Tuesday, February 7, 2017

19 Quick Tip Tuesday - Easy Sticker Removal

By now you all know I am easily amused and the little things always excite me. Today's tip may be one that is as old as time, but it completely "blew" my mind.


Stickers are one of my phobias. Not to a medically diagnosed state, but I truly can't handle sticky. And I really can't stand sticky paper. I don't know where this long time fear and avoidance has come from, but it is strong with me.

My boys are past the sticker stage for the most part, but I still deal with them frequently in terms of packaging and merchandise. Go to a thrift store and you get stickers. Purchase items for the home and you get stickers. Ikea, stickers. In fact, almost every piece of our IKEA kitchen cabinetry was adorned with a sticker and I am still finding ones that I missed during install. And so many of them were awful to remove. You start to pick at them and the paper pulls thin, crumbles, tears... sticky residue remains on the cabinet to scrub. Before you know it, little white sticky paper crumbs are all over your shirt and in your hair and under your chipped nails and you feel that heavy feeling in your stomach... OK, maybe that last part is just me.

I have tried a number of ways to remove the stickers cleanly; including Windex, vinegar, Goo Gone, coconut oil, and soaking the item in hot water. But the method I have found to be the cleanest and easiest is my hair dryer!

An example of my initial attempt to peel a cabinet sticker...




The process is ridiculously easy... Heat up the sticker with a hair dryer and slowly pull away from the product.


Caution! The sticker and the product can get hot quickly so BE CAREFUL! 

The heat loosens the glue on the back of the sticker and generally creates a quick and clean removal. No messy dripping liquid or oily residue aftermath.


Quick funny story - My son was invited to a last minute birthday party and as I was bagging up the boy's gift in the car (as a passenger of course), and I couldn't get the price stickers off of the boxes. I remembered the heat trick, turned up the heat in the car and held the boxes near the vent for a minute or two. The stickers were cleanly removed in seconds and my kids thought I was a scientific magician. #magicmom

Here is another video, this time with the hair dryer and the easy-peasy-super-clean sticker removal.





Because of the heat put off by the hair dryer, this method is best for hard plastics, some woods, glass, and metals (surfaces that are not too sensitive to heat). And if any glue/sticky residue does remain after the removal, a little vinegar on a microfiber cloth generally does the trick for that.

Was I the last to know? Maybe! But truthfully, I love learning these quick little tips and relaying them to you all, so cheers to celebrating the small things!

19 comments:

  1. elmer (like elmer's glue) has a sticker remover that is amazing! it's a lot quicker than having to whip out your dryer. you simply take tissue or a q-tip, get it wet w/the remover and rub it on whatever sticker or sticky spot you want to remove. takes about a minute to work.

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  2. This is genius!!!! I wish I had known this a few months ago when I had to peel 40 stickers off of my son's closet door. Lol.

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  3. I will DEFINITELY try this next time- I so dislike the stickers that have little circles that separate from the big sticker around them. WHAT a PAIN and mess! Thanks for the tip!

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  4. This is great for so many items. The car heat was very funny. My daughter taught me to blow on the label as you pull it off. Works in a pinch!!
    :)

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  5. I just use Un-du... you can even remove stickers in scrapbooks or planners with that without damaging the page or blurring ink, it's that good.

    https://www.amazon.com/UnDuProducts-01004-20-Un-Du-Adhesive-Remover-4oz/dp/B003TZQPTS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486592518&sr=8-1&keywords=undo

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  6. Love the tip, thanks, I will use it. Do you also know the trick with eucalyptus oil? Useful for ridding you of sticky residues after removing or peeling stickers and also helps you get the sucker off.

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  7. Thank you! I rather use a hair dryer or heater than a remover product because it's cheap, natural, and I don't have to breathe in random fumes.

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  8. Nope, you were definitely not the last to know! Reading this has made my day! (Okay it's not been a great day so far...) Thanks!

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  9. This hair dryer tip has blown my mind! I also suffer from sticky labeling removing phobia. Such a pain! Thanks for sharing! Also eager to try other tips listed here in the comments! Genius!

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  10. You are a genius!!! I can't wait to try this tip!! I can't tell you the number of times I've cursed a retailer for putting the big sticker in the most visible place...and then making it impossible to take off!!!

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  11. So excited to try this tip. When will the 2017 planner be out? I can't wait to see how cute it is!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Hannah! It was released in my shop back in December. :)
      https://www.etsy.com/shop/IHeartOrganizing?ref=seller_info&section_id=20647538

      I will be putting together promotional photos and details for my FAQ page over the next couple of weeks.

      Best,
      Jen

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  12. Thank you for the tip! I managed to get stickers out of a big mirror that I've otherwise liked but not with the stickers. They were there when I got the mirror a few years ago. Now this piece of deco is a show piece in our entrance way. I was surprised that even such old stickers were easy to detach with the hair dryer.

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  13. This is such a great tip! I had not heard of it before but plan to try it next time I need to remove any stickers. Also I've found that lemon essential oil works amazingly well for any residue that is left after removal!

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  14. I totally didn't know that! Thanks for the tip. I share your loathing of stickers (not the heavy feeling in the cheast, mine is more of an irritation, almost an itch. :)
    Jenn
    www.FrugalMamasAdventures.blogspot.com

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  15. Genius! The Home Goods and TJ Maxx stickers are the stickiest I've seen and I feel like I spend way to much time trying to get them off of things - especially the glass of frames (why do they always put them there?) Thanks for the tip!

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  16. You make my day!!! I found it now in my unread mails and I am so grateful!! My boys have a really bad stickers stage now and I have to remover about 30 from their beds. Thank you very much!!

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