Health

Pill Box Organizer

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Deep compartments hold more medication

I take about 15 nutritional supplement large-ish capsules per day. They won’t all fit into the standard-size, one-week, multi-pill pillbox. They won’t even fit into two such pillboxes. So I ordered a large-size, 14-section “pill box organizer by Borin Halbich.”

It consists of a tray that is 1-inch high by 8-inches long. The tray contains seven independent pillboxes that are 1-inch high (when set down on a surface) by about 2¼″ square. Each is labeled with a day of the week and divided into two sections, labeled AM and PM, each with an independent swing-open, transparent lid. (Each section is about 1″ × 1″ × 2″.) I use the PM sections for the second week.

To fill it, I remove the pillboxes from the tray, line them up, and open all 14 lids. I squeeze each pair of lids together and wiggle them free, lifting one end and then the other. (This is helpful because the lids rest open at only a 45° angle.) Then I take a pill bottle and empty at least 14 pills into the tray. I pluck out two pills, one in each hand, and drop them into each pillbox in turn, until all seven are done. Then I pour the pills that remain in the lid back back into their bottle, using a either a corner as my “spout” (a bit risky), or a wide-spout funnel. When all is done, I replace the lids.

Later, after each day’s use, I return the pillbox I used to the tray. Then I pull the next day’s pillbox partially out of the tray, letting its bottom rest on one edge of the tray (so it’s at a slant), making it easier to locate tomorrow. Here are the gadget’s advantages:

  • The large sections make it easy to deposit pills “on target.”
  • Those easier targets make it easy to reliably deposit two pills in one pass, which increases my refill speed.
  • Using the lid as a pourer makes it easy to return extras to their bottles.
  • Having 14 sections means I need only execute the refill process every two weeks, not every week.
  • The large sections are comparatively easy to pluck pills from. (Although it’s even easier to extract pills from a short, wide container (like a soft-boiled egg cup) into which a section’s pills have been poured, which is what I do.)
  • “If traveling, you can take only the days you need to conserve packing space.” (Reviewer’s comment.)

It’s rated 4.3 stars on 432 Amazon reviews. It costs $13.

Amazon also sells a version that has the same overall dimensions, but with four sections per pillbox; it’s rated 4.5 stars. If you use only six to eight pills per day, or more if they are small, this would allow you to go four weeks between refills. It’s $14.

-- Roger Knights 03/23/16

(My wife and I have been using these pill box organizers for over 5 years. The living hinges are still in good shape, which I find surprising. (Mark) — editors)

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