What’s in your medicine cabinet?

By mudlark • November 4th, 2008

The medicine cabinet is not part of day-to-day cleaning, but it’s no less important. It’s where you turn when you wake up with a fever, when the baby’s teething, when allergies assault your eyes and sinuses, and this season – cold season – you may be turning to it for help all too often. So first off, clean it out!

Make sure you’re stocking medicines, vitamins, and remedies that haven’t passed their expiration date.
Get rid of anything that isn’t labeled.
Clean out anything that you don’t have a use for anymore

Next, check out this video from Dr. Alan Greene (of the ever popular drGreene.com). He gives some tips on how to detox your medicine cabinet, from natural remedies to prevention. Since he’s a pediatrician it’ll be especially helpful to parents, though it has tips that are helpful at any age or stage of life.

Finally, once the cabinet is cleaned out (and dusted too!) and well-stocked, you’ll want to make sure it’s organized. Ensure that anything you need frequently is easy to get to, and especially that anything you’d need urgently (like aspirin in case of chest pain, asthma inhalers, or an epi pen or insulin) is front and center. In fact, it’s best to keep those emergency remedies in a specific place that’s easy to explain to someone else if needed (“get the red bottle in the bottom left corner”). Things that you use only occasionally can be farthest from reach. Anything you use together can be grouped together, even one behind the other. Think about what makes the most sense for the products you use most frequently, and ensure that those things are easiest to reach and put away.

Comments(4) Bathroom, Being Green, Health, Organizing

Comments

By Roger Hamilton on November 5th, 2008 at 8:36 am

Great post! It helps to remind a lot of people. Thanks for the useful information.

By John on June 29th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

I really like the advice you have shared! Thank you for providing that video link with the detox tips. I never would’ve imagined to detox my medicine cabinet because I figure doing a quick wipe would do the trick, but it just goes to show all the extra care that’s required. And not only is organization and setup critical, but the type of medicine cabinet you have is also important. You definitely want something that is roomy with enough shelves. I did a write-up on medicine cabinets, too, and you can check it out here:

http://pocketchange.become.com/2009/06/stay-organized-with-a-medicine-cabinet.html

By Probanden on December 29th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

Thank you for sharing the video. I think it’s very useful and important to detox the medicine cabinet.