To me, fall is the best time to start cutting out the clutter in our homes in preparation for winter.  In most areas, winter is when we begin spending more time indoors, so it makes sense to make those indoors as enjoyable as possible before we settle in for a long wait.  De-cluttering is an excellent way to reduce stress indoors while making normal activities easier to accomplish.  One place most of us end up with excess is in the medicine cabinet.At least once per year, it is a good idea to go through your medicine cabinet to dispose of expired medications or those you no longer need.  While some medicines are viable after their expiration date, some can become downright harmful if taken once they expire.  At the very least, medicines long past their due date will be less effective and should be replaced with new ones.

In 15-30 minutes, you can take a cluttered cabinet where things are hard to find and turn it into a neat, organized place to find all of your important medicines, ointments and first aid items.  When it comes to expired medications, be relentless.  Chances are, if you have not used it by now, you probably will not need it and if you do, you need to get a new prescription anyway.

Get rid of all expired meds, as well as things like bandaids that have come out of their wrappers and are no longer sterile.  Take stock of what you have and make a list of things you will need to replace to make sure you are never out of critical first aid supplies.

Once you have collected the medicines to dispose of, you can contact your local pharmacy to participate in their disposal program, rather than throwing them out where they can cause damage to the environment or to people who may find them.