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We all get sick. It's just a fact of life. Our noses run. We sneeze nosily, mightily and often. Our tonsils look like plump Vienna sausages. Our tongues become coated with a layer of thick, gray yuck. Frogs crowd our throats. We are collectively miserable. But even in our darkest and most desperate sick days, we should aim to live in harmony with the planet. Here's how.
- Buy Aspirin in Bulk.
Instead of buying wasteful blister packs or tiny bottles of aspirin, buy as much as you can at once. This will save on packaging. Carry around a few spare aspirin in a mint box or an old pill bottle. Aspirin can go bad, but military testing has concluded that aspirin, in some cases, can maintain potency for over four years. You might even make it last longer by storing it in the fridge. The best way to tell if aspirin has gone bad is to smell it. If it smells like vinegar, then buy new aspirin. And always consult a doctor for medical advice, not this blog. - Use Cloth Handkerchiefs.
Blowing your nose is important. You don't want that germy mucus hanging around your noggin. Get rid of it. Do this responsibly by using cloth handkerchiefs instead of paper facial tissues. If you don't have enough cloth handkerchiefs to deal with your runny nose, then use only tissues made from recycled paper. - Reuse Your Pill Bottles.
My grandfather often used pill bottles as a way to get hooks off snags while fishing. The pull of the buoyant bottle could often aid in his quest to loosen his stuck hook. If cleaned and sterilized, generic aspirin and cold medication can be stored in old prescription pill bottles. You can also store small things like buttons or pennies in pill bottles. - Look at the Packaging Before You Buy.
Some of these cold medications have too many layers of packaging. Fifty pills may come in a cardboard box. Each pill will come in its own blister. Try to find a brand with smarter packaging than that. Also, many nighttime cold medications have those little plastic cups that come with the plastic jar full of medicine. You don't need a plastic, disposable, one-use cup. You can use a measuring cup from your cupboard to determine the correct dose or a tablespoon—the bottle will have dosage information for you. - Throw Your Medicine Away Properly.
The FDA recommends that you throw away old over-the-counter medications with coffee grounds and kitty litter. This makes the drugs less appealing to kids and pets. Never flush the medicine. It can end up in our water supply. Some medicines will have specific instructions for disposal. Those instructions override all instructions found here.
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