My cabinet is getting to be a disaster whenever I need to find anything:
Drawers? Containers? Labels? But what sorting mechanism? Alphabetical? By type of container (vial/blister pack/tube)?
My cabinet is getting to be a disaster whenever I need to find anything:
Drawers? Containers? Labels? But what sorting mechanism? Alphabetical? By type of container (vial/blister pack/tube)?
I have about a lot more storage and store mainly by function. Eg HDAC inhibitor, AMPK activator that sort of thing.
Good topic! I divide my supplements into two groups. One group goes in a big flat drawer. These are supplements Iām currently taking. I lay out the bottles/containers flat, so not standing. That way the label is clearly visible. I have a system, where I go in a circular way from the upper left corner, going round, as I fill my little tray with the supps Iām taking for a given meal or whatnot. Since every bottle has its permanent position the process is very fast. I put my tray on the counter, from under the counter I pull out the drawer with the supps, fill the tray, close the drawer. Done.
The second group, are the backup bottles of all the supplements I take, so that I never run out. These sit in a cabinet. As soon as I run out of a supplement in my main drawer, I pull out the replacement from the cabinet, and reorder so that when it arrives, I can place it in the cabinet. That way I never run out of supplements.
Medications, same system. They lay flat in a drawer under the supplement drawer. And replacements either in a cabinet, or in a mini-fridge. I keep an eye on the rate of consumption, so Iām ready to reorder from India as soon as I run low.
I keep the room cool (AC) in summer.
This system Iāve had for decades, and seems to work OK. But there are some considerations. I donāt change my supplement regimen too often. I know exactly what Iām taking each day of the week, and with what timing (with meals etc.). If I make a change, I can remember it, although I do keep a list of which suppls and meds I take when, so I can easily consult it, make changes etc.
Currently, Iām taking 24 different supplement pills/capsules/powders, and two medications (pitavastatin, empagliflozin), with at a minimum one more coming up (rapamycin), and possibly a few more, depending on test results (bempedoic acid, ezetemibe, telmisartan, acarbose).
The key is to always keep each supplement in the exact same position in the drawer, clearly visible, all lying flat, so you never have one hiding behind another, or changing position.
My system is similar to Cronos Tempi. I keep supplements bottles and meds in one of three large boxes ā morning, mid day, bedtime. I have those plastic organizers that you fill for each day of the week. Once a month I fill one entire organizer (4 weeks) for morning, one for bedtime and one larger size for mid day.
I keep my supplement process disorganized to force me to think about it every day. Anabolic day vs catabolic day, mainly. I also hope to forget to take supplements sometimes to force a breakā¦on top of my āno supplements on the weekendsā rule.
I think missing supplement doses is no big deal at worst and probably helpful.
Anything I might benefit from taking diligently everyday (multiple time a day?) is a clue to a big lifestyle fix I need to implement.
Iām an over-sharer and storage is my wheelhouse, soā¦.(ha, you should see my makeup organization!!!)
Iām very very new to being organized about it, and was never compliant until finding a system that works for my brain, but so far, this has made the difference for meā¦
In addition to my wake up rx pill that I keep in my nightstand (to remember to take it, I force myself to take it before I get out of bed), I only take things two other times a day otherwise I wonāt be as compliant. My hat is off to most of you who take things many times per day.
In a cabinet like yours, I have my shelves used for different purposes.
One shelf for general first aid, old medicines, or things I only need every blue moon
One shelf is for supplements I take early in the day. I line them up left to right, as if it was a shelf in a store, so each bottle is next to each other and visible. If I havenāt loaded them into my pouches, I can just go one by one and grab one from each bottle. Behind the front row are duplicate bottles or things I donāt take often or other junk (my shelves are roll outs, so loading things behind the front row works⦠but baskets etc like you already own can work well for this too, just label one basket for lunch time pills, etc)
Another shelf is the same as the supplement shelf but itās for my nighttime routine of fewer supplements and rxās. I try to take all my rxās together only at night because while I might forget to take my early day supplements, I take my nighttime rxās religiously.
My goal is to not open and close all those bottles, soā¦
I have found I get frustrated too easily if I have to dig into a pill organizer to pluck out my pills, all while not disturbing the unintended dose or accidentally dumping them on the floor :). So then, I was loading them into little mini ziplocks from amazon. That worked for years when I had a limited number of things I was taking. But, to up my game, I just bought the Dosey pill organizers, and so far I am in love (and yes, I admit I like how cute this all is
. I chose their little zip around case, and lots of their easy slide pouches with labels (see photo). They are bpa free which I feel better about and are generously sized for a million supplements. The zip lock slider is good for an ADD impatient person like myself, and I love that I can just dump them in my hand or easily grab the bag to take with me if not taking it then. (I put way too much thought into everything, if you canāt tell!). For travel, it will be nice to have this box with my two times per day stash inside, but also, I will have bags individually filled with other first aid⦠aspirin in one, for example⦠it will be nice not to have to dig though my mini bags inside a huge cosmetics bag to frustrate me (have I mentioned I get frustrated easily?).
In my fridge, I keep my omegas and probiotics (and yes, because they are in my fridge, Iām not very compliant)
On one shelf in my pantry, I keep a small amount of other supplements that are nice to have, but not important, and might be things I donāt intend on repurchasing etc, and Iāll just grab them on occasion in the kitchen when Iām thinking about it.
For most people space is an issue, and if that happens to be you, might I suggest two possibilities:
It looks like you have room to put in one more shelf between the two that are visible. But, because that requires āconstructionā, another way to do it is vertical storage. What comes to mind is a vertical lazy susan option, or stackable drawers (the drawers are nice because you can pull them out individually, as you can with your current baskets, and add on or configure in a very flexible way). Iāve included photos as examples.
(I did see a $1700 gadget that Iād own if I were a billionaire⦠you load all your pills into it and then the machine goes through and sorts them and dumps the various pills into a cup⦠a girl can dream ⦠if you all find a version for a couple hundred bucks, please share!!)

Our Daily supplement stack. This pic is 2 years old and a few things have changed. But I find that having a place to do this so I donāt have to open and close drawers and cupboards makes it much easier for me to deal with LoL!
And this does not even take into account our morning super shake that has another 11 plus compounds in it. I make up a weeks worth of that mix and put it in 7 smaller containers.

Then I have ābulk storageā in the basement as I try to keep some of these longer lead items a couple months ahead and if Iām ācuriousā about something.

I basically have daytime supplements, plus morning and evening supplements & meds. I also do a daily protein shake which includes a couple powdered supplements.
For my morning and evening supplements I use these:

For my daytime supplements I use this:

And for my daily shake I absolutely love these electric blender bottles:

Here are amazon links to those products:
When I saw this thread, I laughed. Frankly, @Liface , your ādisasterā looks like one of my overstock shelves.
I am currently stocking ahead for a full year and I am not a minimalist. A year is a lot of bottles, bags, and boxes. ![]()
I wonāt repeat whatās already been said ā lots of good ideas. But as i see it, organizational strategies come down to trying it and seeing what works for you.
I will add one thing I didnāt see mentioned:
For my long-term stock ā my year-plus reserves ā I have an inventory ā a stock list ā of whatās in that box, by bottle, count, and how long it will last me at current use. This allows me to look at the mess and know that X or Y is in there. Somewhere.
Thereās a lot to be said for doing inventory.
The compartment in the first post is 16" deep, 16" wide, and 13" tall.
I stopped by my beloved Container Store but annoyingly all of their products seem to be in multiples of 7" or otherwise incompatible which means even when stacked they exceed some of my limits.
Closest Iāve found so far to what I want are two of these next to each other:
https://www.containerstore.com/s/office/craft-hobby/12d?productId=11011394
They arenāt nearly as deep as I want (less than 11 inches vs. the 16 I have available) so I will keep searching.
I then have 3 giant plastic containers. One contains refills for the weekly supplements, another contains extra copies of those refills and things I use less frequently, another contains things I tried, didnāt like and stopped using.
This. Makes it super effortless. Spend 15 minutes organising everything on a Sunday night.
I put one box next to the coffee machine so I take them in the morning
And the other is in the bathroom next to my toothbrush so I take them at night
The pill tackle box seems like a lot of extra work for no benefit to me. Typical Twitter meme that goes viral but is completely impractical.
Like⦠youāre supposed to take your supplements out of the labeled containers, and then you spend time putting the labels back on each compartment?
I like to keep everything in its original container, then I remember what brand it is, I can easily refer to the ingredients, etc.
Still havenāt found a good way to organize my deep storage though.
Incase itās helpful to anyone, I now use these containers for my pills.
I adore my Dosey system, but also⦠it takes longer to load them because you have to hold them open.
These are great because you can lay them out and then load 3 weeks worth very quickly.
One thing I found to be helpful is to keep my drug and supplement inventory as a list in the Note app on my iphone/ipad/macbook (Notes app so it all syncs).
I have a dedicated drug and supplement fridge, where I keep my stash, and a large drawer where all the current drugs and supplements sit in single bottles etc. and I just take the drugs and supplements daily from the drawer bottles/boxes directly. In the drawer all the bottles are lying label up in rows in a specific sequence so I always know what is where at a glance and I fill in my little pill saucer (of stuff Iām taking imminently) in a sequence very quickly, that way Iām never searching for anything - I just go by rows left to right as I fill my saucer.
In my Note app I keep a list of all drugs and supplements with a number next to it indicating how many bottles or boxes I have stored. Every time I finish a bottle/box, I change the number by 1. If I add bottles/packages from a replenishing purchase I change the number to reflect the current inventory.
That way I donāt have to keep checking my fridge to see if Iām running low on something and if I should replenish. I just need to glance at my list - if I see zero or a single number, I know itās time to reorder. That way I never run out of anything and donāt need to keep checking my fridge and counting everything. I never have to wonder if Iām running out of anything. The moment a bottle is empty and thrown away I update the number on the list next to the supplement name, a shipment comes in, I update the number before putting the stuff away.
Generate an inventory list once and keep it current and life is simpler. YMMV.
I have multiples of those day-of-the-week -times- four pill organizers. One for the morning, one for bedtime, one for dinner, plus an added new one --one for me, and one for my husband ā that I call the ābrain boxesā ā which we now add to the lunch pills. It is all too much, and I keep adding more . . . .
Seven day pill organizer. Set it up every Sunday for the next week. Then you donāt even have to think about it. Easy for travel too.