Moms of many . . . How do you organized medicines?

[BamaTanya]

I decided to clear the medicines out of the kitchen yesterday and filled two boxes. Yikes.

 

4 people in the family take a total of 7 medicines daily. Plus an assortment of vitamins and fish oils and such. And then the bottles of decongestants and expectorants and fever reducers and cough drops and tummy calmers . . . liquids for the littles and pills for the big ones.

 

There's no way these will ever fit in any medicine chest. What should I do with all this stuff? I use them all . . . over time.

 

Help!

[CalicoKat]

I did have a basket with a lid, but it got full and it was heavy. Now I use an old ice cream pail with a lid. It works. A general one for the cold meds, and one for the perscription.

[KIN]

I use small organizer type bins and label each one. It works really well! I have one for adults, one for children and one for bandaids/neosporin. You just pull out the bin you need and everyone knows where to put items away.

[KristineIN]

We have "occasional" use medicine in our hall linen closet on the top. Stuff we use everyday is in a kitchen cabinet. I should probably get a box or basket for the linen closet, I have to get a stool to look for stuff, so a box would be easier to get down and sort through.

 

Kristine

[momtolgd]

Well, I'm only a mom of 3 (not many) but I keep all medicines in a basket on top of the refrigerator. If I had more kids all taking different meds, I might have a seperate container for each one clearly labeled and all put in a basket or something.

[Ottakee]

I need a better system but here is what we do. I have the lower shelf in 1 cupboard just for 12dd and 11dd's meds. They each have 13 different meds they need to take a day--well about 10 prescription and 3 supplements. 12dd takes up to 44 pills a day so this all ads up. They each have a side of the cupboard. Then on Mondays I sort the meds into daily pill containers for the week.

 

Dh has a shelf in the pantry for his meds, 20ds has a shelf by the sink for his 2 meds and I just take a glucosamine/chondrontin supplement so that is by the glasses.

 

If I had younger kids in the house I would have to lock up the meds due to the serious nature of these meds. The bathroom though isn't a good place for meds due to the humidity. I tend to store OTC meds in the linen closet as we rarely need those.

[Jenn in Mo]

I use the linen closet for the stuff we only pull out when someone is really sick. I have a lazy susan in a kitchen cabinet for tylenol/sinus/common kind of stuff. But my daily stuff I keep in a kitchen cabinet above the coffeepot. On the counter is the coffeepot; first shelf in the cabinet above that is coffee, mugs, and filters; and the next shelf has vitamins/fish oils/daily meds. This way, I see it each day when I go to pull out the coffee mug.

 

But to organize those daily meds, I use one of those wire racks with "steps" used to organize spice canisters. This way, I can see what everything is without losing anything back in the back. Stadium seating for my vitamins. :)

 

When we have antibiotics that need refrigerated, each kid gets a different bag to pull out with their syringe in it. This way, they can each go grab their bag and give it to mom when they need to take it. The oldest can grab his and take it himself (finally!) and I never need to read another identical-looking label.

[Quiver0f10]

We don't really take any medicines regularly except I take thyroid meds daily and I take a variety of supplements. I keep medicines and first aid kit in a cabinet in the kitchen.