Creating a Clutter Free Medicine Cabinet

No one really thinks about their medicine cabinet needing a little organizational help until it is often waaaayy to late. The usual clue for most people is to open their cabinet, and only to find an avalanche of medicine, makeup, personal effects, and old toothbrushes. Well, instead of waiting for that to happen, why not take a little extra time and create a clutter free medicine cabinet?

Creating a clutter free medicine cabinet is a relatively simple matter. All that you need to do is follow these simple little steps. After following all of these steps, your medicine cabinet will once again be clutter free. What that mean's is that you will never have to fear the medicine cabinet avalanche again!

1. Plan. In order to make your dream of a clutter free medicine cabinet a reality, you need to have a plan. The simplest, and easiest type of plan is to create a rough little sketch of your medicine cabinet, and then label where you want different things to go.
2. Assign. If you are sharing a medicine cabinet with other people, a great way to help reduce the clutter, is to assign a shelf to each person. This will limit the amount of junk that each person can put into the cabinet, while also allowing each person to know where their stuff is at a moments notice.
3. Remove. After having come up with a plan, and assigning everyone a specific shelf, it is time to remove everything from your medicine cabinet. If at all possible, when you are removing everything, it is a good idea to actually remove the shelves as well. This will allow an easier time for cleaning later, and also ensure that you have actually removed everything.
4. Separate. As you are removing everything, separate the items. Create different little piles for the different people that are using the medicine cabinet, and also another pile that will be for anything that has expired.
5. Discard. Once everything has been removed, and you have separated all the different items into different categories, it is time to discard anything that has past it's expiration date. Keeping old medicine around is a dangerous thing to do, and all medicine should be disposed of properly. The best way to dispose of any expired medicine is to flush it down the toilet.
6. Clean. Now that you have removed everything from your medicine cabinet, take the opportunity to clean it. Wipe everything down with a clean, damp washcloth, and remove any dirt and grime that may have built up over time. If you were able to remove the shelves from your medicine cabinet, don't forget to clean those too.
7. Replace and maintain. After cleaning your medicine cabinet, it is time to replace everything. Be sure that you follow your plan, and put everything back into its new assigned place. Also remember that this is not going to be a one time only event. You will need to maintain your new organizational system, otherwise, in a few short months you will find yourself in need of creating a clutter free medicine cabinet again.