How full is your medicine cabinet or drawer/cupboard where you keep medications? It’s unlikely you even remember what some of those medications are for. So today, we’re taking out all of our medication bottles, old prescriptions and over the counter varieties. (If you prefer to watch the video, scroll to the bottom of this post.)

Have a bag ready to put in all the medications that are for disposal. Take them out one by one, in any order, and have a disposal bag and a keep pile.

Obviously, your current medications are keep.

Check both your prescription medications and your over-the-counter medications for expiry dates. Anything expired goes into the disposal bag.

Do you remember what some of those medications are for? If not, place them into the disposal bag. If you do remember what they are for, are they medications you should be hanging on to? If not, dispose of them.

If you have vitamin bottles, the same can apply to them. Check for expiry dates. Do you take them? If not, into the disposal bag.

Medications in the keep pile can be placed back in the medicine cabinet/drawer with least used medications at the back and most used at the front for easy access. Remember to ask youself if where you keep your medications is the best home for them? If not, then now is the time to place them where you feel is a more appropriate place.

The medications that are in the bag are to be dropped off at your local pharmacy, including over the counter medications and vitamins. They will dispose of them for you in a proper environmental way.

Please do not flush medication down your toilet! Water treatment plants and septic systems are not designed to remove pharmeceuticals from wastewater and this can harm the environment and endanger public health.

Make yourself a deadline to remove the medications from your home, and as much as I encourage that to be today, make sure it’s no more than three days from now. And of course, it goes without saying, keep that bag out of reach of pets and children.

Important Note – What your doctor or pharmacist tells you about your medications overrides anything I have said.

If you’re wanting some guidance for organizing your medications and need someone to talk to, reach out to me, I’m happy to chat with you.

I welcome your thoughts, ideas, and questions in the comments below.

Remember you can share your journey with me and others by using hashtag #MarchMicroMinimizing and tag me on Facebook or Instagram using handle @suzannegouldenILC.

Here’s me talking about medications!