How to Organize Your Medicine Cabinet in 10 Minutes or Less!

The medicine cabinet is a common place in the home that gets little attention as far as organization goes. But with just about 10 minutes, you can clear out this small space and make it more efficient. Here are a few quick tips on how to clean out your medicine cabinet and make it more useable for you and your family.

Prescriptions

Ironically, prescriptions are probably not something that should go into a medicine cabinet, and there are some good reasons why. First of all, if you have guests over that use your bathroom, more often than not they will take a peek into your medicine cabinet and you may not want them seeing what you are taking. Also, if you have children in your home or children that visit often, they will love going into your medicine cabinet and exploring, and they won't hesitate to open those bottles if possible, which can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. Your best bet is to first go through your prescriptions and toss whatever is expired or no longer needed, and then store them in a better spot, like a high pantry cabinet where little hands can't reach and prying eyes can't see. Not only will it clear out some much needed space in your medicine cabinet, but it will keep your health needs private and safe.

Beauty Products

You can often find a vast array of beauty products in any medicine cabinet, but how many of them do you actually use? A good general rule of thumb is if it's more than two months old and you haven't used it, toss it. Also, if the beauty product makes you react badly (for example, by giving you a rash or making you itchy), toss it, because unless you're a glutton for punishment, you wouldn't use it anyway. Also, beauty products do actually expire after awhile. Most products will have an expiration date somewhere on the label, and if it's expired, toss it. And as for any creams or tubes of liquid, if the container is leaking, you probably shouldn't keep it, either. In the end, you should only have the bare necessities of what you will use in the medicine cabinet.

Medicine

Medicinal items follow the same rules as beauty products. Keep only the items you know you'll use (bandages, gauze, antiseptic, etc.), and toss items you haven't used in more than a year. Also, if you have any tubes of liquid that are leaking, it's best to toss them, since germs and bacteria may be nesting on these. Most medicinal items have clear expiration dates on them, so it's best to look at these and make sure your items are not expired.

Personal (very personal!) Products

I have heard from a few people that snoop (See? It does happen!) that they have seen some medicine cabinets stocked with some really personal items. For instance, one friend admitted that she took a peek into another friend's medicine cabinet and found condoms and lubricants. Another friend admitted to seeing tampons and feminine pads in a medicine cabinet. For personal items such as these, your best bet is to put them away in another spot altogether. Feminine products should probably be stored under a bathroom sink or in a bathroom closet. Products like condoms and lubricants should be stored in a bedroom (and if you have young children that you are trying to keep these away from, there are locking boxes you can purchase). These kinds of items also qualify as things you wouldn't use at a bathroom sink anyway, which is where most medicine cabinets are located.

The Final Steps

To make your life easier, it's probably best to put everything back into your medicine cabinet by keeping like products together. For example, most medicine cabinets have three shelves. You could keep beauty products on one shelf, medicine on another, and any other miscellaneous items like toothpaste and toothbrushes on the last one. The point is to make it easier for you to navigate it so you're not digging to find something. Also, there is something to be said about looking into a clean space and knowing exactly what you have in there and where everything is.

A clean and organized medicine cabinet is good for your efficiency and is more visually pleasing. By getting rid of the things you never use, you'll actually create a more enjoyable space for yourself because it will look cleaner and you'll have only what you need. If you've got 10 extra minutes you can spare today, why not do yourself a favor and reorganize one of the most used places in your home?