Challenge: 30 Days to an Organized Home--Day 8

Challenge: 30 Days to an Organized Home--Day 8

Good Morning!  I hope everyone is enjoying this home organization challenge.  I would to hear from anyone who's participating.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Assignment #8

Medication & Vitamin Storage

Organizing your medications & vitamins is very important.  And not necessarily because it should look nest & pretty(although that would be a bonus), but because expired medications can be dangerous.  Prescription medications can lose potency, change in chemical composition or no longer be needed.  Read more about the dangers here. 

 Going through your medications & vitamins every 3-6 months is a good idea in general.  I usually end up with quite a few bottles of over the counter medicines that are expired.  Although there's only one person in our household who takes a daily prescription, I usually find a few bottles of old antibiotics as well(probably from me not finishing them).  The question tends to be,  what should I do with all this stuff?  Back in the day, flushing old medicines down the toilet was the thing to do.  But we know now, that isn't an option any more.  More & more antibiotics & steroids are ending up in our water supplies because of this.  I urge you to read this article and please dispose of your medications properly.

OK, now that we covered some important information, let's get on to the challenge.  Remove all medications & vitamins from the storage area you use.  Ours live in the kitchen.  I know...I know it's not the best place to store them.  But it's not the worse either.  Apparently storing medicine & vitamins in your medicine cabinet(or bathroom) is the worse place due to high humidity & heat of the room.  Sorry got off track again...anyways, empty the cabinet and clean well.  Pay very close attention to the expiration dates and keep all expired medicine & vitamins separate.  Maybe grab a small box that you can put them in for now.  

When you are ready to put everything back, try to group "like" items together.  Such as, all vitamins on this shelf and all cold meds here.  That will make finding what you need easier.  Of course using baskets or small bins with lids can come in handy if your storage area allows for it.  

Frugal Tip:  Don't be too frugal and try to keep expired medication for later use!  It's dangerous and you can get sick, costing you even more.  There are certain things in life that you should not skimp on, your health is one of them!

Check back at 9pm for my update, pictures & linky! 

Live Frugal. Live Happy.