Have you or someone in your family ever felt that “cold coming on,” late at night and all the medicine cabinet had was old, half-empty, probably expired medicine? Does the tiny area of the medicine cabinet seem like a hunt in a deep forest when looking for something in particular? Managing prescriptions, first aid, supplements, and cough medicine is important. Getting things organized can help you minimize the frustration of hunting for “those pills” or “that medicine.”
Here are ten medicine cabinet organization tips, in no particular order, that can help resolve some unhealthy chaos.
1. Get rid of items that you can’t use. Expired prescriptions, old bottles, old band-aid boxes, and old cough medicine can and should be thrown away.
2. Keep cotton swabs and bandages in glass surgical jars (found in medical supply stores).
3. Only store the items that are used most frequently in the medicine cabinet. Store things that are only used occasionally under the sink or in a drawer.
4. Resist the urge to fill up the medicine cabinet with things that you don’t use often. Examine the contents of the medicine cabinet every six months or so and get rid of anything that you don’t use or has expired.
5. Adjust the shelves in the cabinet to the size of the items that you keep in there. Place taller bottles at the bottom.
6. Use plastic containers for nail files, combs, tweezers and similar items.
7. Try storing drugs in another place in the home, like the kitchen.
8. Attach magnets to the inside of the cabinet door and hang small metal items like nail clippers and cuticle scissors on them.
9. Use drawers to store medicine and related items. Divide them into categories: bottled OTC medication, natural remedies, small sampler/travel packets, and prescriptions.
10. Always keep these things out of the reach of children.
Organizing your medicine cabinet will make it easier for everyone in the family to take care of their health. You will be able to find what you need quickly, whether it is a bandage for a paper cut or the cough medicine for your child.
Follow these tips to stay organized, and stay healthy!
What a timely article with flu season starting up. Thank you. I found the surgical jars to be perfect for my band aid collection.