Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet

If your medicine cabinet is full with all kinds of medicines, half of which not suitable for use it is high time you did something to change that fact. The forgotten pills or unknown medicines could turn out to be really dangerous if not removed on time. If you want to protect your family or yourself from accidental home poisoning it is better to eliminate the risk of possessing unwanted medications  there.

For that reason we advise you to provide a regular and extensive cleaning of the medicine cabinet.

• The remedies expired

We all have that annoying habit to put some pills or syrups in the medicine cabinet and to leave them just for no reason. After some time the chemical components in the pills start to break down, which will be  in all cases not beneficial for your organism, if you decide to use them. That is why you should strictly follow the dates written and throw away all the remedies that have expired. Whether they are very expensive or not do not hesitate unless you want to experience unpleasant moments, after the intake of these medicines. Check out everything – from pain relievers to sunscreen and even the dent floss and make up.

• The ineffective and half used remedies

The same goes for the half used or the completely ineffective remedies. If you find halves of them staying forgotten in the medicine cabinet you should definitely throw them away. The ineffective ones should also be removed from the cabinet, as all they do is taking up the space that should be strictly ordered.

• Natural substitutions

Look carefully for all those pills and syrups that have their natural substitutions. If you want to look from the eco friendly point of view this is the best way to start with. Any pills or syrups used for colds and cough can be easily substituted with natural equivalents.

One very important moment when throwing away the unneeded remedies from the medicine cabinet turns out to be the safe disposal. The first option is to contact some local department of public works to receive information about how you can properly dispose of these medications. Of course there is also a do it yourself solutions that consist of putting the unneeded medications in a sealable plastic bags. The pills and tablets should be carefully crushed or dissolved in a small amount of water. You can also mix coffee grounds, sawdust or a similar into the bag for a better degradation of the medications. Only after that you can place the bag into the trash.

The medicines could also be brought to an Operation Medicine Drop event or to a permanent drop box that is near you.

You should be really careful with medicines, especially if you have children because they are often interested in unknown objects, so we strongly advise you not to throw away the medicines in the bins or to leave the medicine cabinets open because that may lead to unpleasant consequences.

Another fact that should not be underestimated is that if you throw away directly some of the sedatives they may easily be reached by people who are drug addicted.

Do not put the unused pills from the medicine cabinet to the toilet sink because in that way you are contaminating the aquatic life and you cause disorder in the waterways.

To sum up, it is more than preferred to provide a regular cleaning of you medicine cabinet at least twice a year. Once established, this useful habit remains for good and is practical in cases when you have the urgent need to find a concrete remedy in the cabinet. If you still have not realized that you have unneeded, expired or recalled products there just have a walk through the bathroom and take some time to devote on that ''cleaning'' procedure.

Author Bio: Paula Sheamus loves to write about health, hygiene and cleaning. She currently works a part time job for end of tenancy cleaning Deptford but her free time she spends blogging.

Image: "Medicine Water" by Robert S. Donovan