5 Tips to Organize Your Medicine Cabinet
5 Tips to Organize Your Medicine Cabinet
Do you dread opening your medicine cabinet because you just don’t know what will spill out on you? If you’re not sure how long that bottle of cough syrup has been lurking in your medicine cabinet, it’s time to get it organized and cleaned out. Check out these tips and get that thing in order!
Empty Everything Out
Empty everything out of your medicine cabinet so you can start with a clean slate, so to speak. Grab a small basket or box and clear out every shelf, dumping everything into the box. Your goal is to start with a totally empty medicine cabinet.
Sort and Toss
Once you’ve cleaned out the medicine cabinet, it’s time to sort through everything that’s in your box or basket. Check expiration dates on every item that has one. Anything that is expired needs to be tossed. Check with your pharmacy about the proper method for disposing of medications. Make sure that anything going back in the medicine cabinet really belongs there (you know how odd things get stuck in the wrong places!).
Use Small Containers to Keep Things Organized
Check at a local dollar store for some cheap, small, square or rectangle shaped plastic containers with lids that will fit on the medicine cabinet shelves. Use these containers to holds small items like nail clippers, dental floss, cotton swabs, even ointment tubes.
Store Items You Use Regularly
One of the problems with medicine cabinets is that they can easily become catch-alls. We tend to just stick some sort of medicine-y or bathroom type of item in the medicine cabinet because we don’t have a better place for it. Store items in your medicine cabinet that you use on a regular basis. Since the cabinet is an easily-accessible storage area, typical health and hygiene items should be stored there. You may want to store items like:
Nasal sprays
Antibiotic ointment
Itch cream
Nail clippers
Cotton balls and cotton swabs
Mouthwash
Toothpaste
Pain relievers
Cough medicine
Allergy medicine
Put Medications Up on Top Shelves
Over the counter medications and prescription medications need to be kept far from the sticky fingers of curious kids. Make sure all medications are placed on the top shelves in your medicine cabinet. If the bottles won’t quite fit, check the shelves to see if they are adjustable then move them around. For safety purpose alone, it is important to make sure your medicine cabinet is clean and organized. You need to make sure that all medications you have stored have not expired and that they are stored safely. Putting things in order will help you find the items you need when you go looking for them, instead of rummaging around and making a mess in the bathroom.
If you are in need of better organization skills in general, then we have some things here that will be sure yo help you out! Check out our guide to Getting Organized! If you find that you are still having organization problems, then you might want to try this book on organizing inside and out!
I like that you said that you can use plastic containers that will fit cabinet shelves so you can keep small items organized. My husband and I are looking to shop for wooden cabinets that we’ll place in our bathroom. It is where we keep medicines and first aid kits. We don’t want to lose small items that can be critical for us to use, so we’ll include containers to our to-buy list.