Saturday, January 23, 2010

Medicine Cabinet Clean Out

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, I think about organizing my house, to help lull me to sleep. Oh yeah, I've analyzed this one a lot. Organization is something that I've been "working on" for years. Do you have anything that you've been trying to do/achieve, however "small" it may seem, for a long time? Organization helps me to feel calm, in control, and accomplished. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like the fact that a lot of things in life are beyond our control. It makes me uneasy, and spikes my anxiety. I don't really love the process of organizing a mess- but I love the finished results. And the process has taken on an almost meditative quality for me lately. When I'm focused on an organizing project, everything else gets pushed aside. My mind is quiet.

One thing that I love about our house is these built in cabinets in the hall by the bathroom.



In the bottom left, we keep towels. In the top left is our bedding.. sheets, etc. in the top right is extra shampoo bottles, and other bathroom items. In the lower right is the medicine cabinet (we don't have one in the bathroom).

Sadly, the medicine cabinet got to a point of disarray. Actually, it never was well organized.

Here's a before photo:



It's been bothering me lately, so I ordered some Clear Stacking Bins from the container store which fit into the space perfectly. I like that they are open in the front, so you can easily see and access what's inside them. I'm thinking about getting a label maker for labeling such bins.

I took everything out, wiped the shelves clean, tossed the things that we don't use, and organized most of what was left into the three bins. I thought about taking the medications out of their packaging, but realized that we might need to read the directions! Now, there is a lot more room. When you live in a small house, you need to make every part neat and functional, I think.

Here's what it looks like now (so much more pleasing to the eye, right?)





Just $20.00 or so, and about a half hour of time, and it's so much better.

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