I wanted to follow up from my Spring Cleaning post on cleaning out cupboards and the fridge/freezer. I forgot to mention that you should dispose of expired medications!!!

Go through your medicine cabinet (or wherever you keep your medications) and refrigerator (for example, I store Peptobismol® in the fridge–it tastes better cold!) and dispose of any medications that are expired. You can usually find the expiration date on over-the-counter medication on the side/end of the box or on the back of the individual package.

My rule of thumb is that if it has the month/year on it, go by the end of that month, not the beginning (for example, if a product expires April 2008, throw it away at the end of the month, not the beginning). For prescription medications, the expiration date will be on the bottle.

Some experts claim you can easily keep the medications on-hand for well after the expiration date. However, each medication is different and unless you’re doing full research on your medicine cabinet, it’s best to play it safe and toss the expired meds.

How to dispose of medication properly?

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has an article describing that you should NOT flush the expired medication down the drain or toilet but instead mix it with kitty litter or saw dust, put it in a sealed plastic bag, and throw it in the garbage. If in doubt, call or ask your pharmacist for proper disposal of the medication. It sounds like a lot of work, but it prevents those chemicals from entering our drinking water or creating freaky mutant fish.

Take note of what has expired–if you notice that you threw away a whole bottle or box of over-the-counter medication, maybe you don’t need to buy it until you are sick and actually need the medication instead of buying it “in case” you get sick.