5 Quick Tips to Organize a Medicine Cabinet

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I find that organizing a medicine cabinet is almost a therapeutic task. In New York City, where room can be tight especially in bathrooms, organizing a medicine cabinet is quick and satisfying. It usually involves throwing away a lot of items and the decisions do not generally take an emotional toll.

  1. Start fresh. First start by emptying the medicine cabinet and wiping down those shelves and doors. Also, consider changing the shelving heights. Most medicine cabinets have adjustable shelves. Use the empty cabinet as an opportunity to adjust the shelves.
  2. Toss. All old or expired medicines and creams should be tossed or otherwise properly disposed. Two options for disposing of medications are to mix tablets with coffee grinds before trashing (this is to prevent accidental ingestion) or looking for a drug take back event. Look for other unwanted or unused jars, containers and creams.
  3. Does it belong? The limited space of a medicine cabinet requires us to be ruthless about what items we typically store there. Is the medicine cabinet the proper place to store all of your sunblock or all of the first aid supplies? Do you need to keep all of your perfume or makeup in the medicine cabinet? Who else uses the medicine cabinet? Are there other logical locations in the home to store items?
  4. Put Like with Like. Putting like with like is an organizing matra. Look for a way to refill the cabinet with logical zones such as all the shaving supplies in one location or all of your oral care products.
  5. Rebuild Top to Bottom. Replace items into the medicine cabinet in a top to bottom order. The items at the top of the medicine cabinet should be the least used items or the items you would prefer out of reach of children. Items on the lower shelves should be for frequently used items. Replacing the contents in a top to bottom order prevents any of the items you are replacing on the upper shelves from falling and taking out items on the lower shelves.

Stand back and enjoy your newly organized medicine cabinet. If you want to spend a little more time making your medicine cabinet work better for you, consider adding some small organizing products. Can you use clear drawer organizers to keep small items from falling out of the cabinet? Will magnets help? Magnetic pockets can help corral make-up brushes and magnets hooks are great for easily finding scissors. Explore some of the possibilities on my Pinterest board.