Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Micro organization projects

When I was in Greece & Tokyo recently, I was gobsmacked by how messy my toiletries bag had become with medicine, and various travel antidotes (Tums, vitamins, cold medicine, etc). I really wish I would have taken some "before" photos, but you will just have to trust me that my old system (I had 9 ziplocks in my toiletries bag & then 5 ziplocks in my travel backpack) was ... not the best. 

I also knew that my habit stacking reminder of setting out all of my medicine at home each day & then putting it away when I'd finished taking everything was... also suboptimal. For home, I bought a larger medicine organizer at CVS using rewards, and put everything I need for the week in it, by day. This is particularly helpful as my lupus medicine is 2x as much on odd days vs even. That's the actual prescription, which seems strange, and can be difficult to remember. 

Here's my home solution:


 

For travel, I wanted a couple of options, so I could have one organizer in my toiletry bag (in my roller suitcase) & one in my travel backpack. I very rarely check a bag, but it does occasionally happen, and in case that gets lost a long the way, I want access to my medicine. 

Having a few pain relievers and the like in my back pack also means I can more easily access medicine on the actual flight, instead of trying to dig into my roller bag. This is more about organization than frugality, but all of my prescription medicine is quite expensive. M

My previous process was a bunch of ziplocks, medicine mingling in & I recently had something spill in the bag that got everything damp, and it all had to be tossed. I promised myself that I would invest in a better travel solution, particularly now that I take multiple medicines, and carry other things like sleeping medicine (if needed), as well as what I take if I get a mosquito bite, to prevent an outsized immuno response. 

Let's hope this saves me time & money in the long run. If nothing else, it's absolutely delightful to visually see what I have, vs the ziplocks  As you can imagine, this is a pretty big step up. 

Toiletry bag organizer. This came in a three pack set, and also came with labels. I haven't gotten around to adding those, as I typically recognize everything I take, and they are quite differently sized/colors, etc. 


Size reference of both organizers:



And, here's what I'll keep handy in my actual travel backpack. My travel purse is tiny, so no medicine is stored in there. 



This project cost me about $10, given I had the CVS rewards for most of the larger organizer. I also bought a travel jewelry organizer, as I was previously using a small bag. As you can imagine, there have been a lot of tangled necklaces. I haven't used that yet, but will report in if I like the organizer I purchased.

Have you done any mini organization projects lately? Sometimes it's the little things that put a smile on your face, or make every day or travel life easier!




4 comments:

  1. Yours looks so much better than mine!

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    1. I'm very pleased with it. You never know what you're going to get for a low price point on Amazon, but I really liked it, and it came with three, so one for next time if something breaks or I need an extra. - Hawaii Planner

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  2. Returning commenter from Canada. I had similar issue this summer when traveling to Europe: ziplock bags inside a total of 5 pouches, multiple items of tissues, bandaids etc. Coming home after unpacking, I am down to 3 but need some organizers like yours. I always keep all my meds in my purse, rarely in the carryon. I have a medium size purse as a personal item and a separate very small crossbody to access passport, glass... this I can always just put into the bigger purse and under the seat.

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    1. Sounds like we have a similar approach! I have a roller bag (almost never check) that I put into the overhead. Then a travel backpack that slides onto the handle of the roller bag. Inside the travel backpack is a cinch sack that I pull out (more common for long haul flights) with everything I need. The travel backpack has my Kindle, laptop, purse, and my medicine. If it's an international flight, the cinch sack also contains: a sleep mask, lip balm, additional hand sanitizer, a phone charger, snacks, etc. - Hawaii Planner

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