Tag: bathroom organizing

Winter Is Coming, As Are Allergies, Colds and the Flu. Sorry.

Get your Medicine Cabinet ready for a chilly winter!soup

I wish I didn’t have to say it, but here’s the deal – Winter is coming. We have yet to find a way around it, though many have tried.  Every Fall at the first hint of cold weather, my husband and a friend swear they are moving to the Equator.  But short of such hemispheric and drastic solutions, winter is inevitable.  Some parts of the country get off easy, I know, but here in Chicago?  Not so much.

teaThe natural progression of “cold weather is coming” is that with cold weather occasionally comes colds, flu and other bugs to make us feel crummy.  And NOW – while it’s not cold out and you’re feeling quite fine! – is the best time to prepare for cold and flu season.

A texted conversation with my friend in Myrtle Beach last week (she’s fine after the hurricane) mentioned that Hurricane Prep and Waiting is like a giant blizzard but no snow and great weather.  All the schools, offices and businesses are closed, so once you have battened down the hatches, you sit around and relax until the rain and wind begin.

Doesn’t that sound like a better way to handle cold and flu season, too?  Plan ahead, batten down the hatches, and then relax a bit for whatever life sends you.

Here’s how!

Gather up everything!
Take a basket and go to all the usual places in your home where you stash medications and supplies.  Medicine cabinet, of course, but also: linen closets; kitchen cabinets; the other bathrooms; bedroom dressers and night stands, etc.  Once you’ve gathered everything up…

Sort it all Out!
Sort your medications into categories.  Cold and Flu, Digestive Health, Vitamins, Aches and Pains, First Aid, Prescriptions, etc.    After you’ve sorted it all…

Purge the Old or Icky Stuff.
Check your expiration dates, and handle some quality control.   Remember, medicine and medications exist to make us feel better.  Using old or outdated medicines invites the potential for ineffectiveness or even unexpected side effects.

Saturday, October 24, 2020 (Saturday, October 22nd, 2016 when orginally published!!)  is National Take Back Day, so if you have outdated medications to purge, check this link to the DEA website, and find an prescription medication Take Back event in your area.  If you live near me, visit https://cookcountymeds.org/ to find a drop off near you.

Put Your Medicine and Supplies Away in a way that makes sense.
Consider who will use certain items, where you will use them, and what needs to be kept out of reach of children.  Also, prolonged heat and moisture can damage medicines, so DO NOT store medications long term in the bathroom or on the kitchen window sill.

We use a plastic basket in the hall linen closet to store most of our medicines for the Cold and Flu Season.  The basket is easy to access when someone is feeling poorly, and gets tucked back away when we’re done.  The basket keeps things together, and makes any spills easy to clean up, too, so we don’t have a large shelf with dozens of small bottles toppling every which way (which I see in houses often!).

In some homes, the medications are kept in a kitchen cabinet.  This works just fine, too, however still invest in a basket or two, to keep things together and save shelf space.

Finally, Stock Up:
Add missing items to your grocery list now, so when you really need cough medicine in the middle of the night, you don’t have to run out to the pharmacy.  Here is a comprehensive list of suggested medications and items from Real Simple (“Medicine Cabinet Essentials Checklist”), plus a few items I added:

  • Aspirin
  • Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol)
  • Ibuprofen (such as Advil and Motrin)
  • Thermometer

For Congestion, Colds, and Coughs

  • Cough medicine
  • Decongestant (such as Sudafed or Dristan)
  • Throat lozenges For Allergies and Itching
  • Antihistamine (such as Benadryl)
  • Hydrocortisone cream (for persistent itching)
  • Calamine lotion
  • Eyedrops

For Digestive Issues

  • Antacids (in tablet or liquid form)
  • Antidiarrheal treatment
  • Laxatives

For Cuts and Burns

  • Gauze, bandages, and medical tape
  • Antiseptic for wound cleaning (such as hydrogen peroxide)
  • Antibiotic ointment for preventing infections from wounds
  • Aloe vera gel
  • Miscellaneous
  • Sunscreen
  • Antifungal creams (athlete’s foot relief)

Antibacterial Wipes
Tissues, boxes and personal pocket packs
Lip balm

So clean out and stock up this week, while you’re feeling great and the weather is fine! You will thank yourself later!

To:

Receive more ideas and suggestions like these;
Book time with me in person or virtually;
Arrange a presentation for your upcoming event; or
Discover the benefits of Organizational Coaching;

Please contact me.

Call / text 708.790.1940
Online at  http://peaceofmindpo.com
www.Facebook.com/MColleenKlimczakCPO
Via Twitter, @ColleenCPO

Is There Something Scary in Your Medicine Cabinet?

This is Clutter Awareness Week AND National Poison Prevention Week, and our bathroom cabinets are a common place for both clutter and potential poisons to be lurking!

This week, I challenge you to organize your bathroom drawers and cabinets, and since each of us has a bathroom, THIS MEANS YOU!

I am reading a book called “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo.  The author admitted to being confused once when cleaning out bathroom drawers.  She cleaned out one, and the next day went to clean out another, but mistook it for the first as the contents were so similar.   I would agree.  Most of us have the following items in some combination in our bathroom drawers or cabinets:

  • Over the counter medications, current and expired
  • Prescription medications, current and expired
  • Current and expired toiletries like face lotions, deodorant, cosmetics, hair products
  • Contacts, contact solution, eye glasses, eye washes
  • Dust. Hair.
  • Dental picks, old toothbrushes and floss
  • Sample size toiletries; purchased, picked up via traveling or hotel stays, or received in the mail.
  • Cleaning supplies, for ourselves or the bathroom
  • Unattached single pills, with or without packaging
  • Used disposable razors.
  • Depending on your family composition, hair accessories, shaving supplies, 17 different shampoos, etc.
  • Well, you get the picture.

And so much of this is Clutter and potentially dangerous.  So, how do we tackle this project?

Carve out some time. But don’t let this project overwhelm you!  Bathrooms are very manageable projects.  Tackle it all at once, or a drawer or cabinet a day for 20 minutes, and the end result is still the same.

Get cooperation from the decision makers in your home. The other people in your home can help with the project, or you can box up their stuff as guide them through the decision making process.  Talk to them about expiration dates, safety, and inventory control, just like I just did with you!

With each item, review if it is needed, used or loved. If it’s none of these, toss it!

    • So many of the items in a bathroom are intended to improve our lives, but using them improperly can have the opposite effect.  Using expired or questionable items just to save a few dollars can be dangerous.
    • Expired medications can change chemically, and deliver weak or unexpected results.  And old razors or random Qtips?  Ewwww!
    • If you have no idea how old an item is, side with caution and purge it.  Practice saying this with me: “Is using this worth the risk?”.  (The answer of course is “No!”)
    • The safety of you and your family is worth a few hours spent cleaning and a few dollars spent!

Once you get rid of the icky and / or dangerous stuff, Take some tips from Retail Inventory Management:

  • Use the products you have on hand before you buy more
  • Use the Use oldest items first
  • Store similar items together so you can see what you have in “stock”
  • Make a note of the items you need to have on hand, and do a quick inventory before you head to the grocery.  Keep the list handy, and make this pre-shopping inventory step a habit.

So spend a little time this week, and get rid of those monsters lurking in the bathroom!

More SnowDay Organizing Projects – Kids can Help, and Have Fun, too!

Oh, for goodness sake, another snow day.  Well actually, a Cold Day.  Bitter wind chills, blizzard force winds and new snow overnight. I understand the caution, truly I do.  So, despite having an 18- day Christmas break, and a three-day weekend last weekend, here we are with more days all together in the house.

If you, like me, are wondering how to get a few things done and still have fun with your kids, can I suggest a few organizing projects? The following projects are useful, quick, kid-friendly and should require no new items to be purchased, since it’s too cold to leave the house.

Clean out your pantry / cabinets: 

Little kids can help pull everything out, and sort like items with like (for example, even a 3-year-old can sort cans of different types of veggies by the picture on the front).  Have school-age kids who can read help you determine expiration dates, and toss all the expired or stale stuff.   Talk about service and charity with your kids, and set aside a bag of items to donate to your local food pantry.

Bake some cookies with the random bits of whatever you may find (in my cabinets, 3 bags of pretzels, a partial bag of white chocolate chips and some left over candy canes are inspiring creativity in me!).  Make a large pot of soup with what you find, and leave it simmering on the stove all day to humidify the air and make the house smell good.  You could really get creative, and have your kids plan this week’s menu with you, based on the current contents of your kitchen.

Clean out under your sinks. 

Bathroom?  Kitchen?  Laundry room?  The process is the same, regardless of what room you are working in!

Pull everything out, wipe everything down.  Combine partial bottles of similar items (I often find 4 or more partial bottles of dish soap, body wash or shampoo under client sinks!).  Use containers you have on hand (kitchen storage containers or plastic baskets) to corral small items and keep them from getting lost.

Consider how many of certain items you really need.  Kitchen sink – how many plastic shopping bags?  Bathroom – how many partial / sample / hotel bottles of anything?  Yep, combine and then recycle.

Clean out the Freezer:  Here’s a link to the project:  June, 2011 Kid Convenience And Nutrition in My Clean Freezer!

     The kids can help, though you may want to be the one pulling everything out so little hands don’t freeze!  Everyone can help sort, you can purge or plan the next meal based on what you find.  I want to make my own bread crumbs, and I know there are some neglected ends of bread loaves I can start with!

Review and Purge the bookshelves:

We just did this a few days ago and it’s a great project to do with your kids.

Put all the books together (meaning, collect them from around the room / house if necessary), and sort what you have.  Consider your child’s reading levels, and purge the books that are too young for them (keep some treasured keepsakes, of course, but not too many).  We have some more shelves to review, but we already have a bag of books set aside for our young cousins, and one bag to donate to the local library.

Put Things AWAY.

Have you been waiting for the right time to finally put xxxx, yyyyy or zzzz way?  Well, guess what?  Today is that day.  Per my friends on Facebook, many of you may have the following things to put away:

  • Recycling
  • Business cards and Christmas greeting card envelopes, to update your contact list
  • Socks to finally get matched up
  • Home / personal paper filing, recipes and paperwork
  • The last few Christmas decorations that you took down last weekend
  • DVDs / Wii games to put back in cases
  • Photos!  Every seems to have photos to print / use / put away / scrapbook / file
  • Shoe clutter by the back door, as well as weeks worth of hats / gloves / sweatshirts / etc.
  • Business receipts to file
  • Cords and connectors
  • Kitchen counter clutter
  • craft items of every description!

Today is that day!  Set a timer, and spend half an hour just putting stuff AWAY!  OR longer – again, with another snow day, you all have the time!

So, stay warm, relax and hang out in your jammies, if you’d like.  And spend a little time creating order in your home with your family members.  Today is the day!