An Organised Medicine Cabinet - Organising My Home

Yes I do like to keep my Medicine Cabinet organised so that I can get things quickly and easily.

It is probably one of the best organised things in our home.

But then that kind of storage space is one of the things I enjoy working on when it comes to Organising my home.

I didn't always have a medicine cabinet so I had to think of other easy to get at and easy to keep organised places.

In one house we used part of a vanity unit in the ensuite

and

in another house we used a couple of shelves in a kitchen cabinet

but this time when we moved back to Northern Ireland in Dec 2010 we moved to a house which had a medicine cabinet over the wash hand basin in the back toilet.

Yes a real medicine cabinet just like I always saw in the films and TV programmes - you know they are tall and shallow out from the wall with a mirror door.

Now if this had been our main bathroom I suppose I would have been tempted to think I would need to use it for Bathroom things - but it is in the back toilet.  This is the small room that is off the utility room and I really think it would have made more sense to use the space as a pantry or large storage closet (because you can never have too much storage space and I do not have enough storage space).


We have an ensuite off our bedroom and an ensuite off the guest bedroom as well as the main bathroom so let's face it this back toilet is never really used as a toilet and who wants to have to clean 4 bathrooms and toilets when mostly there are only two people in the house?  -  NOT ME!


Anyway back to my Medicine Cabinet which makes me happy again.


Twice a year I do an overhaul of this cabinet

and because I do it regularly you can see it is not in bad order.



Firstly 
I check all the dates of the medicines etc. and throw out the ones that are past their date.

(NOTE:  A doctor did tell me once that many medicines can be used for up to 6 months after the date written on them but that it is definitely okay to use them up to 3 months after the date.)


I used to have to literally check each packet for the date every time I would do this but now I use my "Things" app on my ipad to keep a note of the expiry dates (typing these into the app when I put the product into the Medicine cabinet) so I only have to go into the app & use my tag of "medicine cabinet" and I get the list and the dates all in one go.

These will each show in my Todo list 14 days before they are up so I normally will be ready and throw them out as they expire and don't even have to do it all at the overhaul.




Secondly 
I do an inventory of the cabinet.


I have the list of all the items I like to keep in stock, shelf by shelf

I had used ( my other beloved iPad app for making lists) the "Pocket Lists" App for making a full list of everything I would like to have here and because I did it shelf by shelf it makes it really easy to go through.


Which means that now each time all I have to do is tick off all the things I can see on the shelves and whatever is left unticked is obviously missing.  This is due to not knowing when the hubby finishes off something or just something being taken out and not returned.

This happened with the scissors - to cut a long story short they ended up in a bin at a foreign airport.




Thirdly 
I make a list of the things that will need to be replenished soon.


In my "Things" App I made a Project list and it just gets changed each time.

Well the list here is not too long this time because on one of my last trips to the chemist I knew roughly what was getting low so had already got some things.



Forthly 
I tidy up what is in the cabinet and decide if I want to make any changes to the position and order of the items.


Sometimes there are different things that have been added if someone needs to have a new medication or you decide to start taking a new vitamin etc.

An Organised Medicine Cabinet in Organising My Home at Sandra's Ark

So the finished cabinet was just a little more uncluttered than to start with and neater.

Of course the few spaces you see will be filled up when I go and get that list of items next week.



You know when you have a cupboard you can easily fill it?


Well I have done that of course and then needed more space so I had to use part of the vanity unit below.

Mostly the things here were really the items that were too large to put in the shallower medicine cabinet or would not sit so well piled up on a narrow shelf so I would have needed another location for them even if the medicine cabinet wasn't filled up.

So bandages etc. in the left hand drawer, extra cotton buds and hand sanitizing wipes in the right hand drawer and the larger heating pad and creams in the right hand cupboard.

And just a wee reminder of my "MUST HAVE" in any kitchen or bathroom

it is

the packet of wipes (and a sponge) in the left cupboard, 

nothing is handier for quick clean ups than wipes.

An Organised Sun Room

The Sun tried to come out on different occasions this month but was terribly hindered by the wintery conditions that kept butting in like winds and rain and sleet and hailstones.

I was tackling the Sun Room but this fact about the weather did not encourage me at all.
Though as I write this the back garden is brightly lit from the sun after another lot of hailstones yesterday.

The Sun Room

The Sun Room in itself did not need much work as there are not too many places for items to be kept.

But a few tips are always useful to keeping it organised.

1.  Think about what you want in your Sun Room
2.  Think about what you want to be able to take outside quickly
3.  Think about how to make things HANDY!

The only cupboard we have in the Sun Room is in the TV unit and it is useful for storing light bulbs which I sorted and made a note of the types we did not have a spare one of.


Also in that cupboard we keep the 3D glasses that the kids got at various times just in case we need them to go see a 3D film sometime - which really is a very faint probability as Fred & I have not ever gone to a 3D film.  Perhaps the kids should have each kept theirs for wherever they are?


Then the other main things in that cupboard are

• a few puzzle magazines,
• Sun Tan lotion,
• Sun Tan wipes
• After Sun Wipes
• and some pairs of sunglasses.

This is a useful spot to keep these as the Sun Room opens out to the Patio and when the sun appears (for the short periods that happens here in Northern Ireland and let's face it we need to make the best opportunity as we can of those short periods of time) we can grab those things on the way out to sit on the Patio or Deck area.


The bulbs were already in a basket but these Sunny Day items were just lying in the cupboard so I got one of my favourite small Lakeland Storage Caddies for these items that we need for hopping out to sit in the sun.
You can see in the pictures above & below that it is ideal in size and that handle makes it so easy to grab.

What else might I want in that cupboard if I am going to use it daily during the next 5/6 months?

Well I decided to add

• a post it pad 
• a notepad 
• and a pen 

 because those are always useful things to have at hand instead of having to run to the study.

PLUS 

there was still room for the three remotes that are needed in that room.

Lastly 

There are two other things that I like to keep in the Sun Room but they will not be in that cupboard.

A navy fleecy throw 

which is very handy if it gets a bit cooler in the evenings 

or even if I just feel like curling up on the sofa to read .

The 4 cushions for the Patio Chairs 

which I keep in a jute type bag pretty much out of sight behind the chair which sits beside the door out to the patio so that any time we are going out for breakfast we just grab a cushion on the way past.  

With our climate the cushions never stay out!

I have already written about how much I love Arks and pictures of Arks last year but now I had decided that some of these may go soon!!! but some will stay here in the Sun Room.  Some of my favourite Ark pictures just match in nicely with the style and decor of the Sun Room.

Here are two on the bookcase that holds most of our CDs



And here is another one above a window

That does not mean that some other Ark decor items will not be found in other rooms in the house of course.

An Organised Dressing Room!

The first thing we did in the dressing room when we moved into this house 4 years ago was to put in fitted wardrobes along two walls with mirrored doors which make the room brighter and bigger.

This was not as straightforward as most wardrobe fitting companies want it to be because we had slanted ceilings and it affected both walls in two different ways so some of them just said

 
              "No, sorry we can't do that"


Well we did get it done and it was one of the best things we have done as it used up space along one wall in the room which was not tall enough for normal wardrobes and space on the other wall which we were able to use right up to the normal height of the ceiling and gave us 6 sections of wardrobes and shelving space.


It also meant that there was still plenty of space in the room for us to put up an extra double bed when there are more family coming to visit.

We use the electric EZ Bed for this.
I purchased it on a TV channel which is not the norm for me as I rather see these channels but I also got one of my best ever buys from there too - my steamer.


However because we kept meaning to get the plaster on another wall fixed and the room painted and new carpet put down I never really sorted out the wardrobes properly until now.

Yes we had one wall with huge cracks and bits of plaster always falling on the floor.

But now these cracks have been dealt with

and the room has been painted

and the wardrobes have been sorted.



Along the high wall

Left Wardrobe

Too many shirts were pushed in together and mixed up
but
a quick removal of all the short-sleeved shirts and then colours put together better
left a not so crushed pile of shirts
and 2 neater looking rails.

The top shelf didn't need to be touched at all.


Middle Wardrobe

This one was a bit of a crazy mixture so some things were able to be thrown out and some removed to be put elsewhere leaving room for all the short-sleeved shirts and a few long things.

The top shelf was fine, the shelf below just needed to be rearranged to hold the four pillows for use with the EZ double bed we can add to that room.

The bottom of the wardrobe still holds the grey container as before but Fred's 2 music/sound things which had been placed there (still inside the packing paper from our move to the house) have been taken out and a basket is there now with some gifts for Christmas in it.


Right Wardrobe

You can clearly see the slanted part of the ceiling here as this wall meets the lower wall.

This rail now is neater with the trousers and t shirts and polo shirts.
The top shelf just needed tidying up and still has some space left.
The shelf below it was a real mess with a mixture of travel things and a large box got last Christmas for Fred's belts but then he complained and said the sections of it are too small and the belts will get ruined having to be rolled up tightly.   Now that shelf only has 3 containers on it.
The belts are now all on the lower shelf which had originally been a mixture as well, and so messy looking with the hangers.

I need to think more about the belts and see if there will be another solution for them instead of taking up a whole shelf.



Along the lower wall

Left Wardrobe

The left hand rail here had been a mixture of my jackets and Fred's suits but now is better organised with Fred's suits easily reached and our summer jackets in the corner that is harder to get at.

The right rail had too many items crushed together so it now has my dresses.
On the bottom of this section we keep the emergency ladder which can be hooked over the window of the Dressing Room in case of fire.  The space in the corner beside it  is free - I love to have some free space because inevitably there will be something else needing a home when I tackle the games room.

The shelf at the top is now neater with the use of another 2 grey containers which have summer clothes in them.



Middle Wardrobe

This one was easy to work with very little change at the bottom.
A few clothes removed so rail is not as full.
Top shelf has the first grey container I got and these containers are just brilliant.  They are made of material and cardboard and are firm but pliable some have little windows and they come in several shapes and sizes.

I got them on Amazon and this is just one example of them.

Right Wardrobe

Quite a few items were summer clothes so they were packed away in one of the grey containers so no longer too many clothes hanging here.

I found that the slanted roof to this wardrobe was ideal for storing extra hangers so all the hangers making a mess previously in one of the other wardrobes are now neatly placed here on the top shelf along with a containers holding one of my large American Quilts.

My Hair dryer & brushes etc. had always been a problem on the top shelf and now I have them on the bottom and there is a lamp beside them because we keep this for when someone uses this room as a bedroom and need a bedside lamp.


I am looking forward to getting the new carpet for this room now.

And because a lot of the wardrobes still have free space at the bottom I'm considering which types of boxes or containers to get to fit there, and you know how I love Storage boxes!



This sorting was a joy to do because of the decorating having been completed and making everything feel like a fresh start.

Time consuming but counted as  FUNWORK  because I was happy while doing it.

An Organised Storage Closet!

Today I have good news because I have

Finished my Storage Closet

Now my husband will be very pleased because (you know me when I start to sort things out in one place it messes up another) the area that was messed up in order to accomplish this task was the floor of the Dressing Room just where we walk through from the bedroom to our ensuite.

Needless to say Fred doesn't like tripping over things in the dark and that's what happened when he was up early and didn't want to put on the light to disturb me.

Any way back to the task.

This Storage Closet was just a rectangular walk-in cupboard off the Dressing Room  with nothing in it but some water pipes.

Such a waste of space

When we bought the house we had already decided that we were shelving that space as soon as possible.

Then I had the idea of using some of it to do what I had longed to do for years 

(more about that later).

So with the shelving etc. all done a few years ago at the same time as our wardrobes were all fitted in the dressing room it should have been used properly, but instead of that we put things in but didn't take enough time to sort everything properly and then ended up with too much stuff in it and the floor got covered and you may remember I showed a few pics of it in an earlier post when I started it but it needed now to be finished off properly.

On the left hand side behind the door I already had
 baskets and boxes

but then I got them sorted out and labelled.

Lowest shelf contains 2 large baskets:   Travel items   &   Ski Suits

Next Shelf up contains 2 large baskets:   Small  bags and containers  &  Bath Mats

Next Shelf up with a set of 3 baskets contains:  White guest towels,  Facecloths  &  Ensuite hand towels.

The shelf above that contains 2 darker baskets:  Pashminas / shawls  &  Winter Scarves

The shelf above that contains a lidded box and a dark basket:  Old Photos  &  Lightweight decorative Scarves

On the right hand side beside the door I already had 
baskets and handbags

but then I got them sorted out and labelled too.

Lowest shelf contains 2 large baskets:   Beach Towels   &   Bath towels

Next Shelf up contains:  Larger handbags

Next Shelf up with a set of 3 baskets contains:  Shoe expander & insoles etc.,  straps off large bags  &  my belts.

The shelf above that contains:   Smaller handbags

The top shelf had been so underused but now it has all my puzzle magazines.
Yes I know I have piles of them- mostly because I don't do them as often now because of the word game, logic puzzle game and number game I have on my iPad and all the time I spend blogging!
But I do love logic puzzles of all kinds and find it so relaxing to sit and solve them.

On the left hand side further into the closet 
there is a second set of shelves specially sized for Fred's shoes

never too bad but still too many shoes.

His shoes are now neatly stored and the right types together.

The few exercise items that had been thrown into the bottom shelf are now in a basket on the floor under the shelving behind the door.

I put up 2 hooks and his baseball caps are now hung up at the left of the top shelf.

On the right hand side further into the closet 
there is a second set of shelves specially sized for my shoes

never too bad but the bottom shelf was full of my Puzzle books.

My shoes are now neatly stored and the right types together.

The Puzzle books removed from that bottom shelf and it is used for shoes now as well so they can be spaced out a bit better and not on top of each other so much.

I put up 2 hooks and my baseball caps are now hung up at the right of the top shelf.

At the back of the cupboard facing the door there is one long shelf at the top (sloping ceiling) and then my great idea had been to put in rails instead of more shelves.
These shelves are not for clothes but for 
tablecloths and throws etc.

The tablecloths etc. are now more neatly stored and a few more put on the rails.

This simply means that they do not get creased by being folded up and put in drawers for periods of time - especially the tablecloths.

The last of the handbags were removed from the top shelf and I actually have a bit of extra space but I'm sure it will get used up when I sort out the Dressing Room.

Under the hanging rails (which are set at 3 different heights for ease of placing and removing items plus see what is there) there is still room on the left for a rucksack and 2 seagrass lidded baskets which hold sheets and pillowcases for our bed and on the right 2 small suitcases and a covered material container for sheets and pillowcases for the EZ bed which we put up in the dressing room when all six of us are here.

Now just to let you see some of my heart labels close up.

Aren't they cute?  I love them.

So I now have An Organised Storage Closet and I NEED to keep it that way.

This was more Housework than Funwork I'm afraid but very satisfying to see the end result.

Please tell me that I am not the only person to have difficulty in keeping this type of cupboard tidy.

Organising The Medicine Cabinet & The Smallest Room in the House

My husband Fred had Food Poisoning which we presume he got in Azerbaijan on a business trip or on the plane on the way home.  So because of this and because of some medical type things I discovered in the garage last month it made more sense to do the back toilet first this month as that is where our Medicine Cabinet is.

Yes it is as simple as that; sometimes I need to be flexible.


So I started by creating my TOILET OVERHAUL list
on the iPad Pocket Lists App which now looks rather different to before in both the icon and the content.

Pocket Lists App

Unfortunately this week I had to take that drastic step of updating to ios7 and if you read a certain post from last year you would know that this then was a very sad week for me, but it had to happen as without it I could not update some of my apps.


Isn't the screenshot so bland compared to previous ones and so pale as well?   Rotten update to this app.

Well as you can see above even for such a small room I had 18 items on my list.

No way this room would be done in a couple of hours!

No way this room would be done in one day  -  all my time in any day is not going to be given over to housework and organising.


So armed with my cleaning kit and trusty steamer I got started.

I got the boring bits out of the way (you know the cleaning of the toilet etc.) and then it was time to reorganise the Medicine Cabinet and I just brightened up because those things are far more interesting to me than washing and cleaning and dusting and hoovering.

This is the Funwork part!



While I was rearranging I was of course checking dates of items and throwing out things and making out a list of things I would need to get to replenish my store.

I was pleased with it when I was finished because I took out some of the more bulky things and some other things that didn't sit so well on the narrow shelves and thought of somewhere else to put these plus the face masks that I had found in the garage (brand new provided by Fred's work but he had kept them in a travel bag in the garage).

So what was my idea for storing these things?

Simply to put them in the underused drawers and cupboards of the vanity unit in the same room.

You see this room is really only used for two things

          1.  Medicine Cabinet
          2.  Recycling

It is not really used as a bathroom because we have two ensuites and a bathroom so why need another one and have to always be cleaning a fourth toilet?


Up until now there was hardly anything in the cupboards and the drawers but that was going to change.

The drawers took some of those not too large items but ones that didn't sit so easily on the shelves of the Medicine cabinet

and the cupboard shelves took the larger health items.

There is also still some room for a few things I need to get like gel cooling pads. 

Then I decided to store the extra towels for this room in the vanity unit (brown top right), the toilet rolls went in there too as they had been in a basket but it has got rather grubby and finding out how to clean it is the first item on my ToDo list for this room now.

Of course I hope you have noticed the packet of wipes (green top left) which are very important in each room as you may remember from a previous post  5 Things to Make the Housework Easy  and the vinegar (bottom left).

Well after most of the overhaul list had been done it was

Then back the next day to finish off.

Things like cleaning the window blind and the light shade and the radiator were still to be done and sometimes these are the types of things that we can overlook so make sure you have them on your list and then you won't forget them.

And before I could do my inventory for this room I wanted to do the ToDo list.

It is not very long but does include a rather annoying thing.

 The people who owned the house before us had put up two hooks above the window probably to put up some kind of drape.   The walls are completely tiled (not absolutely ghastly but not as nice as all the rest of the tiles in the house) so this means they put up two sticky backed hooks.

But

why couldn't they have put up two hooks that were the same 

and

 at the same height?

So my main ToDo is to find out the best way to remove these hooks.


Any bright ideas?


If you have had to do something similar and are now an expert in this please leave me a comment to help me.

I you have noticed anything online that might guide me please leave me a comment.

I need help here!