How to Remove Price Tag Stickers

As a person who likes to collect books, I find price tag stickers quite troublesome to remove. It's even more annoying to find some messy, sticky residue left when you try to carefully pry the sticker off the book. In fact, the end result in my preserving a book's (almost) pristine condition would be not to remove the price tag sticker at all.

Out of curiosity, I did, however, search for tips on the internet and managed to come up with this tutorial during my search. Honestly, I didn't bother with the first two but went straight to try the third one. The instructions in the tutorial is pretty short and it doesn't really give blow-by-blow instructions, but it gives you a pretty good idea on what to do.

In lieu of that, I decided to make this mini-tutorial to removing the price tag sticker from books. The end result may not be perfect, but it does work and it can remove that annoying sticky residue which seems to be the bane whenever we peel off those price tags.

First, you need a nail polish (enamel) remover and some cotton balls. This particular nail polish remover  contains acetone in it as do most nail polish removers available in drugstores. I haven't exactly tried using an enamel remover which is acetone-free since I don't have one available at the moment, but I will try using one in the near future.

Before doing anything else, put a scratch/scrap paper between the back of the book where the price tag sticker is and the last page leaf of the book so it can absorb any liquid that may accidentally soak the book leaves. I personally made this mistake when I was so focused on rubbing the sticker tag off that some of the liquid actually got squeezed out of the cotton and soaked the last page leaf of the book. Right now it has a blue smudge (from the cover of the book I think) but the last leaf is somewhat dark/tinted so it's really not that damaging overall.

Apply some nail polish remover on the cotton ball. Not too much; just enough that it feels damp. Start rubbing the damp cotton ball on the price tag sticker at the corners in a circular motion using gentle force. The sticker tag should be wet enough now so that you can start peeling it off.

When most of the sticker tag is peeled off, run your finger/s over the cover of the book and feel if there are any sticky areas. You can clean off any remaining sticky residue on the cover of the book by using the same cotton ball. Or you can use another one if the cotton ball has gone dry. Remember to  use a gentle amount of force when rubbing the book.

And you're done! You might notice in the picture that I managed to erase the bar code and the ISBN number a bit. Admittedly, I applied a very generous force as I was rubbing the cotton ball so that resulted to this, which is the sole reason why I keep stressing on applying gentle force. It's nice to note, though, that the blue color on the area where a portion of the price tag sticker was stuck on to wasn't damaged. Like I said, this method may not be perfect, but it does work. ^_^

I will try to use an acetone-free enamel remover next time. Will update this post with pics in the future.

This tutorial is an edited version from the original post on my blog.

Misty's Book Review #1

Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the coming-of-age novels that I liked when I was in high school. I read this after Anne of Green Gables and it actually reminded me a bit about it; like how Julie lived with a stern aunt and Anne lived with Marilla who was also the same. Nonetheless, it was still a good read. I would recommend it to young teens.

View all my reviews

Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke

“No one can advise or help you—no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write?”

— Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke

This quote has been sitting in my drafts on Tumblr. Let me share what it made me think:

I write because I want to express. I want to speak my mind. I am no writer, nor a poet and I have to say I was never good in expressing myself, mostly because of fear - fear for judgment and fear of hurting people. Although sometimes I take pride in it, I take pride in the fact that this fear made me more sensitive when it comes to dealing with people; when to say things at the right time. Even then, I want to improve on how I can be more expressive. That is my reason for writing. Most people write because they CAN express,  and writing is a way of immortalizing that. I write because I want to express, I want to talk more to myself, dig deep down my inner thoughts.

About the book.

Letters to a Young Poet was a book compiled of letters from Rilke to a young man named Franz Kappus. He, Kappus, wanted to ask for critiques for his poetry from a 27-year old Rilke and at the same time some career advice as he was discouraged in his life in the Austro-Hungarian Army. There are 10 letters in this compilation and originally written in the German language. Here's a site containing the letters, translated by a certain Stephen Mitchell.

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

I myself have yet to start reading the letters. Maybe I could put some of my reflections here for each letter I read. That could be a challenge for myself for this blog for the time being. :)

To read and write.

To the members:

We are here because we share a common interest with each one, that is, reading. Although the point of this blog is to share your comments or experience with the books that you've read, it can also coincidentally be an avenue to exercise your writing skills. However, we don't want to pressure you on that area. Quoting one of the members who inspired this putting-up-a-blog idea:

Hindi kelangan na academic type talaga, okey lang if journalistic type yung writing as long as mababasa ng lahat, doing away with the technicalities and highfaluting words . The reason for this is to give others an idea on what kind of books we are reading, or for any reason why we read that book. Unbiased, unparalleled and plagiarism-free form of textual analysis lang.

Francis Ryan Salvador

So, feel free to discuss about the books that you've read, the genre that you like, the author you prefer, or even the books that you would like to try reading. In this generation where the booming of technology has affected the lifestyle of young people, it is a need that we preserve and promote the importance of these 2 basic skills: reading and writing. And also, to develop the ability to form our own preferences or opinion especially with the wide range of resources being made available to and by the internet.

To the readers (of this blog):

Welcome! Thank you for dropping by this blog. Feel free to drop comments, engage in discussions and what not.

I may not be familiar with the usage of this word or where it's referenced to, but I just feel like it's appropriate at this juncture, so, what the heck: Excelsior!

~Misty