# The best way to keep track of medicines at home: notebook, spreadsheet, alarm or an app?

Almost every home tracks its medicines somehow: a note on the fridge, a phone alarm, or just memory. All of these work for a while. The question is which one still works when there are six boxes, three people and one of them has expired.

## Four ways to do it, and what each is good for

1. A paper list or a notes app: free and instant, nothing to learn. Good for a home with two or three medicines. It will not warn you about expiry dates, and it is easy to forget to update.
2. A spreadsheet: good if you like building your own system and sorting columns. Every box has to be typed in by hand, and nothing reminds you when something expires.
3. A phone alarm or a general reminder app: good for one job, remembering to take a dose. It does not know what is in your cabinet, so it cannot tell you what is about to expire or what you already have.
4. A medicine cabinet app: good when several medicines and several people are involved. The whole cabinet is in one place, with expiry dates, reminders and who each medicine is for. The trade-off: you add each medicine once.

## In short

A notebook is a perfectly good start for two or three medicines. Once several people share the cabinet, or there are more boxes than you can remember, an app that warns you about [expiry dates](https://pharmacycabinet.app/help/guides/track-medicine-expiry-dates/) and lets the family see the same list saves time. Dates matter: according to the [US FDA](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/pharmaceutical-quality-resources/expiration-dates-questions-and-answers), a tablet can look fine after its date and still contain less of the medicine than it should.

## Where Pharmacy Cabinet fits

- [Scan the barcode](https://pharmacycabinet.app/help/guides/scan-barcode-or-photograph-medicine/), capture the box with your camera, or upload a photo from your gallery, and the details fill in for you.
- Expiry alerts show what is expired or about to expire as soon as you open the app.
- Invite family into one cabinet, so everyone sees the same up-to-date list.
- Add the room, cabinet or shelf, so you always know where a medicine is.
- Works in your browser and as an Android app, in English, Spanish, French, German, Norwegian and Arabic. You can start free.

> Pharmacy Cabinet helps you keep information organized. It is not medical advice: always follow your pharmacist's or doctor's instructions.

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Source: https://pharmacycabinet.app/help/guides/best-way-to-track-medicines-at-home/ · Pharmacy Cabinet (https://pharmacycabinet.app/)