Organized Family Medicine Cabinet

July 10, 2012 · By ·

I keep a cupboard in our kitchen as a family medicine cabinet. It’s out of reach of kiddos and the place where we’re most likely to remember to take our vitamins, allergy medicine, etc. My mom, a pediatric nurse, was over visiting and thought the cabinet needed organizing so that no one accidentally gave the kids the wrong thing. Now, I don’t exactly intend for my kids to be taking medicine from anyone but me, but Caroline’s a member of Worst Case Scenario Anonymous and I try to appease her.


Have you discovered these handled baskets from the Container Store? My mom stumbled upon them a few years ago when she was reorganizing her newly renovated laundry room, and our whole family is hooked now! The plan was for each member of the family to have their own basket. But as we started divvying everything up, we realized the only “medicine” I use is the neti pot (and vitamins which I take before bed so are in my bathroom medicine cabinet) – which went in the Allergy and Pain Relief basket. But everyone else has their own basket – one for Mr. B, Thomas, Nell and even Casco. 


Every basket is labeled with either the person’s name or the purpose the basket serves:

And my first aid basket is completely up-to-date (Caroline made me toss expired Benadryl cream, etc and buy new).  In our Nurse Caroline approved first-aid kit? 2 thermometers (I love this temporal artery thermometer), band aids, Benadryl Cream (generic) and Bacitracin (not Neosporin) and one prepackaged first aid kit to grab when we’re on the go or need something a little more specialized than these basics. And a Stethoscope…that baby has saved me many trips to the doctor when I thought Thomas sounded wheezy but listening to his lungs proved they were crystal clear.


And that’s our family medicine cabinet…organized beautifully and easily accessible…I love it.


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Filed Under: Cleaning and Organizing ·

Comments

  1. Emily says:
    July 10, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    This is great- so nice and organized!! I went through our medicine drawer a couple of weeks ago and did some organizing as well- but this post reminds me I need to make up an actual first aid box/kit since we have a little one on the way :)

  2. *claire* says:
    July 10, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    so smart – and i have not seen those baskets but want some right now!! our bathroom closet is on my pre-baby list to clean (if i get to it!). we have so many medicines that need organizing and throwing out. thanks for giving me some motivation to go get at it!

    and your mom sounds awesome, worry and all! :)

  3. Jenny says:
    July 10, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    Love it! We have a family medicine shelf in our walk-in pantry that could definitely use an overhaul like this. We do keep the baby’s meds in her bathroom medicine cabinet right now, though, because that’s where we usually need them. Oh, and I’m sad to say we have to keep our vitamins right out on the counter or we’ll forget to take them!

  4. Meredith says:
    July 10, 2012 at 3:45 pm

    Awesome. Our medicine “cabinet” (aka bin) totally needs to be gone through and purged. I’m certain it’s filled with all kinds of expired stuff we never used, and is probably missing most of the stuff that we WOULD need most often!

  5. Lauren says:
    July 12, 2012 at 2:40 am

    This is great! Those baskets are too great!

  6. Danielle says:
    July 13, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    I have been the world’s worst blogger. A. Congrats on your newest addition! I love the name Nell. So unique and classic at the same time. B. Bacitracin is the bomb. I used to work at a derm office and we used that stuff like the crazy people in “My big fat greek wedding” use windex. Hope the world of 2 babies is treating you guys well. No doubt you’re still cooking dinners and cleaning like a champ, while we’re surviving off of frozen pizzas and collecting dust bunnies in every corner. ;)

  7. Kim @ NewlyWoodwards says:
    July 16, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    I really like those baskets and am trying to determine how many I need in my life! Because if Caroline approves, I approve. I need to tackle a medicine cabinet. Like, I guess I need a medicine cabinet. Right? Because Ryan refuses to take any medicine, like, ever. And I only take birth control and vitamins. So those are in our bathroom cabinet.

    But, with a baby, I’m going to stock up on Caroline’s approved list. Because I have none of it. Besides the thermometer, which I’ve already used about four times a week since Henry got here. I guess I’m also a member of Worst Case Scenario Anonymous.

    As a funny aside, my mother got me a shower gift when we got married in 2007 that was a Medicine Cabinet Starter Kit. It was actually kind of genius because I didn’t have anything that I was used to having access to at home. She included bandaids, Pepto Bismol, Tylenol, Midol… the list goes on and on. It was probably the most expensive gift I received, but it was pretty smart.