In the last post I talked about how getting started with a bookshelf was a great beginning to your organizing process. Once you get going, and see the progress you can make, you will be encouraged to keep going and take on a little bigger organizing project.
Another good space to begin organizing is your medicine cabinet. This is a helpful area of your home to have organized, because when you get into your medicine cabinet, it is usually because you are looking for something. Also, that something you either NEED to find or you will HAVE to run to the store and buy another medicine. So, for those reasons, it is best to have everything right where you KNOW it should be.
The first step in organizing your medicines is go through them. Check expiration dates and properly dispose of outdated meds. I also like to wipe the bottles down and get all the sticky stuff off of the kids liquid medications. You know, from when your child was throwing a fit and did not want take the medicine, and in the midst of the flailing arms and legs the bottle gets knocked over and it gets all gooey! Or the bottle tips over in the cupboard and leaks on the shelf! Been there, done that. Just wipe away the memory.
The next step is to sort through all the medicine. Start organizing by separating all the prescription medications and organizing them. You can group together all the kids over the counter medicine, another grouping can consist of supplements/vitamins, and then another one will be all of the adult over-the-counter medications. Another section I like to make a separate group for is all the creams and ointments like: hydro-cortizone, benadryl, & neosporine. They don’t usually stand up well so I put them together in a basket or small bin.
Whew! You got all that? Good, because that was the hard part. The rest goes down like a spoon full of sugar. Now for the next part, there a few ways you can organize your medicine. It depends on how much space you have to dedicate to medicine storage and also how much medicine your family uses regularly.
At my house I have a simple method. I have small plastic bins (they are easily wiped out) and I group the medicines according to ailment: One bin has adult headache/cold medicine, another bin has stomach/indigestion medication, the third bin has band-aids and first aid, and the fourth bin has all of the kid’s medicines. I also have a short bin with the creams/ointments. Then I also keep the thermometers handy on the shelf.
Another way I like to organize medicine is with the small stepped shelves that are usually used in pantries. With these shelves, even if you only kept the meds on one shelf in the kitchen, you could still see everything you had at a glance.
When you have more room to spread out, then you can separate your groups onto the tiered organizer. Dedicate one tiered shelf for prescriptions, one for kids, one for over the counter, and one for vitamins and supplements. If you want to make sure you will easily be able to grab the one you are looking for, alphabetize the medicine, front to back and left to right. Also, be sure to leave space between the bottles so they don’t come tumbling down when you reach for one in the back.
A bin for loose items like ace bandages, boxes of band-aids, and ice pack bags help to keep all those items contained and neat. Also, to help you when searching for the liquid syringe for the kids medicines, you can keep a small container for them and also one for the thermometer(s). Another bin is good for all the half-opened boxes of allergy medicine and the like so they are great housed together and so they don’t fall on the shelves.
I have complete faith in your ability to get the medicine cupboard/shelf/closet organized, and make the next time you have to access it a much better experience. You may find yourself walking by and opening the door just to look at your organized space and smile.
Happy Organizing!!
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