Reusing medicine dosing syringes from Target prescription bottles

Parenthackers have sung the praises of the Target's prescription medicine bottles before -- and Kim takes it a step further:

Liquid medicines from the Target pharmacy come with a dosing syringe and have a neat little stopper in the bottle. You insert the syringe, draw out the medicine and put the cap back on - no mess. When the medicine is gone, we keep the syringe and (after washing it) put the stopper in a different bottle of medicine, like Motrin or Sudafed. The stoppers fit most of these bottles, and make them all spill-proof and easier to dispense.

(Sometimes my husband is a genius!)

Related: Target's prescription bottles simplify measuring and dispensing medicine

Comments

[Mandi]

you can also ask the pharmacist for a stopper and syringe when you buy OTC meds and they'll give you one. Although I have reused mine many times too :o)

[Lisa]

Genius! We've tried to reuse the syringes, but they don't fit in the OTC bottles right - I never even thought of reusing the stoppers. I can't wait to try this.

[Melanie]

I do something similar with the dispenser plugs that come with the bottles of more expensive salad dressing. They also fit into the store brand bottles (at least, ours do), and that makes it so easy to get just a bit of dressing on your salad instead of gobs and gobs.

[Jill in Atlanta]

Melanie: If that works, you've just improved our dinner hour considerably! (not that the medicine hack was bad, but I need salad dressing much more often!)

[Liz]

Kaiser Permanente uses the same system- just brilliant. We've found all sorts of uses for the syringes.

[harmzie]

Remember that some medicines are thicker than others and if they come with their own cup (or dropper), they are calibrated to account for the stuff left on the sides. Using a different measuring utensil can alter the amount delivered to the patient. For the smaller bodies, that's more significant.
That said, it sounds like a cool little device! We don't have Target here, so I'll have to remember to pop in and ask for one on my next visit. As my kids get older, fewer and fewer of the OTC medicines seem to come with dosers (grr)

[Katie A.]

I love the salad dressing hack. I just switched a pour thing out of an empty dressing bottle to a full one without a thingy. Don't know why I never thought of that before. You have my undying thanks.

[Sarah]

More and more pharmacies are coming out with this, not just Target. My last few prescriptions at CVS have come with it, and I love it. SO much easier!

[amy]

We reuse those little syringes as bath toys. They are a sure fire way to get my 4 year old into the bath without a wrestling match.

[geomom]

harmzie--the Target syringe & stopper work with liquids of most viscosities (not like "eye dropper" syringes). And my Target pharmacist will give me stoppers and syringes for OTC liquid meds (motrin, tylenol, claritin, etc) so I just ask when I need one!

[Southern Mom]

I've been doing this for years, too! (in fact, just did it last Friday!) I just love those stoppers and syringes, but I can't always get my children's meds at target. Reusing their old parts has helped me in tremendous ways!

[Erika]

Who knew I'd been "hacking" all along? I figured this out soon after Target introduced this ingenious way to dispense liquid meds. Glad to hear more drugstores are catching on!

[Amy Frank]

Not that you need any more reasons to keep these around but....they are great for art projects (drop paint) and other uses like kids cooking, mixing, etc.

[RookieMom Heather]

This reminds me of the silliest hack that I forgot to submit! The other day, I was making dinner one-handed while resting Milo (now 13 months) on my hip. I microwaved some frozen peas with a little water and then drained away the water using a tiny motrin syringe. Funny and hackworthy? You be the judge!

[Lily]

I’ve seen ads on TV for Caduet. It has two ingredients. One is Amlodipine and the other is Atorvastatin. With my RxDrugCard I can get 30 tablets of Amlodipine for $9 and 30 tablets of Simvastatin for $9. I’ll bet they are charging more than $18 for this new drug! Don’t pressure your doctor into giving you something just because it’s new. Do your homework. Find a drug card like I did at www.rxdrugcard.com. I think that RxDrugCard.com is the best drug card available for prescription discounts.