How to Organize a Medicine Cabinet
Learn how to organize a medicine cabinet to keep your medications stored safely and accessible. Follow these 10 simple steps, and you’ll be able to find what you need when you need it and check this off your home management list.
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How to organize a medicine cabinet
If you’re like most people, your medicine cabinet is probably a mess. Supplies are scattered in every direction, and it can be difficult to find what you need when you need it. This can be dangerous, not to mention frustrating.
As a busy mom, and especially if you are a medical mom, you don’t have time to waste searching for your medicines and first aid supplies. Follow these 10 simple steps to organize your medicine cabinet and make your life a little easier. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!
Start with an empty medicine cabinet
An empty cabinet is the perfect canvas to start organizing all of your medicines and first aid supplies! Start by taking everything out and making sure your cabinet, or shelf is completely empty.
Gather all of your medicines and first aid supplies in one place
Whether you have over the counter medications, prescription pills, or first aid supplies bandages and creams, it’s best to gather them all in one place. This way you can easily find whatever you need when an illness strikes or an accident occurs. This is much better than keeping medicines and supplies in various places around the house.
Also consider gathering up creams and ointments, as well as other items like lip balm to store in one place. This will make sure these things never go missing again!
Toss out any expired medications
When it comes to organizing your medicine cabinet, one of the most important steps is to toss out expired medications. Don’t hesitate to get rid of medications that don’t have expiration dates on them or prescriptions you no longer need because you’re not taking the medication anymore. You don’t want expired or unneeded medicines cluttering up your cabinet and this will prevent you from accidentally taking expired medications.
Once you’ve gotten rid of expired and unnecessary medicines, you can start sorting and organizing what remains in an efficient way so finding the right drugs for a given situation is easy.
Sort your medicines and first aid supplies into categories
Once you have gathered all of your medicines and first aid supplies in one place, it is time to start sorting them into categories. Consider categories such as:
- Prescription Medications
- Over the Counter Medications
- Pain Relief
- Cough, Cold and Allergy
- Daily Medications
Then create a separate structure for adults and children in each category if needed. Additionally, you can organize them further by person so you know exactly who needs which medication at what time.
Finally, it’s important to differentiate daily medications from the standard ones so they are easy to find each day. With this simple system in place, organizing the contents of your medicine cabinet won’t be a challenge anymore!
Clean the Inside of the medicine cabinet
Before you begin placing your medications back into your medicine cabinet, wipe the inside down with a disinfectant wipeto help keep your medicines and first aid supplies germ-free.
Keeping your medicine cabinet clean can be an important part of staying healthy. This will not only help you stay on top of cleanliness but also make it easier to spot any new items that need to be added or old items that need to be removed from the cabinet.
Place items you use often in an easily accessible spot
Organizing your medicine cabinet in a way that works for you is key to ensuring that daily medications and first aid supplies are easily accessible when needed. To ensure daily medications never go unused or overlooked, place these items in the upper part of the cabinet or on the door.
Important things like band-aids or burn cream should be near the front of your cabinet as well. It also helps to store other items such as vitamins or over-the-counter meds like ibuprofen in a separate container so that it’s easier to stay organized and only take what you need when you need it!
Store Medications out of reach of children and pets
When it comes to medicine safety, don’t take any chances. Keeping medications out of reach of children and pets is essential. If you have children in your home, it is wise to invest in a lockable container or safety cabinet to store medications securely, or use safety latches on cabinets to keep them closed.
If you are considering becoming a foster parent, you should know that you will be required to demonstrate a double lock system for medications in your home for your home study to be approved.
For extra caution, call the poison control hotline at 800-222-1222 if you ever have any doubts about the safety of your stored items.
So, there you have it. Organizing a medicine cabinet does not need to be overwhelming or stressful. Just remember to take it one step at a time:
- gather all of your medicines and first aid supplies in one place
- discard any expired medications
- clean the cabinet with disinfectant
- sort items into categories
- position frequently used items conveniently
- keep medications out of reach from young children and pets
Of course, it’s always useful to create a written record of your medications just in case – so don’t forget to download the free printable medication list below. Cleaning your medicine cabinet may feel like a big job but having everything organized will save you plenty of time for more important things in life!
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