Organize Your Medicine Cabinet

Bathroom medicine cabinets hold a lot more than medicine. If fact, it may not be the best place to keep bottles of vitamins, minerals and prescription drugs. The heat and humidity in a bathroom that is not well ventilated can interfere with the potency of those medicines. It may be better to find a safe place outside the bathroom for those items. Wherever you store medications make sure they are safely out of the reach of children.

Begin organizing by clearing everything out of the medicine cabinet. Discard expired medicines and cosmetics as well as any gunky, dried out, or damaged items. Thoroughly clean the inside of the cabinet

Next, think about how you use the items and reserve that space for things that you need access to in the bathroom near the sink. Toothbrush and toothpaste, razors and shaving cream, make-up and applicators may be the things you want to reserve space for. First aid supplies should be readily available and, space permitting, the medicine cabinet is a good spot that allows all persons in the household to know where to retrieve bandages, tweezers and antibacterial ointment. Keep these items together in a first aid kit.

Once you have decided what items will go in your medicine cabinet, take a critical look at the height of the shelves. Many cabinets have adjustable shelves, and now, when you have everything removed, is the time to adjust the shelves to fit the products you are going to place in the cabinet.

While the height of some items may dictate where they are stored, the general rule is to put like things together and the most used items on the lowest shelves. Use small trays and baskets to group items and make it easier to pull them from shelves for use.

If you have a metal cabinet consider using magna-pods to increase storage space and keep frequently used items close at hand. These handy little magnetized containers come in various sizes and attach by magnets to the inside of the cabinet door, Check them out at www.magnapods.com.

Now that your cabinet is organized, keep it that way by checking expiration dates as you use items and discarding out of date products. Clean up spills when they happen and discard items that are becoming grimy, rusty or dirty. Keep like items together and don’t over stuff the cabinet with duplicate items. Keep the extras stored elsewhere until you need a replacement.

Your medicine cabinet is now ready for you to access what you need and for any guest to admire.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net