how to organize vitamins and medicines in the kitchen
Most of my organizing clients want an organized home not only because it looks clean and tidy, but also because it makes life more efficient and comfortable. When I organize in people’s homes, I like to think of storage space as “real estate,” and one of the most desirable places in most houses is the kitchen. The kitchen is usually centrally located in the house, it’s the hub of all activity, and because of this, it’s not just a place for food and cooking implements to live. Having a dedicated storage area for medicine and vitamins in the kitchen can be a game changer for people. It allows them to quickly find supplements and daily medication, and it means that first aid supplies are always easy to find in case of minor cuts & burns in the kitchen. Also it’s a daily reminder to take any necessary pills with meals or before running out the door for a busy day.
Keeping all of these bottles contained and organized is important because, otherwise, most people find that their collection can become messy or get out of hand easily. I have a few tips on how I like to organize these items, but keep in mind that everyone has a different kitchen setup, so be creative & do what works best in your particular space!
Always start by separating products into groups that make sense. For this project, I created five groups:
Everyday Kids Products
Everyday Adult Products
Cold & Flu Medicine
Essential Oils
First Aid Kit
Keeping “everyday” items on the lower shelf makes sense here because it’s easy to access daily. I added this two tiered lazy susan to make it super easy to spin and find things once it fills up. (I also could definitely move it to one side and add more storage, but for now it’s plenty of space and it looks prettier this way). I put the everyday kids medicines on the top, and the adult medicines on the bottom. You could switch these around if you have kids that are old enough to get their vitamins and medicines by themselves. For the kids products, I love recommending things without synthetic ingredients, so I chose this Genexa Calm Keeper for stressful school days and Allergy D for natural allergy relief. For the adult tier, I have some everyday vitamins like vitamin C and fish oil, as well as the adult versions of Stress Relief and Allergy D (which I need in droves).
On the top shelf I’m storing less commonly used products (but still items that are used frequently enough to warrant being stored in the kitchen). I have an acrylic bin for cold and flu medicine, including Cold Crush for kids, as well as another bin for essential oils. I’m a huge fan of using peppermint and eucalyptus oil when I have a stuffy nose, so I like to keep those handy in the kitchen.
Lastly, I’ve made a first aid kit with essentials to keep in the kitchen. I used white duct tape to make the cross on the front (this serves no functional purpose other than to be very cute), and stuffed it full of things I might want or need within easy reach.
That’s it! The great thing about organization is that it’s super customizable by nature, and as long as you group things, label them, and then maintain the system, there’s no wrong way to do it.
Note: This piece was sponsored by Genexa, but all views, opinions, and ideas are mine.