Holistic Wellness Tip: Check Your Vitamins and Supplements
Moving forces you to go through EVERY cabinet, drawer, basket and corner in your house. You decide what you’re taking and not, which makes it a great time for a purge. Even though it’s not exactly move in time yet, one thing I’m checking closely is the expiration date on all our vitamins, supplements and medicines. It’s amazing how quickly those bottles pile up, especially the things we only reach for when someone is sick!
This is actually something we really should all do about twice a year. Pick two times you’ll remember, like back-to-school season and the start of the new year, and check:
Vitamins, minerals and other daily supplements
Prenatals and kids products
Probiotics, gummies, powders and liquid supplements
Pain and fever medicines
Allergy, cold, cough and stomach medicines
Prescriptions, creams, drops and first-aid products
Pretty much everything.
The expiration date isn’t a magic switch that suddenly makes every product dangerous at midnight but it does mark the end of the time the manufacturer supports the quality and full strength. Add to that stability and purity when stored correctly.
After that, they may lose potency or change in ways we just can’t see. Liquids and other products can also be more vulnerable to contamination once they’ve been opened.
That means an expired vitamin may not give you the amount nutrients listed on the label.
An old fever reducer or sickness medicine may not work as well when you REALLY need it to!
Some expired medicines can even change chemically or allow bacteria to grow.
This isn’t something I’m willing to guess about, especially as an ex ER-nurse, and especially with prescriptions, eye drops, antibiotics, kids medicines or anything we may need in an emergency. (And leftover antibiotics should never be saved for the next illness anyway! Like, ever, please)
I HATE waste but keeping something we can no longer count on doesn’t undo the waste. It just takes up space and could leave us scrambling when we’re sick.
Going through everything now also lets me see what’s close to expiring, as well as evaluate what we genuinely need and use, and then stop buying duplicates if they are not actually needed.
While you’re checking, make sure everything has been stored the way the label says. Heat, moisture and sunlight can affect and even shorten a product’s useful life. That means a steamy bathroom or hot car usually isn’t the best home for it.
It’s also a great idea to write the date you opened a liquid right on the bottle because some need to be used within a certain time after opening.
IMPORTANT: Please don’t flush old medicines or toss them where kids, pets or anyone else could get to them. Follow the disposal directions on the package or take them to a pharmacy or medicine take-back location (easy to find online, usually). And if you’re unsure about a specific product, ask your pharmacist or try to look it up.
The timing of my cleanout couldn’t be better because MaryRuth’s is having a HUGE sale August 17–24!
Make sure to put it on your calendar now, then you can use the next couple of days to check what you have and make a list of what your family actually needs.
During the sale, eligible MaryRuth’s products will be up to 25% off on Amazon, then my extra 20% off stacks on top for up to 40% off the original price!
If you need something before then or miss the sale, my special link gives you 30% off on the MaryRuth’s website anytime. [See below]
Here are some fab products in their line that are worth checking out while there’s a sale, too:
Liquid Morning Multivitamin
Kids Multivitamin Gummies (Their regular kids’ gummies are now labeled for ages 4+ with separate toddler products available for ages 2–3)
Organic Kids Probiotic Gummies
Liquid Nighttime Multimineral
Daily Hair Formula Gummies
Make your list now so when the sale starts, you can stock up on what you’ll truly use instead of buying more bottles that’ll get pushed to the back of a cabinet till moving day! 🙌
DISCOUNT CODE: MROFORSADIE
Comments