Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — It's a quiet cupboard in the house, but when you need it, you need it. That puts the medicine cabinet in the "small but mighty" category.
Professional Organizer Jen Martin is the owner of Reset Your Nest. She shared five steps to make those late-night Tylenol searches a little bit easier.
"I think it often gets overlooked," she explained. "It can get messy if you have liquid medicines that get all drippy and Band-Aid boxes are torn and out of control."
Choose the Right Location
Before jumping in to organize anything, Martin said to think about where your medicine supply actually lives.
"I think it's different for every family and every home," she emphasized.
Instead of just using the bathroom medicine cabinet by default, think about where you're most likely to need these items. She said that many families find a central location actually works better.
"Where are you going to be in that moment that you need it?" Martin asked. "We put medicine cabinets in kitchens and pantries if there's room, a command center type situation, even a laundry room."
When someone has a fever or needs first aid, you don't want to be running all over the house.
Edit
Organizing medicine doesn't require emotional decision-making like cleaning out a closet does.
"We're not as emotionally attached to our medicine," Martin said.
To edit your medicine collection, check expiration dates yearly and get rid of anything that is no longer safe or useful. A cabinet full of infant medicine doesn't make sense if your children are now teenagers.
"Look at the stage of life your family's in and be realistic about the medicine that you no longer need," Martin noted.
Categorize
Your household might not need an elaborate organizing system. Martin said to decide how detailed you want your categories to be. Some households may benefit from dividing items into specific groups while others might need something simpler.
"We've done children's medicine, allergies, pain and cold," Martin said. "If you just want one bin that's just medicine, that's fine too."
The best system is the one your family can maintain.
Contain
Once you've pared everything down, it's time to contain it.
"It really is figuring out what containers fit best in the space that you've already decided they'll go," Martin explained.
For medicine storage, she likes plastic containers that are easy to wipe down. They also help bring consistency to a collection of boxes, bottles and packaging that don't really fit together neatly. If your collection includes lots of bottles and medications, Martin recommended using a Lazy Susan. She said they're especially helpful when medications are different in size and shape.
"That's a great way to be able to spin it around if you have the space for it," she explained.
For things that don't fit neatly into boxes and bins, Martin suggested zipper pouches. She particularly likes them for items that get used a lot because they're easy to grab on the go.
Label
Once you've created your system, Martin said one final step makes the whole thing easier to maintain.
"A label just always helps," she explained. "Everyone in the home can get on board and put things back where they go."
Labels make it easier for everyone in the household to find what they're looking for. That means less time searching and less chance that your carefully organized system falls apart.
_Find more organization advice from Jen Martin on Instagram, @reset_your_nest._
This story was adapted from a TV broadcast script using artificial intelligence. Every story, including those adapted with AI, is reviewed by a human editor before publication to ensure that KSL's editorial standards are upheld.
