[shelleyterrell]

My husband and i are really close to our homestudy and were wondering what some of you found to lock your medications and chemicals in.
Where do you keep them now that they are locked away?
Also we were told some caseworkers don't even like shampoo and soap to be left in the shower - where do you keep these? And we were told no cabinet behind the toilet, and no shampoos, soaps, toothpaste etc. in the medicine cabinet b/c child could climb to get these items.
Just looking for some ideas as to what all of you did and where you found your lock boxes.
Thank you.

[greenrobin]

We have child safety latches on all cabinet doors. All cleaners are kept in a high cabinet that I have to stand on a chair to reach. We have meds stored in an old lock box with a padlock. It's in a child safety locked cabinet. All of the items that won't fit into regular cabinets have been removed to the pantry in our garage. The garage is not an exit for us, so we padlock that door. The key is kept on a shelf in a cup near the door. Soap and shampoo are in the usual places--a hanging rack thingy in the shower. Laundry soap is kept high up.

We haven't had any issues with this stuff from our cw or the fire marshall--and he was TOUGH! I talked to the licensing agency rep from the state that inspects the homes to make sure we're in compliance. She said we were. It's a scary thought, what if we weren't, you know?

[AKMama]

Our licensing lady wasn't that strict. Meds are in a cabnet with child safety latch and cleaning supplies are under the kitchen sink, again with a child safety latch (the magnetic kind that doesn't budge unless you have the knob to unlock it from the outside). Shampoo and stuff are in the shower and laundry saop is on a shelf above the washer.

[ms_mckenna]

For the meds we are using a money lockbox that is fairly large and have it in the closet in our master bedroom which also locks. Our chemicals are up above our dryer and washer so we do not have to have a lock on them.

[tenderlovingtreasure]

we placed latches on our cabinet doors for the meds and cleaners. they are secured with small padlocks when kids are here.

[DoYaReallyThink]

If meds are kept in the master bathroom cabinet (med cabinet) is that still an issue?

Also, what do people do about guns? Would it be permissable to have the safety latches on each gun and have them in a locked gun cabinet in the master bedroom? Would it be better if we had a locked bedroom door period?

[TxMom65]

We have our chemicals in a cabinet that is high and has a child safety latch. Our meds are in a tackle box that had a place for a lock so I put one on there.
OUr guns have individual trigger locks AND are in a gun safe that is locked.

[Chancey]

We are required to keep topical and oral medicines in separate locked boxes (the latches on cabinets are NOT ok unless it is the magnetic kind), so for the oral medicines I Googled "medicine lock boxes" and found a company online that makes them specifically for that - we got one that has a combination lock, so that we don't have to worry about losing the key. That was kinda pricey, but worth it. We mounted it on the wall in our pantry. The topical medicines, we just went to the local sporting goods store and bought a small tackle box with a lock place on it and bought a small combo lock for that. Additionally, we bought a second tackle box to keep our own medicines (vs. the children's) and put that in our closet (we didn't want to have to worry about our own medicines in with the kids, and we didn't have to worry about having both topical and oral in the same area).

For the guns we are required to have a gun safe, which we already had. Additionally, the ammunition had to be in a separate locked container.

Our CW did comment to me one time when walking through that we did have to put the shampoo/conditioner/soap up high so a toddler couldn't get into it. We have a towel bar in the shower/tub area that we just lean it on. She also said that one of the organizer things that hang from the shower head is fine too. As for the cleaners, they have to be way up high. We have them in the laundry room on a shelf that I have to use a chair for.

[Sam-N-Tony]

The cw or health inspector was pretty easy going, but I still had all cleaners and alcohol (we have a large collection of liquor bottles, kinda looks like we are alcoholics that don't drink, LOL, we had them all displayed on top of our kitchen cabinets but have had to put them all away) we locked it in our laundry room, which is accessed from outside, and all meds we actually locked in a file cabinet in our closet.

The child locks on the cabinets were not okay for us to be licensed, they physically wanted to see where everything was and how much you would have to go through just to get into it, but we did still have child safety locks on all the cabinets.

[makarios79]

Originally Posted by shelleyterrell

My husband and i are really close to our homestudy and were wondering what some of you found to lock your medications and chemicals in.
Where do you keep them now that they are locked away?
Also we were told some caseworkers don't even like shampoo and soap to be left in the shower - where do you keep these? And we were told no cabinet behind the toilet, and no shampoos, soaps, toothpaste etc. in the medicine cabinet b/c child could climb to get these items.
Just looking for some ideas as to what all of you did and where you found your lock boxes.
Thank you.

I use the foot locker that I bought in college. It has a key lock on it. That was sufficient enough for the licensing workers here in my county.

[stevenstwin]

I just bought a $20 lockable tool box for medications and put them in my bedroom closet high up. Our requirements said nothing about shampoos and toothpaste, though. Other items on my checklist included covering electrical outlets and putting my knives up high. By the way, once my homestudy passed I'll confess that nearly everything came back down from the high shelves and we dispensed with outlet covers. My fs - my only one since it is kinship - was 14 at the time and considerably taller than me. It struck me hilarious that I had to put my knives on a top shelf...and then ask HIM to get them down for me when I needed them!

[vegaschristina]

I just got a $12 document lock box from Wally World for our meds. Our cleaners are all behind child cabinet locks. As for the guns we own, we have them disasembled and above our kitchen cabinets. We don't have any ammo for them. For now, it's working for us, but as the kids get older, we'll have to change some of our methods.

[Boulderbabe]

Originally Posted by stevenstwin

I just bought a $20 lockable tool box for medications and put them in my bedroom closet high up. Our requirements said nothing about shampoos and toothpaste, though. Other items on my checklist included covering electrical outlets and putting my knives up high. By the way, once my homestudy passed I'll confess that nearly everything came back down from the high shelves and we dispensed with outlet covers. My fs - my only one since it is kinship - was 14 at the time and considerably taller than me. It struck me hilarious that I had to put my knives on a top shelf...and then ask HIM to get them down for me when I needed them!

Okay, so the outlet covers are a little crazy for a teenager! I think you'll agree, though, that if you have teens in the house, especially ones you don't know well, it's best to lock up all meds.

"Pharming" is HUGE on the college campus where I work. Kids use and sell prescription meds that they take from their parents. It's the third largest source of drugs of abuse, after pot and alcohol.

[TigerLily]

We just had our second homestudy interview and home inspection on tuesday. We have all our med in a kitchen cabnet. I asked at CORE if having child proof latches was good enough and they said not in this area, it had to be locked. So I had DH put a lock on the cabnet with the meds in it. Our home inspector was happy with it.

For the master bath were we have asprin etc we just have a tool box with a small pad lock.

[HappyMommy106]

I live in an old house, and the bathroom has a small narrow linen closet. I took a drill and a little hinge ($1.25 at hardware store) and attached the little hinge to where the door opens. Then I put a $2 little lock on it.

This is easy to do, but you might not want to do it to new cabinets