There’s a reason it’s called a medicine cabinet. There’s an even better reason to stop keeping your medicine in it.
Most of us have a lot riding on those little pill bottles. About half of Americans had taken at least one prescription drug in the past 30 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent survey data, from 2017 to March 2020.
Among adults 65 and older, 67.7% had taken three or more in the past 30 days, and 43% had taken five or more.
That’s real money, and it’s your health. Yet a lot of us store those pills in the steamiest room in the house.
Steam from hot showers and baths, plus splashes from the sink, may damage medicines, according to MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s consumer health site. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says a humid bathroom cabinet is exactly the kind of storage that can help sap a medicine’s strength.
In other words, you may be paying full price for pills that don’t work as well as they should. Here are seven medicine mistakes to fix, starting today.
1. Keeping pills in the bathroom cabinet
Move them. The FDA’s advice: Pick somewhere cool and dry, like a bedroom drawer, a closet shelf, a storage bin or a kitchen cabinet.
If you’ve got kids or grandkids around, put meds somewhere they can’t reach, too. MedlinePlus suggests a cabinet that locks or has a childproof latch.
2. Parking them next to the stove, sink or dishwasher
The kitchen is fine. The wrong spot in the kitchen isn’t. Both the FDA and MedlinePlus say to keep medicine away from the sink and hot appliances.
Some drugs are especially touchy. The FDA says certain medicines must be refrigerated and others can’t handle high temperatures.
Insulin is a good example. The FDA recommends keeping it in a refrigerator at about 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, though it can generally go unrefrigerated between 59 and 86 degrees for up to 28 days. Check your label, because products differ.
Keep insulin out of direct heat and sunlight, and never use insulin that’s been frozen. The longer it sits in extreme heat or cold, the weaker it gets, the FDA warns.
3. Leaving medicine in the car
Don’t treat your glove box as a backup medicine cabinet. MedlinePlus says not to keep medicines there.
Cars can get dangerously hot. New York City’s health department warns that inhalers can burst in hot places like a car trunk, and that heat can make an EpiPen fail or give a smaller dose.
Those are exactly the drugs you need to work the first time.
4. Leaving the cotton ball in the bottle
That wad of cotton isn’t doing you any favors. Once you open the bottle, take it out, because it draws in moisture, MedlinePlus says.
While you’re at it, keep medicines in their original containers. The label tells you what the drug is, how much to take and when it expires.
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5. Taking pills that look, smell or feel different
Your senses are a decent early-warning system. MedlinePlus says not to use a medicine if it looks, feels or smells different, even before the expiration date.
The same goes for pills that clump together, crack, chip, or feel unusually hard or soft.
Here’s a classic: As aspirin degrades, it turns into salicylic acid and vinegar, according to MedlinePlus. Open an old bottle that smells like vinegar, and you’ve got your answer.
When in doubt, ask your pharmacist. And if you have to replace a ruined supply, don’t just pay whatever the register says. You can compare prescription prices here before you refill.
6. Flushing pills that don’t belong in the toilet
The FDA keeps a short flush list of drugs so prone to misuse, and so dangerous, that a single dose taken by the wrong person can kill. Anything containing fentanyl or oxycodone, for example, is on it.
For almost everything else, the FDA’s message is simple: Don’t flush it.
If you can’t get to a take-back site (more on that in a bit), the trash is fine for almost anything not on the flush list. The FDA’s method:
- Take the drugs out of their original containers.
- Without crushing them, mix them with something nobody would want to dig through, like used coffee grounds, kitty litter or dirt.
- Seal the mix in a plastic bag or other container, and toss it in your household trash.
- Scratch out your personal information on the empty bottles.
7. Hoarding expired drugs ‘just in case’
That half-used bottle of antibiotics from 2019 isn’t insurance. It’s a liability.
Once a medicine passes its expiration date, there’s no guarantee it’s safe or effective, according to the FDA. Some can grow bacteria. And antibiotics that have lost strength may not knock out an infection, which can let it get worse and help breed drug-resistant germs.
The easiest fix is free. The Drug Enforcement Administration sponsors the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. You can find dates and a nearby site with the DEA’s collection-site locator.
It’s also anonymous. The DEA and its partners take pills, capsules, patches and other prescription medicines, plus liquids if they’re sealed tight in their original containers. Syringes, other sharps and illegal drugs aren’t allowed.
At an event in April 2026, the DEA says it collected 642,410 pounds of old and unwanted medicine at 4,417 sites.
Can’t make a DEA event? More than 16,500 pharmacies, hospitals and businesses offer year-round disposal. The FDA notes that some pharmacies have drop-off kiosks and that prepaid mail-back envelopes are another option.
The bottom line
This is a 10-minute job. Pull everything out of the bathroom cabinet, toss what’s expired or looks off, and move the rest to a cool, dry drawer or shelf.
When stored properly, your pills will hold their strength through their expiration date and work the way they’re supposed to. And you’ll stop paying for medicine your shower is slowly ruining.
If you’re juggling several prescriptions, it’s also worth reading “More Than 1 in 5 Older Adults Take a Risky Drug Mix. Your Medicare Plan May Review Yours for Free” and “5 Expired Medicine Cabinet Staples You Need to Trash Immediately.”
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