Color-coding ends tedious task of sorting pills

Dear Heloise: After my 90-year-old mother fell and broke her hip, she suddenly went from just two medications a day to 16 spread out over several times daily. Those seven-day, four-time-slot boxes were handy, but they took a long time to fill correctly.
My sister typed out a spreadsheet, color-coded to the colors on the compartment lids, with the medication name and dosage. She then took colored smiley-face stickers matching the color code on the spreadsheet and the compartment covers and placed them on the medicine-bottle lids. If mom takes the medication twice a day, she cut the stickers in half so both colors showed on the lid. Now, instead of constantly checking the bottle to find the correct one, I simply sort the bottles by their colored stickers and use the spreadsheet to verify the correct dosage. I can fill mom's medicine box in only a few minutes with very little problem now, where before it was very time-consuming and stressful for me because I was constantly checking the labels since all the bottles look alike. When her prescription has to be refilled, I simply take the old cap off with the sticker and put it on the new bottle.
My niece who is a pharmacist was really impressed and took this hint back to California for her clients, but I thought there might be more people interested, also. Kyle Gregory, Monroe, La.
Kyle, taking multiple medications can be daunting for most people. It was nice talking with you about this very helpful hint. Hopefully other caretakers will find this helpful, too. Heloise
Dear Heloise: When my kids were in elementary school, I always made their lunches. Not wanting to pack anything extra or give them items that had to be brought home, I started freezing juice boxes. These kept their sandwiches cold, and by the time lunch came, the juice was almost melted. No heavy ice to carry or containers to bring home!
I also used this trick for traveling -- works well for the first leg of the trip. N.P., via e-mail
Dear Heloise: I live in an upstairs complex with an on-site clothes-washing area. It is located downstairs, a small walk away from my apartment. So, to save trips going back and forth unnecessarily, I have a timer on my microwave and set it for the time of the washer, then go load the clothes in the dryer and use the timer again. Veronica, McFarland, Calif.
Dear Heloise: I fold my husband's jeans and put them on a shelf. I recently labeled the areas with "good," "fair" and "poor." This way, he doesn't have to go through all of the jeans to find the ones that he wants to wear.
I also label sheets and blankets with their size on masking tape so I don't have to check each item. Christine Vaught, Salem, Ore.
Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.
King Features Syndicate