You use your cleaning products to protect your home from germs, bugs, and messes, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe. Whether you have kids or pets who you don’t want to expose to harsh chemicals, or you just want to know how to properly store your products without them going bad, it’s important to have a strategy for organizing and storing everything you use to keep your home clean.

The labels on all of the chemicals you use should tell you the best conditions for storing them, but if the label gets damaged or you’re a fan of decanting your goods into nicer or more stackable containers, you may not be able to check that. In general, chemicals should be stored in a cool, dry place, away from anything that will get too hot, like pipes or vents. As long as you keep everything in its own bottle or container, you won’t run the risk of them getting mixed together, so it’s best to keep them all in one place, which you should do because it’s an important part of maintaining an organized home.

If you’re concerned about children and their potential access to the products, keep chemicals in places they can’t easily reach. If your kitchen is large enough, dedicate one of your upper cabinets to cleaning supplies and buy a set of child-proof locks for the knobs. Use low baskets to organize them by type and prevent spills on the wooden shelves. Better yet, if you have room in your storage area, buy a freestanding, lockable storage shelf, like this one:

I’m not a huge fan of putting everything under the sink because of the temperature fluctuations that can occur from all the plumbing, but if that’s your best option, make sure to use a pull-out shelf so you don’t have to dig deep into the recesses of the cabinet to reach an item you don’t use often. Try something like this: