how do you organize medicines?

[iixivboots]

No medicine cabinet, and it wouldn't be big enough anyway. For years we had one big plastic bin to dig through. Then I got sick of it and got these opaque decorative bins  to put on a bookshelf, but they all look alike, duh. They are a pain. I am thinking of labeling them but I don't know that would solve things once and for all.

Most of the medicine gets used in the bedroom so that's where the shelf is. The one bin to rule them all used to live under the bed.

I'm jealous of my mom, who has a HUGE wooden baker's cabinet (I think that's what it is) with vitamins, meds, etc all organized.

by medicine I'm meaning a variety of things: band aids, cough syrup, tons of vitamins, prescription pill and nebulizer solution, even OPKs, HPTs!

[zinemama]

I use those green cardboard berry containers in a cardboard flat. So, say you went to the farmer's market and got a whole flat of blueberries. You ate all the berries, but kept the flat and the containers. I set that in the cabinet under my bathroom sink. Now I have 12 little sections to store stuff in. Tampons fill one (dump them right in), spare fancy soap in another. Kid medicines in a couple. Bug-bite stuff. I empty out the box of band-aids in one, for easy access. You get the picture. It works great and it feels so good to be organized.

[justmama]

we've got a shallow plastic bucket from the dollar store(one of the ones that fills a sik for washing dishes) and we keep it on a shelf in the bathroom closet.

[catscharm74]

I have a seperate basket for each of us. Makes it easier when I am trying to find cough syrup for my 4 year old at 2 in the morning. We don't have a lot of medications, so this is pretty easy for us. We bought a cabinet to fit over the toilet (previous owners ripped everything out) It was an unfinished one from Lowe's that I painted white. It has one shelf. I also have a 3 drawer rolling cart that I park in our closet for extra stuff, like soap, toothpaste, unopened medicines. It is very useful.

[lucyem]

In our bathroom I have started using an over the door shoe holder with clear plastic pockets for stuff we use all the time or might want at night (moisturizer, toothpaste, advil, kids tylenol, deoderant).  Medicines and vitamins stay in the kitchen in a tiny cabinet next to the sink because that is where we take them.  All our bandaid/first aid supplies are in their own bin in the pantry.

[goinggreengirl]

Ours is under the bathroom counter in plastic drawers. Course, we'll have to find something different soon since our little one will be mobile soon!

[MrsHin2002]

Our vitamins and regular tylenol are in an upper kitchen cupboard. Our other medicines and supplies (when all put away) are stored in some clear plastic shoe box size bins with lids. I've sorted them into categories with labels (like kids, first aid, sunscreen, travel). These include other things aside from medicines and live on a shelf in our hall linen closet. I've read before that medicines shouldn't live in the bathroom because of the heat from the shower/tub, so we keep them in the hall (on an upper shelf that DS can't reach). My tampons, liners, hpt tests are on a shelf under the sink in the bathroom (one of those plastic ones you can build up around your pipes).

[Lisoula]

Our vitamins are in a wicker basket by the kitchen sink, so that I remember to take them everyday.  Other than that, I have two shoeboxes on the upper shelf in my closet.  One is all "adult" medicine and one is "kids" medicine.  I have a paper tucked into the kids one with their weights on it in case my mom or someone else needs to give them something and won't need to guess at the dose.

Bandaids, Bactine, stuff like that is in a cupboard of one of those tall storage thingys in the bathroom. 

[Om Girl]

We use stacking "storage" bins that we keep in the hall closet. Kids' stuff in one, adult pain relievers in another, first aid in another and vitamins in the last. We also keep a small plastic box with a lid for medical items that are rarely used, overflow items, etc.

[OkiMom]

Vitamins are in the drawers in the kitchen, for some reason its the only place I can keep them that the girls don't get into them. Everything else (which is tylenol (adult, childrens, infant), excedrin, tums and an inhaler) is kept in a small box in the upper part of the cabinet in the master bathroom. Herbal meds (hylands type stuff) is kept in a container in the main bathroom along with the fever packs I have for the girls.Prescription meds are kept either on top of the fridge or in the master bathroom but those are very few and far between with the exception of the inhaler I have that I haven't used in almost a year. Reason for the top of the fridge is otherwise they would be forgotten about! not kidding, Ive been on meds for things and totally forgot to take them.

[MsFortune]

We have a few small stackable plastic boxes with lids.  They are labeled.  One for baby meds, head stuff, tummy stuff, cold stuff, and skin stuff (includes bandaids, etc).  They are up in a tall shelf in our bath to keep away from toddler.  Not a pretty solution, but safe and pretty straightforward.

Well, I think it is pretty straightforward but my husband STILL has to ask me every single time where X is!

[clutterwarrior]

This thread is reminding me I really need to do something about organising the medications!

[wombatclay]

We have one of those wire "shower caddy" things?  The kind that is supposed to hang over the shower head and hold shampoo/soap/shower stuff.  Only this one hangs off a coat hook attached to the wall in the bathroom.

Meds and frequently used things like vitamins, bandaids, and homeopathics are on the "shelves", necklaces, hair ties, and scarves hang from the hooks.  Oh, the top shelf hold three mugs, each mug holding different types of things... like one mug has things in tubes (neosporin, bactorban, arnica gel, etc) and another mug has the thermometer, tweezers, and nail clipper.  Otherwise those things fall through the wires.

The vitamins for the kiddos are kept on the shelf next to the microwave, as is any "unusual" medicine (diflucan, antibiotics, etc) since it's easier to see/remember those things there.

[kibba]

We have a plastic shoe organizer that hangs over a door... the med's go on the very top and lower pockets have things like extra contacts, qtips, toothpaste and so on. Kids are not allowed in the closet and can't get in it...so it's safe and works out great for us. They also have metal racks in the organize section at home depot.. it's for spices, those would work GREAT for meds'... if I didn't already have ours set up like it is I would go with one of the metal racks.

[mamalisa]

Originally Posted by MrsHin2002 

Our vitamins and regular tylenol are in an upper kitchen cupboard. Our other medicines and supplies (when all put away) are stored in some clear plastic shoe box size bins with lids. I've sorted them into categories with labels (like kids, first aid, sunscreen, travel). These include other things aside from medicines and live on a shelf in our hall linen closet. I've read before that medicines shouldn't live in the bathroom because of the heat from the shower/tub, so we keep them in the hall (on an upper shelf that DS can't reach). My tampons, liners, hpt tests are on a shelf under the sink in the bathroom (one of those plastic ones you can build up around your pipes).

Ours is similiar.  I have one for my meds (I take a lot), then an adult bin (Tylenol, cough meds ect), one for the kids (kid Tylenol, Motrin, ect) and another marked first aid with sunscreen, bug spray, benedryl cream and for some weird reason, the dog's shampoo is in there too.  We have a big bin of first aid stuff like gauze, pads, tape and bandaids that we keep too (after a bloody bike accident we keep in on hand now).  It all takes up a full shelf in the linen closet, which is too much space!  

[sunnysandiegan]

We purchased a medicine cabinet from Ikea and installed it in our master closet above the laundry sorter. It has three shelves in the main section (against wall) and three narrow shelves in the door. It is magnetic all over. On the outside, I have a small magnetic notepad with pen, which we use for a variety of things. DD is 9 now, but when she was little we wrote down any time we administered anything and her weight. Inside, we organize by utilizing all six areas. Everything in this medicine cabinet is used infrequently: first aid, cold & cough, pain relievers, eye glass cleaners, thermometers, ear plugs, etc. We don't have any prescription meds, but when we did they were in here. I have an asthma breath tester, but haven't had any asthma meds in years.

The kitchen is where we keep and take the frequently used items. We have a wood basket on the table with the supplements we are currently taking. We keep our herbal supplements and flower essences in a plastic basket on the spice shelf in the pantry. Other supplements are kept in the pantry on the spice shelf.

[SomethingAnonymous]

Medicine is definitely tricky. At least for me.

I put our most frequently used things, like tylenol and vitamins, in a little basket in a upper kitchen cabinet.

The medicine we might need someday, but don't frequently use, are in another organizer in the kitchen.

First aid supplies are under a bathroom sink.  All the bandages and tape and gauze are in one container, etc.  So sorted by type of supply.  I have had a million surgeries on my leg so I have a lot of that type of thing.

I don't keep any medicine in the actual medicine cabinets, because they are pretty small.  We use those instead for our frequently used bathroom things, like toothbrushes, contacts stuff.