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Now that your cabinet is organized, keep it that way by checking expiration dates as you use items and discarding out of date products.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

Avoid Cluttered Linen Closets

Some of us are lucky enough to have linen closets that allow us to keep our stored linens in piles and still have room for toiletries and other items we like to keep handy. Most of us don’t have that luxury and have to devise ways to keep our linen storage neat. The challenge is even greater if we have family members helping themselves to sheets and towels or putting way the clean laundry.

We have a few strategies that work for most families and really work well for individuals.
The first step in deciding what to keep where is to consider where your linen closet is located. If it is in the upstairs hallway near the shared bath, where will you keep table linens and things you use in the downstairs bath? Is there room in the linen closet for things you use in the master suite, or would it be better to store those items closer to where they are used?

Once you have decided exactly what you are going to keep in the linen closet, take a look at the volume of stuff you have to store there. Remember you do not have to have every piece of linen that fits that category available for use. If you have twenty sets of sheets for the queen size bed, one set on the bed and one or two sets in the closet are enough to have on hand. Other sheets and pillowcases can be stored in less accessible spaces until they are needed for use. That goes for anything you have more than a few of. (Just don’t forget you have it and buy some more). That also goes for seasonal items that can be packed in plastic bags with the seasonal decorations.

When you are ready to stack things in the closet, consider using bins for toiletries and, if you do not need to consider safety of small children, place them on low shelves to minimize damage from spillage. If you need to consider child safety, place them out of children’s reach in containers with solid plastic sides and bottom. Place folded sheets and pillowcases inside one of the matching pillowcases and fold the pillowcase sided to fit the contents. Store on shelves with the unopened pillowcase seam facing out. Use the same principle with towels. Fold the washcloth and face towel inside the bath towel and store with the smooth side out. You may also consider rolling the towels, especially if you have deep shelves. If children need to access the linens, place them within easy reach so they do not have to climb to get them in our out of the closet.

If you store infrequently used items in the linen closet, fold them inside-out in order to prevent dust from accumulating on the used side. It is good practice to store tablecloths this way. Tablecloths may also be hung on towel racks mounted on closet or panty doors.

To keep the linen closet looking organized, tidy up the items in disarray when you put away clean linens or when you remove an item for use. Those two minutes will go a long way to keep the space in order.

Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransition.net

Avoid Bathroom Clutter Traps

Throughout the house there are certain areas that just seem to accumulate clutter. One of those areas is the bathroom. It is a limited space in which we accomplish varied tasks and need to store a variety of items. The things we store in the bathroom fall into four categories: medicines and pharmaceuticals, toiletries and make-up, supplies, and appliances. The key to orderly storage and easy access is to group by function and not by type. For instance, you may use a hot lather machine, disposable razors an aftershave and occasionally, a styptic pencil to shave in the morning. You may also have an electric razor that you use routinely or occasionally. If you create a shaving kit and store these items together, you can more efficiently pull them out when you are ready to use them -and put them away when you are finished. Otherwise you may be tempted to leave an item or two on the counter space. Grouping the items according to function saves time and energy. Try grouping them in a clear shoebox and storing on an enclosed shelf or deep drawer.

Apply this same principle to fashion a first aid kit that includes Band-Aids, antiseptics, bandages and an analgesic. Gather and store supplies for dental hygiene. You can also put together a makeup kit with the cosmetics you use on a daily basis, so you can apply and fly to your next appointment.

There are many storage items that are available to organize your bathroom accoutrements. Also look outside the traditional bathroom storage systems to coral functional items. If you take a lot of pills or dietary supplements the four-drawer spice rack with slide-out and flip-down drawers provides a handy way to organize the bottles. Look at cabinet plate organizers or over the cabinet mail racks to separate and store flat bubble packs. Also investigate slide-out wire racks in various dimensions to store supplies in narrow spaces and under the sink.

If you need a place to sit, a place to store and a flat surface to keep a few things handy, take a look at the telephone bench/storage cabinet at www.Solutions.com. It has a cushioned seat, a flat table surface and two hidden storage compartments.

Whatever innovative solutions you design, remember to keep items together to perform a task and keep the kits you create close to the point of activity. That will make it easier to avoid clutter.

Check out the products mentioned at the following web sites:
www.Solutions.com
www.Grandinroad.com
www.taylorgifts.com


Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransition.net

Hanging Towels, Toilet Paper and Laundry

Do you notice all the stuff that hangs around your bathroom? Towels and washcloths are usually ready to dry us off or drying out from the last use. Toilet tissue is resting in some handy spot within arm’s reach of the commode, and perhaps damp hosiery or lingerie, too delicate for the dryer, is draped across some inconspicuous hanger. All of this stuff takes up space and can contribute to a clutter filled bath. Storage solutions are available even for small spaces with little room for mounting hardware.

Towels and wash cloths can fit right on the front of cabinet doors with the clip on towel ring from Get Organized and Home Trends offers several options for hanging towels on shower doors or on a shower rod extension that is pressure mounted without tools. There are also descending hangers that fit on the door hinges and Home Decorators carries a standing tiered towel stand that works well in bathrooms with floor space but not much wall space. On the more expensive side, Hammacher Schlemer offers an English Heated Towel Stand that warms the towels to a comfy 120 degrees. Dry towels can be rolled and stored in decorative baskets or kept in an attractive box or storage bench.

Toilet paper stands that have the added benefit of an attached magazine rack are available at several retailers and matching canisters that attractively store toilet tissue are also sold. One standing tissue holder from Home Decorators has a magazine rack and storage space for two extra rolls of toilet tissue. It takes up less than a square foot of floor space.


When you have tidied up the towels and sequestered the tissue, you may still have to find a spot to dry a few items in the bathroom space. If the shower rod extension is not a viable option for you, there are several other products that might work. Home Trends has an instant clothesline like the ones in many seaside hotel rooms that mounts on one side of the wall and can be pulled to a spot as much as 60 feet away. They also carry clothes pin hangers and an insta-hanger that folds flat when not in use.

These tools can make a big difference in keeping your bathroom neat and free of clutter.

Check out the following sites for products:
Hammacher.com
HomeDecorators.com
ShopGetOrganized.com
Solutions.com
ShopHomeTrends.com


Beverly and Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

Organizing the Bathroom

The bathroom is for _______________. Fill in the blank: bathing, elimination, relaxing, reading, drying hair, putting on make-up, storing necessary supplies, hanging laundry, draping towels, keeping dirty clothes until wash day and lots of other things. We have even known folks who used bathrooms for clothes storage, office space, libraries and junk rooms.

Garden baths, sunken baths and mega baths grace many newer homes. But those of us who live in older homes or small spaces face a challenging proposition when it comes time to organize the stuff we need in the bathroom. Fortunately there are organizing tips and available products that help keep the space uncluttered and the items we need accessible.

The first principle for small spaces is small quantities. Shampoo, soap, toothpaste, beauty products and other necessary items should be stored in modest amounts. In very limited space, one to use and a back up is a good principle to follow. Another principle for small spaces is stack if you can. Under sink space can be maximized by using wooden or metal stacking shelves. The under counter corner shelf from Get Organized fits most cabinets. If you have an old fashioned sink with no cabinet underneath, Home Trends sells a sink skirt that is easy to install and allows for hidden storage under the sink. The covered storage space can hold baskets, boxes or bins that will divide you necessities into accessible groupings. These same containers can help group items on counts tops.

There are a host of choices for creating shelving in tubs or showers. If you are faced with the added dilemma of living in a space where you cannot or would rather not permanently mount shelves, look at the standing metal shelf from Home Decorators or the corner bath and shower shelves from various vendors listed below. Very attractive teak and chrome shelves on a tension pole can be found at Hammacher Schlemmer. The shelves can hold the shampoo, soap, shower cap and other bathing necessities. Mirrors that hang on shower heads and have a space for razors and cream are available and provide a handy grouping for guys who shave in the shower.

Click in next time to explore ways to hang towels, store toilet paper and dry hand washables.

Check out the following sites for products:
Hammacher.com
HomeDecorators.com
ShopGetOrganized.com
Solutions.com
ShopHomeTrends.com


Beverly and Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net