Medication Organizer Ideas & Storage Solutions

Here's the medication organizer and storage solutions hall of fame, where readers have shown the ways they've gone about organizing their medicines and first aid supplies.


This organizational task is part of the Organize Medicine & First Aid Supplies Challenge, which is in the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge. If you're inspired by these photos make sure to check out this challenge article for more details.

Before I show the pictures I do want to mention two things briefly about these ideas.

Consider What Room To Store Your Medications

First, I don't actually suggest you keep your medications in your bathroom, because it has a wildly fluctuating temperature in there, and at times can be quite humid. That atmosphere isn't the best for keeping certain pills and other medicines.

Instead, my suggested place to store these items is in your kitchen. It too is a very convenient room in your home to place such items, and as long as you keep these meds away from heat sources (such as too close to the stove and oven) the room is better for storage.

However, I understand everyone's home is different so you just need to put medicines where it makes most sense and you have the space. That's why you'll see some photos below where people have done this organizational challenge, utilizing space in the bathroom, while others are in the kitchen or somewhere else that makes sense for them.

Consider Safety When Deciding Your Method Of Storage

Second, it is imperative that you consider safety when deciding where to store and organize medicines.

Some of the homes pictured below don't have small children or pets, or they are not organizing prescription medications that are known for being abused.

Whatever you choose to do, you've got to take into account those circumstances when deciding what will work for you.

Normally we want to choose things that will be most convenient for us when organizing, but in this instance there are competing concerns.

I'm not suggesting that you need, in all instances, add a lock to your cabinets or something like that, such as the reader photo to the left from AnnMarie shows, but it does illustrate that in some instances strong security measures like that may be necessary.

Below are the ideas submitted by readers who've done this organizational challenge.

Use A Storage Drawer Organizer Unit Plus Labels

One way to organize your medications is to use a storage drawer organizer unit, similar to the one a reader, Sherrie, used above.

It is simple, and you can get these organizer drawers almost anywhere. For example, Sherrie said, "I use my label maker and small plastic drawers from Wal-Mart."

Adding the labels is a nice touch since it helps you and family members find the right product more quickly, and to know where to put it back when finished.

Depending on the amount of medications and supplies you've got to organize you can also opt for a similar unit, but on a larger scale, like a reader, Sandy showed us on the right.

You can purchase these drawers on Amazon in both the small and larger sizes:

Storage Drawer Organizers {Referral Links}

Sort & Organize Medicine Using Baskets

Another simple way to organize your first aid and medical supplies is to just sort like items together and place in baskets.

To be even more organized you can even labels the baskets, to help you know what should go where.

That's exactly what a reader, Katherine did above. She explained that she keeps hers in her kitchen cabinet in dollar store bins.

This is a really popular idea actually, because it both works, and is easy to implement. And while you can use expensive baskets if you wish, you can also just ones ones from the dollar store or similar places.

Storage Baskets {Referral Links}

Here are several other readers who've done something similar:

Karen says:"We don't have a medicine cabinet in our bathrooms. I use an upper kitchen cabinet to store items in plastic labeled bins. Easy to pull out the one I need."



Kasia says: "Did mine today! Feels great."



Sunny says: "We keep everything in the kitchen, in separately labeled bins. Having it all in one spot makes it easy to know when we're out of something. It's also easy to baby proof everything when it's all together."

Store First Aid & Medical Supplies In Stackable Open Bins

You can also use stackable open bins for storing and organizing these products.

Here's a couple of examples of this in action. The picture above is from a reader, Wendy. She explains, "We keep our most often used meds in the kitchen (ibuprofen, daily vitamins), but couldn't afford to give up valuable cabinet space for the rest.

We added a pre-fab cabinet from Home Depot over our master bathroom toilet for the rest of our meds/vitamins/first aid/supplements, organized into labeled bins from the Dollar Store. Works well for us and the bins allow us to quickly grab what we need."

Here's another example of these bins in action, sent in by a reader, Genna, who says: "I keep mine in the bathroom. No room in the kitchen and no where else to store it."



You can purchase similar bins here:

Storage Stacking Bins {Referral Links}

Lidded Storage Tubs & Boxes For Organizing

While some people prefer open baskets or other similar open containers, others prefer to keep their supplies in closed storage containers.

Here's several examples of this storage method. The picture above is from a reader, Jing. There are actually some boxes that have lids as well as handles, which can be helpful for carrying around your supplies if that is something you may need to do. (There's a similar box below if you'd like to purchase one.)

Similarly, Lilian sent in this photo below, explaining, she prefers a box because it is discrete and hides the mess.



Similarly, here are some additional examples which also demonstrate how you can label many of these storage containers in a similar way to the baskets and other organizational methods shown above.

This photo is from Karen, who said, "This is how I have organised my medicines. It works well for my family. Kept up high and easily accessible. Especially as my son has allergies."



And this photo is from Angela.



You can purchase similar containers here:

Lidded Bins & Tubs {Referral Links}

Use A Turntable Or Lazy Susan To Easily Access Items Even In The Back

There are obviously quite a few ways to organize your medical supplies inside your cabinets or on shelves.

Another one that works well for this area is to use a turntable or lazy susan. This allows you to knock over bottles and boxes in the front when trying to access items in the back of the cabinet.

The images above are from a reader, Belinda, who has used these in combination with baskets and storage drawers. She explained of the first image, "turntable of home med and grab box with bandages, natural anti infection agents, cotton balls etc." The second photo is a "storage compartment, labelled, and first aid book."

Similarly, another reader, Kylie, also used a lazy susan in her cabinet. She explained, " I have all packet medicine in the little draws and the bottle medicine on the small lazy Susan at the very top of my food cupboard. I keep all first aide in the bathroom."



You can purchase these organizing products below. Make sure you measure the depth of your cabinet or shelf and get one that is no wider than that, so you can close the cabinet doors. :)

Lazy Susans {Referral Links}

Use An Over The Door Wire Organizer For Medication Organization

If you don't have a lot of shelf or cabinet space to place medical supplies another idea is to utilize otherwise wasted space, such as on the back of the door.

Many people use their linen closet door for this purpose, but it could also be your pantry door or bathroom door, whatever works for you.

One over the door organizer that works well for this purpose are the wire organizers that were originally meant for the pantry, or for spices. They can fit many typical sized bottles and other supplies for medicines just as well as for pantry staples and cans.

The photo above was provided by a reader, Alison, who uses this method. She explained, "Spice rack in my hall closet."

Further, the example to the left is from another reader, Robin, who said we use "a wire rack on the back of my linen closet door for most medicines and first aid supplies. Small baskets in my linen closet for others."

You can purchase this type of organizer here:

Wall & Door Racks {Referral Links}

Another Door Storage Method Is To Use An Over The Door Shoe Or Jewelry Organizer

Another way to storage and organize these supplies on your door is to use an over the door shoe organizer, or its smaller cousin, the over the door jewelry organizer. The difference between these two organizers is just the size of the pockets, so you just need to choose the one which you feel will fit your supplies more easily.

The photo above is from a reader, Kim, who uses an over the door shoe organizer. She says: "Here's mine. In my linen closet. Pills and such are in top pockets, band aids and ointments etc. in rest where my 8 year old CAN reach them. 'Heavy drugs' are separated into ziplock bags by what they cure (cough & cold, allergies, pain, etc.) written at top of bag and put into the bins on top shelf. One bin for adults one bin for kids (for my ease of use). If I was worried my kiddo would get into the meds I'd put a bedroom doorknob that locks with a key on the door."

Similar, here's an example of an over the door jewelry organizer doing a similar task, sent in by a reader, Fayee, who explains, "Just used a jewelry organizer to hold OTC meds. Easy to see what we need when we need it."



You can purchase both types of over the door organizers here, but I would personally suggest the ones with the larger pocket sizes since many bottles and other supplies will fit better in them than the smaller sizes:

Over The Door Shoe & Jewelry Organizers {Referral Links}

Many People Keep Their Medications Up High Out Of Reach Of Kids

No matter what method you choose for organization, as I mentioned before, you need to consider safety.

These are just examples of how some readers have kept safety in mind when deciding where in their home to store the medicines.

The photo above is from a reader, Jennie, who says: "Baskets on top of the fridge, which ever ailment is currently needing treatment those meds sit out in front of the baskets. Helps keep the top of the refrigerator clean and organized also!!! The bigger basket is for bread and candies."

Another, reader, Katrina, shared this photo below, saying, "Box on the left has the quick adults medicines like panadol and nurofen, the purple box is all my kids stuff. And it's stored above the fridge."

Similarly, another reader, Tanis, was more concerned about safety than convenience (and there's nothing wrong with that!). She explained: "We put up a simple shelf above our laundry closet door in the bathroom. The gray boxes were from Target Dollar Spot. We keep the less-used meds and extra toiletries up there, away from little hands. We have a 9.5 month old, so the concern right now is just keeping meds well out of reach."

How Do You Organize Your Medications?

Ashley shared this before and after when she took on this organizing challenge in her own home.

My question to you now is, how do you organize your first aid supplies and medications?

Once you do the First Aid & Medicine Organization Challenge here on the site make sure to show me your results! I'd love to see them and you to can get in the Home Organization Hall of Fame.

More Home Storage Solutions

I hope you enjoyed these ideas for organizing medications.

There are even more ideas for storage and organizing on the site in the {A-Z} Storage Solutions & Ideas round up page. Go check it out if you'd like to see even more ideas.

In addition, if these ideas have inspired you to organize even more things in your home make sure to join the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge I run on the site! It's FREE!

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