Sorting the Medicine Cabinet - a Tutorial

If your medicine cabinet is an eyesore and you have a whole bunch of pill packets, jars and boxes falling over and out onto you then you can not only organise it, but save money by knowing what you have and what you need to replace.

The first step is to sort.

Make sure you have about 30 to 40 minutes of uninterrupted time to do this, and ensure there are no small children around who can access the tablets and be accidentally poisoned.

Sort your packets, prescriptions and bottles into categories. You can sort each person's prescriptions into their own category, and then other medications into categories such as pain relief, stomach ailment relief, allergy relief, topical creams, vitamin supplements, natural remedies and first aid supplies. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but will of course depend upon you and your family's individual needs.

Prescription forms can also be kept in a file. I keep all my prescriptions down at the local pharmacy, and when I am nearing the end of the medicine supply, I can call ahead to have the prescription made up for me to pick up later, or have it delivered.

Sorting through medications into categories will help you also identify out of date medications, which need to be disposed of at the pharmacy. It is important not to use out of date medicine because many medicines have a storage shelf life, after which they may be potentially hazardous.

The second step is to organise.

Once you have your medicines and first aid supplies sorted, and have disposed of your out of date supplied safely, you can get ready to organise them into storage.

A permanent marker and some small plastic baskets and a first aid box are all useful for storage of medicines. A cupboard that is inaccessible to small children is essential, or a locked box or locked cabinet that is free of a moist environment can be used also for medicine storage.

Bathrooms are not ideal spaces to store medicines as the moisture can compromise some medical supplies.

Once you have appropriate storage space, organised some small category containers and either a permanent marker or some labels, then you are ready to store.

The final step is storage.

Storage of medicines in a safe place out of reach of children is essential, to stop a child from potentially being poisoned.

Once you have acquired and labelled your containers according to categories, place each medicine packet or container into its appropriate box or basket.

It may be viable to store first aid supplies separately so that the box or bag can be taken to wherever it is needed.

Place all labelled boxes or baskets into the safe cupboard or locked cabinet, and then your job will be done.

Since organising my own medicine cabinet I have realised I do not need to keep purchasing pain relief products, as I already had a number of boxes, and had kept purchasing more because they had gotten disorganised.

I can now find pain relief in a pinch!

How to get affordable clothing

Sourcing affordable clothing -

A while ago I dug out the sewing machine, after having sorted out all my sewing equipment, and decided to finish up some trousers that I had bought the material and the pattern for.

It was a Burda pattern, quite a nice one. I like the cut of Burda patterns, they seem to fit me really well and I like their style.

I was also having a look around different websites and came across the Burda Style website. It is a really good source of information, and great for people who are new to sewing.

My trousers worked out really well, and fit great. I am going to try some other of Burda's ideas, particularly the wardrobe restyling options, where items of clothing are repurposed.

I have purchased clothing from thrift stores and then put new buttons on them or patched them, fixed them, and they have come up really lovely. I bought a suede jacket for my husband a while ago, and the buttons were all cracked, so I replaced those. I just have to recondition the suede, because it is a little dried out.

My sons also needed some new shirts, so I purchased some from the thrift store for them. There were also some lovely toddler girls clothes at the thrift store, so for $50 I bought the whole family a couple of big bags of clothing.

A few weeks ago I accidentally spilled some bleach on my good tracksuit pants - some black ones. There were also a couple of long sleeved black t-shirts that needed refreshing, so I purchased some black clothing dye from Spotlight, and put it through the machine. The result was really good.

If clothing is stained, treat it with a pre-wash stain remover, or try soaking it. Make sure you try to follow the care directions on the label.

Some clothing can't be washed, be mindful of clothes that are dry clean only. I have heard that dry-cleaning kits for the dryer can be purchased, but I haven't tried them myself.

I have bought clothes before on ebay, but sometimes I have been off with the sizing.

There also may be some items of clothing in your wardrobe that you could change the buttons on, add an applique or embellishment, and make really updated.

With a little skill, imagination and ingenuity, you can be fashionable and have quality clothes on a budget.

The Cappucino Experience Without the Expense

My husband for my birthday bought me a Nespresso Coffee Capsule machine. It is sooooo easy to use, my teenage sons love to use it as well. It came as a package deal from Harvey Norman with the Aerocino frother, and a bunch of coffee capsule tasters.

I used to have a very expensive coffee shop addiction - I would want to go to the coffee shop and stack up on the cappucinos. Not so good for the waistline, not so good for the budget, with all the naughty treats added to the coffee experience as well.

I love having time with my friends for a chat over coffee, so more than ever I say to them now to come on back to my place and have a coffee. They do enjoy it.

I don't usually have treats on hand, because I have teenagers moving in and out of the fridge and pantry constantly, but when I do plan to invite people over, I can quickly duck up to the shop if need be and grab a little something to share. It isn't so bad, because portion wise, it gets shared around more people - better for the wallet and the waistline.

LOL - that is one of my weight loss tips that has worked so well - by all means have a treat, but share it with as many people as physically and humanly possible - which is really easy in a house of three males with large appetites.

My sons love to cook also, and they make themselves the odd treat (with supervision). They also love to eat lots of fresh fruit.

The Nespresso machine is great, but I know Aldi stocks one that is less expensive (Expressi), and I have seen MAP coffee capsule machines on sale at different department stores as well such as Target and Big W. It is well worth looking around. Coffee capsule machines might be more expensive than grinding your own coffee beans, but because the machine is so easy to use, I do bother to use it, and I save by not frequenting the cafe. It is excellent value that way.

The Savvy Little Guide to Stress Reduction Ebook

I am flogging off my ebook for free, from the 12th of September - 13th of September, on Amazon.com.
It is called The Savvy Little Guide to Stress Reduction - it is a great read - and pretty necessary in these full on 21st Century times.

My next book which will be launched at the end of October will be titled 101 Ways to Live Well for Less Money - a must have.

You can have a great life, you can enjoy every single day, and you don't have to load up a credit card and buy stuff you feel guilty about and stash in the back of the cupboard cause you bought it on credit.

I must say I have enjoyed writing these for you - there are some original ideas in my books - and a lot of it is very practical. My favourite feature of The Savvy Little Guide to Stress Reduction is the practical toolbox section.

Enjoy. Why am I giving it out for free? Tell your friends - after the promotion, it is only 99 cents.
Click here for the link to my ebook. If you don't have a kindle, you can download a kindle reading app on your smartphone, PC, ipad, iphone or Mac. I have a Kindle for Mac app, and an Kindle for iphone app. They are both pretty good, and they are free.