Tidy in Ten - Week 8: Medications
It's time to clean out that medicine cabinet...Do people still have medicine cabinets?! Wherever it is that you seemed to have amassed a stockpile of assorted medications, that's where we are tidying this week.
What
Think...
Prescriptions
Over the counter cold medicines
Vitamins
Allergy remedies
Lozenges
When
You definitely want to set aside a solid ten minutes to get this task done in one sitting. Fortunately, it is very straight forward and requires very little deep thinking so you need not be at the top of your game during this time.
How
Locate a clear, large workspace - e.g. counter or table
Gather all of your medications
Sort into like categories, creating groups of similar items
One category at a time, check the expiration dates and set aside any expired items into a new group for disposal. Also add to the disposal group any items you no longer have a need for.
With the disposal items now set aside, it's time to re-home your pared down medications. Depending on quantity and use case, you may wish to contain your medications by the following:
Daily
Occasional
Back stock - extras that you can 'shop' from before buying more
Be sure to store medications out of reach of children and pets.
Safely discard of your disposal group. Check out this website for guidance. It may seem overwhelming at first, but you may be surprised to find convenient drop-sites in your community (my local CVS has a drop-box!).
