Organize Your Medicine Cabinet

I confess. I am an obsessive organizer! I like for everything to have a place, so I know where to find it, and also to help keep the house tidy and clutter free. Clutter and disorganization make it hard for me to relax. While I am in the process of engaging in my Spring Cleaning/Decluttering/Reorganizing binge, I figured I could share some of my organization methods with you - starting with the bathroom. It's so easy to acquire way too much clutter in a bathroom - between the hair products, shampoos, lotions, medicines and other toiletries floating around - there's a lot of room for organization!

An eyesore in many family bathrooms is the medicine cabinet. Here's a picture of how mine is currently organized:

I use an entire cabinet for my stuff, simply because it is available, but you can just as easily use any space that is open - a shelf in the hall closet or kitchen works just as well. The key is to group items, so that you don't just end up with everything all jumbled together. Use a box or basket for each category - I prefer simple, plastic baskets, but if you have limited space, lids with boxes that can be stacked might be a better option, or you might prefer more decorative/fancy baskets. Whichever container you choose, label those accordingly. **On a side note - for me a label maker is a MUST when getting organized. Makes it so much easier to locate things, especially for other family members that did not do the organizing aka your spouse and kids. However, be forewarned that inevitably they will still ask you where items are even if you label them, and often they will put things away in the incorrect place even though the labels are right there to guide them. Do I sound annoyed? LOL I honestly think sometimes my family puts items in the wrong place just to mess with me, but that's a whole other story. ;)

Back to organizing!!

I keep the following categories, but you could adjust them however you like to suit your needs:

1. Daily Medications: allergy meds, ibuprofen, vitamins - things that are taken regularly. I keep them all in one basket, and just pull out that basket each day to grab what we need.
2. Specialty Medications: cold medicine, nasal rinse kit, muscle pain creams - basically things that you only use on certain occasions
3. First Aid: band-aids, antibiotic ointment, anti-itch cream, ace bandages - anything you might need for any injury
4. Pet Medication: flea meds, heartworm preventative meds, and any others - I actually keep this in a closed container, because sometimes they have a smell to them
5. My peroxide and witch hazel are kept separate, but some might store it with the first aid items.
6. Last, I have my ear thermometer up next to the first aid items, but it tends to float from shelf to shelf depending on how much it is being used. I do keep the extra covers for it in the specialty medications basket.
7. I have an additional shelf for extra toilet paper and kleenex, because this particular cabinet happens to be over the toilet.

Just an additional tip as you go through and organize your medications and supplies - realistically weed out whatever you don't need. Get rid of expired items. I admit, I just found some anti-itch cream that expired in 2010. Remember that time you bought 5 different cold medicines before you found one that worked? Okay - no need to keep the other 4. I know, I know - it hurts to get rid of stuff that you paid good money for, but either gift it out to a friend or family member that will use it, donate it, or get rid of it. Chances are, it's not going to work on your next cold either, so why keep it? You're not using it, and it is just taking up space and adding clutter to your cabinet. Enough said.

Personalized Dry Erase Calendar

I don't know about your household, but I know in mine we have reached that point where everyone has their own activities and appointments scheduled out, and it can get a little chaotic trying to keep track of who needs to be where at what time. I wonder how Mrs. Brady managed to keep her sanity with all those kids to keep track of? I find that keeping a calendar in a central location in the house - in our case the kitchen - provides a spot for everyone to list their schedules and also makes it possible to take a quick peek at any time and know what's on the agenda for the week. Since this calendar is going to be visible for anyone to see, why not make it pleasant to view and let it show your personality a bit?

In our house, we are big Disney fans. So much so, that I have a Mickey Mouse themed kitchen. Naturally, I felt that a cute Disney-themed calendar would be perfect for us! I could have easily just run out and bought a standard Disney calendar, but instead I thought - why not make my own and while I'm at it make it a dry erase, so it can easily be adjusted when needed?! So, I gathered some ideas from various internet sites, and here's the result:

Personalized Dry Erase Calendar

What you will need:

• empty frame - size depends on your available space and how big you want your calendar to be
• contact paper or wall paper
• scrapbook paper
• embellishments
• white cardstock
• printer

Let's Get Started:

1. Remove the cardboard cutout or backing from the frame and cover it with either contact paper or wall paper. Use whatever you have available. I used some contact paper I had left over from lining my kitchen cabinets and an old frame I had lying around. You could even use fabric if you want, you'll just need to use appropriate adhesives to make sure everything gets attached properly, and remember, you can also spray paint a frame if you have one, but it is not quite the color you are wanting to use. I'm all about using what you have available rather than running out to buy something to use.
2. This is the fun part! Decorate and personalize however you like. I did mine as if I were doing a big scrapbook page - leaving room in the center for the calendar portion. I was so excited to display some old ticket stubs we have from our trips to Disney World. They're so cute, and now when I see them on the calendar each day I smile thinking of the fun we've had. I also added a few sticker embellishments that I found at Michael's craft store with all the scrapbook stuff. You could add whatever themed items match your decor - or even use family photos and such. Have fun with it and make it yours!
3. Next, I used this calendar template. There's a button to click to open it in Microsoft Word. Once you do, you can edit it to whichever font you like and you can remove the name of the month and the dates. Since you will be reusing this same calendar each month, you will want to write those in by hand. When your calendar is how you like it, print on white card stock, and attach it in the center.
4. Voila! Reassemble the frame and you're all set! Now you can simply use fine tip dry erase markers to fill in your info each month. A little glass cleaner and paper towel remove it when you need to make changes or switch the calendar to the next month. So quick and easy to make, and so much cuter than a paper calendar or those plain dry erase calendars.