salt, or a combination of the two for tougher labels.
* I re-purposed an old jar and the top of an old salt shaker to make a convenient baking soda dispenser, because baking soda is a household staple around here!
4. Drizzle a little oil over the area. Any oil will do, this is to help remove the sticky stuff. I used oil I had sitting around from frying up dinner.
5. Let the baking soda and oil sit for a minute. This gives the baking soda and oil some time to break down the label.
6. Use the dish scrapper to remove any excess. Before using the scrub pad, go over again with the dish scrapper. This helps to remove the remaining paper that may be left so it doesn't get stuck in your scrub pad.
7. Use scrub pad to remove the rest of the label. You may need to sprinkle more baking soda or salt for this process, depending how stuck on your label is.
8. Clean with soapy water. Now that the label is removed, you'll want to clean your container from all the oil.
9. Label, fill and enjoy your new container!
This process works to remove printed dates on containers as well.