Do you open up your medicine cabinet and stuff just topples out? Here are a few easy steps on how to organize your medicine cabinet beautifully and keep it that way.
Medicine cabinets are little niches in our bathrooms perfect for living small. They tuck in between the walls where you can hide all kinds of goodies out of sight. But, that right there is the problem (out of sight). “Just stick it in the medicine cabinet” until one day, that little tube of chapstick makes the whole thing fall down in an avalanche of itsy bitsy bathroom crap.
After everything lands all over your bathroom counter, you have two choices. You can do some stacking and rearranging to make it all fit back in the cabinet until the next fall-out or you can organize it like a boss and keep it that way. Honestly, I have no idea that after you follow my steps to organizing your medicine cabinet you will actually keep it that way. But, what I do know is that if the inside of your medicine cabinet is beautiful, you are more likely to “want” to keep it that way.
Remove Everything
Take everything out of the cabinet. Everything including the shelves.
Clean the Cabinet
Get in there and give everything a nice scrubbing. Get in those nooks and crannies and clean up all that broken eyeshadow stuck in the corner.
Throw Stuff Out
Discard:
- Items that have expired
- That you haven’t used for 3 months or longer
- Anything that is broken
- Duplicates
- The eyeliner you used once and hated how it worked – I know it’s new but toss it! I give you permission
- Anything else you don’t need
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Add an Inspirational Verse or Quote
Choose a verse or quote you love and motivates you. My verse is adhesive vinyl and I made it on my Silhouette Portrait machine.
If you want to change up your quotes more often, chalkboard contact paper is the bomb diggity. I used it inside the pantry in my Airstream trailer for our menu board.
Decorate the Back
If your medicine cabinet is pretty, psychologically you are more likely to keep it organized! Begin by decorating the back of the cabinet with a pop of color or something pretty. You can paint it an accent color of your bathroom decor, use contact paper, or use wrapping paper. I just used four pieces of black cardstock that I found in my craft supplies.
Adjust the Shelves
Adjust the shelves to fit tall items and short items. You may even want to add an extra shelf to maximize your storage potential.
Categorize Small Things in Jars
I love mason jars and use them all over the house. They are versatile and cheap so it is no surprise, that I chose 8-ounce jelly jars for organizing my medicine cabinet. I just grabbed a bunch from my stash and started categorizing. I have jars for:
- Lips
- Nails
- Scrunchies
- Hairbands
- Bobby pins
- Small tubes
- Essential oil roll-ons
- Teeth
Make matching bottle labels
Make pretty labels for all your bottles. Don’t stop at this step! This is the final step in organizing your medicine cabinet like a boss. These labels can easily be made with a printer and a glue stick. Custom bottle labels are the icing on the cake in your medicine cabinet! If you have an inkjet printer like me, put a piece of clear shipping tape over the printed titles of your label and it will prevent it from smearing if your hands are damp when you reach for your hair mousse.
I designed my custom bottle labels as .svg cut files so I can quickly print and cut a new label with my Silhouette Portrait machine when something runs out.
Now that you’ve got the steps to organize your own medicine cabinet – like a boss, comment below on your best take away and your plans to organize your medicine cabinet like a boss. Also, I love connecting with you on Instagram. Snap a picture of your medicine cabinet after you finish and tag me @rustchicliving.
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Love this! Looks beautiful enough for open shelving for those with no medicine cabinet! Great job!
I really like your tip about using chalkboard contact paper in your medicine cabinet to write motivational quotes on and still have the ability to switch it up later on. My mother takes a lot of maintenance meds. I will be sure to advise her to try this out on her cabinet after she returns from the drugstore. That extra bit of motivation and inspiration every day can go a long day for her.
Kit – That is such a good idea regarding tracking medicine! Fantastic tip. Thank you for sharing.