Comments on: Spring Cleaning Checklist: Medicine Cabinet

By: John Maxwell Book giveaway

John Maxwell Book giveaway — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:46:52 +0000

[...] A friendly reminder to do some spring cleaning in the medicine cabinet [...]

By: How We Save Money By Keeping Our Medicine Cabinet Updated | MoneyTopix

How We Save Money By Keeping Our Medicine Cabinet Updated | MoneyTopix — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:23:17 +0000

[...] Spring Cleaning Checklist: Medicine Cabinet For those of you that live in a cold, or… [...]

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #205: Pay it Forward Edition | Dads Shack

Carnival of Personal Finance #205: Pay it Forward Edition | Dads Shack — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:34:49 +0000

[...] from My Life ROI presents Spring Cleaning Checklist: Medicine Cabinet, and says, "This spring cleaning chore falls into money management for a few reasons: You wind [...]

By: MyLifeROI

MyLifeROI — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:03:50 +0000

@ Alan –
You should normally finish prescriptions up when they are prescribed. If it is an antibiotic you should finish the cycle even if you feel better. Pain killers and other medicines may be a little different. Throw your medicine away as soon as the prescription period is over (1-2 weeks). Moisture, heat, temperature, sunlight, etc definitely affect effectiveness of the drug. The problem with saying “I’ve never had a problem with it” is… how do you know? For all you know, you were taking medicine that wasn’t doing anything!

@ Baker –
Sorry to add another thing to your to-do list… I know you have a lot on your plate! It is often overlooked, so I thought it would be important to remind people! :)

@ SaveBuyLive –
Yep, as I said, you should always throw out-of-date medicine away because you risk kidney or liver damage. On top of checking the instructions, I would also do a visual or smell test. If you even have a question about it… just throw it away. Thanks for the props ;)

@ HLR
A hallway closet, perhaps. A dresser drawer. It may not be the most convenient, but it’s away from heat and humidity! Hah, tropical skittles, ew?

By: HerLifeROI

HerLifeROI — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:57:18 +0000

So where is the best place to store it? Is a closet better?

Also – I liked that you mentioned that “spring cleaning” might be linked to the age-old tradition of Passover! I hated cleaning for Passover – It was the most hardcore cleaning I ever took part in!! It was the type of cleaning where you caught yourself saying, “Tropical Flavored Skittles?? I don’t think I’ve even had those in nine months… And why are they melted to the back corner of the linen closet??”

By: SaveBuyLive

SaveBuyLive — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:17:46 +0000

I just wanted to mention that some (a small minority) medicines actually become toxic when they past their expiration date. The prescription antibiotic tetracycline comes to mind. Always check the instructions and other information that is included with medication to determine how long it can safely be kept.

And props to you for mentioning that medicine shouldn’t be stored in the bathroom and that you shouldn’t keep expired or old medicines around.

By: Baker @ ManVsDebt

Baker @ ManVsDebt — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:12:26 +0000

Nice topic! I definitely wouldn’t have thought about this without the post. Overall, we really don’t have too much in our medicine “cabinet,” however I can’t remember the last time we really examined and went through the contents.

Yet another thing I have to get figured out in the next 5 weeks! Thanks for adding to my to-do list! ;-)

By: Alan @ Saving For Serenity

Alan @ Saving For Serenity — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:25:30 +0000

Wow, thanks for the post! I was just going through my medicine cabinet the other day and asked myself if I should keep an old prescription I hadn’t used. I didn’t know what else to do with it, so I just left it there. Now I’ll take it to a local pharmacist so they can get rid of it.

One question. I’ve always kept medicine in the bathroom, since I was a kid. Does moisture/temp changes really have that big of an affect on the medicine? I’ve never seemed to have a problem with it.