Day 16 of The 30 Day Home Refresh
Today we are going to be purging and organizing your medicine cabinet. It’s time to get rid of expired medications and make it easier to see and reach the things you need. For the purposes of talking about medicine cabinets today, I’m talking about where you keep your medication and first-aid supplies. That might be in the cabinet above the bathroom sink, it might be in a closet in your bathroom or it might be in another room of the house entirely.
Step #1
The first step in any organization project is to empty out the area to be organized. Take everything out of the cabinet. As you pull bottles out, take note of the expiration date of each item and toss the expired prescriptions, over the counter meds, or ointments. At the same time, make a list of the expired things that you tossed and need to replace. Also, take note of the essentials you thought you had on hand but now realize are missing.
Step #2:
After you’ve pared down the collection, sort the items by category. Categories will differ from household to household – some categories could include: first aid, allergy, cold/flu, sore throat, digestion, pain meds, etc.
Step #3
Next, choose bins or baskets that can hold the various medicine containers within easy reach. Short, clear plastic containers are perfect for organizing medicine bottles, along with miscellaneous things like bulb syringes, thermometers, and measuring cups. Small, clear plastic drawers are also great if you have a closet or larger cabinet to use for storage. Spice racks are another useful way to store medicine bottles. Label each container or drawer to make it easy to grab the appropriate category of medicine when needed. You can use a label maker or write on colorful washi tape.
Images from Just a Girl Blog
Image from Rubbermaid
Step #4
The last step in organizing your medicine cabinet is to make use of the inside of the cabinet door. This area is often overlooked but can be a great way to sneak in extra storage space. You could mount magnetic strips to hold things like tweezers, bobby pins, nail files, etc. You could also use stock on hooks or containers to hold smaller items that might get lost in a deep cabinet.
Images from One Crazy House
Happy organizing!