Saving Containers for Homemade Cleaning Solutions

Over the past year, I've made almost all the cleaning solutions we use in our household.  It took some trial and error, but I've narrowed the recipes down to a hand full of very effective solutions that cost a fraction of commercial cleaners, plus they are less toxic and better for our environment.

Like many of you, I save jars to put these solutions in ( I like the Marketside salad dressing bottles that look like old fashioned milk bottles.  The salad dressing is very good too.)  Sometimes getting off the old labels is a real chore.  Yesterday I ran across a tip that worked like a charm:  Put one scoop of oxygen cleaner in a sink full of hot water.  Place your jars in the solution and let them soak 15-20 minutes.

The oxygen cleaner (I used Sun brand) bubbles around the jar while it soaks.  The bonus is that it cleans the sink while it soaks off the labels.

 

After a few minutes, the label lifted off in one piece and the sticky goo that usually has to be scraped, soaked some more, and scrubbed to get it off, actually wiped off with a sponge!  This tip saves tons of work and frustration.

 

 

 

In just a few minutes, all that was left was a sparkling clean mason jar and a very clean sink.