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.