Medicine Chest

Image by double dose via Flickr

While we are on the subject of my fantasy house and it's fantasy bathroom, let's take a look at how to organize my fantasy medicine cabinet.

First off, check all your expiration dates. They don't just put those on there to make you buy new ones every couple of years. Expiration dates serve a purpose. Some times medicinal items lose their potency after a period of time or their potency changes to a point that it could actually be harmful to you.

Do not dump medicines down the toilet anymore. Take it to your local pharmacist and they will dispose of it properly. With so many water reclaimation projects going on, it is no longer just to dump and flush.

Put things you use everyday on the bottom (usually deepest) shelf so the are readily accessible.

In that same respect, put things you rarely use or have on hand just in case on the higher shelves so they don't "get in the way".

Take bandaids and such out of their bulky boxes and put them in a clear jar (preferably with a lid to avoid accidental spilling). You can see what is inside and it will fit better and not get knocked over as easily. Ditto for cotton balls and q-tips. {{If your jars are cute enough, and you are not sharing a vanity with me, you could even place the jars on the vanity counter if these are items you often use.}}

Write a list of prescriptions including dosages and the pharmacist's phone number and tape it inside the cabinet door in case of emergency.

Keep tubes and non-standable items in an acrylic holder.

If you take a little time to put it in order and take an even littler amount of time to keep it in order, you can save yourself a lot of time.

Filing System

My sister, who’s office appears to be in a constant state of “jumble”, actually has an impressively organized filing system. It involves color and placement and probably if you are taking over someone else’s filing system it would take a bit of time to initiate. But the time would be well spent as it will save precious time and frustration down the road when it really comes down to the nitty gritty.

As a Grants Administrator for a major University she has many different programs to keep track of at any given time. And the same faculty member may be involved in many different grants. So having all files with the same color is pointless because you would have to open each file to find out if it is the one you want or you would have everything in one file under the name and then sub files inside creating a huge mess.

Her system eliminates the need for that. Each color delineates a type of grant be it Federal, state, private or whatever. Then comes the fun part - placement. To the far left means applied, middle is in progress and far right is complete (or something like that, as I said it is her system, not mine). That way it is easy to just reach in a pull what you need and even easier to glance at it and know what type of grant and what stage it is in without even opening it.

She is lucky enough that she is the only one handling her files. If you are not so lucky and have more than one person involved, print out a legend and tape it to the front of the filing cabinet.