Organize Your Medicine Cabinet

4 Easy Steps to Effectively Clean Out and Organize Your Medicine Cabinet

Now that you made it through flu season, I’m sure your medicine cabinet has seen better days. Personally speaking, the LAST thing I want to do when I’m sick is clean, let alone organize a medicine cabinet that I visit four times a day.

However, now it’s summer and those cold, sickly days of winter are behind us. Now that we are feeling like ourselves once again, it’s time to provide some organization to that haven of temporary illness relief. Here are four super simple steps to transform your personal pharmacy.

Yes. Everything. This is the perfect way to start your purge and get a visualization of just how much space you have for your medicine and first aid products. Also, medicine cabinets can get deceivingly dirty. Cough syrup spills, loose pills, and used cotton swabs are just some of the common items left behind. This is a perfect time, and maybe your only chance, to perform some much-needed maintenance to create a clean environment for your medicine, which seems pretty important, right?

With everything out in the open, this is also the perfect time to properly dispose of any expired prescriptions. The FDA suggests you mix the expired medications with used coffee grounds or kitty litter in a sealed bag and throw the closed bag into the trash (We didn’t know this either, had to look it up).

The next step is our personal recommendation. If you aren’t sure exactly how to organize medicine, we suggest going by age group. Infant and children in one section, adult and prescriptions in another. This is the best way to ensure your kids stay away from harmful medications and get exactly what they need. Ideally, keep your kid-friendly medications closest to the ground and thus putting those more harmful prescriptions higher up and out of reach.

If you want, you can also subcategorize by type of medicine. Our favorite categories are first aid, allergy, cold/flu/sore throat, pain relievers, and digestion.

Next, get your organizational tools. We recommend clear, plastic bins so you can see what you are grabbing a little easier. Also, plastic is relatively drop-proof so if your kids get a little eager and try to play doctor by reaching for, and ultimately dropping, a bin full of medicine, you won’t have to worry about shattered glass everywhere. Our stackable organizer bin is perfect for storing any amount of medicine and our divided organizer box gets the job done for any items you want to keep conveniently separated for quick access. For mirrored medicine cabinets, these smaller containers and shelves are the perfect fit.

Once everything is categorized and organized, it’s time to label! You can use a label maker, but we suggest having a bit of fun with your labels. Use some colored markers, tape or anything else creative you can think of to add some spice to an otherwise boring cabinet.

Our last step is to make use of that valuable real estate on the back of the door. If you need a little bit more storage space, our over-the-door organizer is exactly what you need for those last few bottles. Even if you have more than enough space and storage thanks to the purge earlier, you can still make great use of your cabinet door. For example, this is a perfect place to display first aid instructions, emergency contact numbers, pill schedules, and maybe even a symptom-to-medicine flow chart! Get fun and creative! If healthy you prepares now, sick you will say “thank you” later.

The medicine cabinet might not be the most exciting space to organize, but it could be one of the most important. Throwing out expired prescriptions, keeping harmful medicine out-of-reach, and just adding to the overall organization to your home will have profound impacts on your life, and your kids! Tackle your cabinet now before sick season creeps up on you!

Nathan Ray is a Content Assistant at mDesign.
He is really, really good at catching the little pieces of eggs that they throw at you at Hibachi restaurants.

How do you stay organized? We’d love to hear your story!
There are many ways that you can contribute and be part of our family.

Add your social media photos to our website and more! Visit mdesignhomedecor.com and learn how you can help spread the word. Get 10% off your first order when you subscribe to our email list. Plus, follow us on social media.