Where to keep medicines at home: not the bathroom, not the glove box

Heat, air, light and moisture all damage medicines, according to MedlinePlus, the consumer health guide of the US National Library of Medicine. A pill kept in the wrong place can lose strength or spoil before the expiry date printed on the box. Here is what the guide tells you to do.

Where they should go

• Somewhere cool and dry: a dresser drawer, a kitchen cabinet away from the stove, sink and hot appliances, a storage box or a shelf.
• Out of children’s reach and sight, ideally in a cabinet with a child latch or lock.

Where they should not

• The bathroom cabinet. Steam from the shower and sink weakens or spoils medicines before they expire.
• The glove compartment. It can get too hot, too cold or too damp.

The container

• Keep every medicine in its original container.
• Take the cotton ball out of a pill bottle. It draws moisture in.

When to throw it out

• Once it is past its expiry date.
• If it has changed colour, texture or smell, even before that date.
• If pills stick together, turn unusually hard or soft, or are cracked or chipped.
• Do not flush it. Ask your pharmacist how to get rid of it.

When you travel

• Medicines go in your carry-on, not checked luggage.
• Keep them in their original bottles, with a copy of your prescriptions in case they are lost or run out.

Some medicines carry their own storage instructions on the leaflet. Ask the pharmacist when you pick them up.

Photo: Blister strips of tablets on a dark background, with batch numbers blurred. By Tarasna0922, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, edited by Kuwait One.

Source: MedlinePlus, US National Library of Medicine: Storing your medicines (last reviewed 14 January 2026).