Medicine Drawer Makeover

I have more of a medicine drawer than a cabinet and it's a complete mess.

Since the whole family is better (knock on wood) from all of our recent illnesses, I thought it was time I cleaned out/organized our medicine drawer. I also had medicine scattered around the house and I really wanted it all in one place.

After completely emptying the drawer...

I put some baskets in it.

The baskets got filled with all of the identifiable and unexpired medicine in the house. 

I was left with a lot of cardboard boxes and medicine bottles.

The cardboard and plastic medicine cups got tossed in the recycling bin.

The medicine is another story.  It turns out that it's not safe to just toss it in the trash or dump it down the drain. I checked out the FDA advice for disposing of unused medicine. 

-Remove personal information labels from bottles to protect you identity.

- Take medicines out of their original containers and put in a plastic ziplock bag. Mix medicine with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter. (The medication will be less appealing to children and pets, and unrecognizable to people who might intentionally go through your trash.)

Medicine in bag. (yuck!)

 Medicine with coffee grounds in bag. (double yuck!)

Medicine with coffee grounds and kitty litter. (Yuck to infinity!)

This mess can be put in the garbage.

I washed the empty plastic medicine bottles that had recycling symbols on the bottom. Then added them to my recycling bin. (Remember to remove the lids before recycling them. Lids are made of a different type of plastic.)

Decluttering feels great!