Decluttering the Bathroom like Marie Kondo: Medicine and First Aid

Of all the essentials in your bathroom, these two should carry a bit more weight in terms of your level of organization. After all, when you're hurt or sick the last thing you want to do is rifle through the bathroom looking for a bandage or cold medicine when you just want to curl up in bed.

Always Be Prepared

Just like the Boy Scouts motto, when it comes to your first-aid and medicines, this motto is key.

First Aid

Think about when you cut yourself. You want a band-aid and you want it now. And maybe some antiseptic. Either way, you want it all now!

Do yourself a favor and make it extremely easy to get to bandages. Put them front and center in your medicine cabinet or a drawer. Other first-aid items can be less immediately available, unless you see a need for them given those in your family or frequent visitors. Those items could include EpiPens or inhalers.

Declutter First Aid Items

It can never hurt to have a little excess of first aid items, but try to be realistic. Do you really need several roles of bandage tape? Or finger splints? Again, give yourself a physical space limit and fit everything you deem necessary into that space.

For first aid items this could be a box. I recommend a clear one so you can see everything readily. Or an open container box.

Medicine

Think about when you're sick. If you have a cold, you want cold medicine. If you have nausea, you want something specifically for that. You're not going to look for cold medicine when you're nauseous.

Group Your Medicines by Illness

Keep your cold medicines together. Maybe cough drops too. If you have other medications for other specific illnesses, keep those together as well. 

Wherever you can, sort and separate your medicines based on the reason you'd be looking for a certain medicine.

Declutter Medicine

Find and expired medications or partially used medications first. Then, decide if you'll ever take any of the others. These could be vitamins or medications you received for an illness you are unlikely to get again.

Then, dispose of your medications by following the correct protocols. I cannot stress enough the importance of disposing of medications correctly as I've learned most of us have been unknowingly disposing of them incorrectly and they're getting into our environment. 

Dispose of medications by following the Department of Ecology's guidance.