It can be very frustrating when you reach into your medicine cabinet and see nothing but an unorganized mess! Medicine cabinets tend to be catchalls for expired beauty products and prescription medicines that probably should have been discarded. If you want to get rid of the clutter, organize your medicine cabinet. Check out these helpful tips:
Past It’s Expiration
The absolute first thing you should do when giving your medicine cabinet an overhaul is to take all medications out. Place them in a separate area so that you can weed through them. While some medications can simply be tossed in the garbage, others need to be disposed of properly. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends mixing medications with an unappealing substance such as dirt or used cat litter, placing them in a resealable plastic sandwich bag and tossing them in the trash. They also recommend scratching out any names and addresses on disposed medication containers!
Harsher substances or ones that can be of harm to others if left in the wrong hands, should be brought to an appropriate drug take back event or establishment that has a receptacle always available. However, if you can’t attend one of these events or don’t live near a receptacle, the FDA recommends just flushing them down the toilet and scratching out the name and address on the discarded bottle. For over the counter meds, look at the expiration dates on the bottle and use your best judgement. Keep in mind most OTC medications and products lose their effectiveness once past this date. Additionally, even beauty products such as face cleaner and makeup can expire too!
Increasing Efficiency
Whenever someone in your household goes to take something out of the medicine cabinet, they are likely looking to grab something quickly to finish their bathroom routine or to take care of other hygiene items. Common beauty items kept in medicine cabinets are ones that are best left out of the reach of small children; such as, cotton swabs, nail clippers, tweezers, toothbrush, band-aids, antibacterial ointment and dental floss. If you have all of these things scattered about in the cabinet it can be a real hassle!
The best way to keep these items in their place is to purchase containers or small baskets for each of them and placing these storage options within the cabinet itself. The dollar store can be a cost effective place to find these small bins/containers. Since the cabinet is long and narrow think small! Things such as cotton swabs can be placed in small open mouthed cups. Whereas hair accessories and band aids should be fine if dumped into their own small basket for a grab and go effect.
Upkeep and Clean Regularly
Now that your medicine cabinet is more organized, don’t forget to repeat this process at least 3-4 times per year. While implementing this process, also take the time to wipe down shelves of the cabinet and disinfect storage containers. A good cleaner with bleach or tossing the containers on the top rack of your dishwasher can also do this for you! Antibacterial bleach wipes are also great for wiping down the shelves too!
Now that you know all of the tips, go organize your medicine cabinet!
