After looking for bandages in 3 different places in the house, I decided that now was the time to put together a first aid/medical kit for the entire family. So I dumped all the assorted stuff I found from the linen closet and the medicine cabinet into a box and started sorting things out.

  It was such a relief to find that I had plenty of gauze, analgesic cream and assorted pain relievers. I remembered that many medications have expiration dates, so I tossed out any that had expired.  After gathering everything on my checklist, I contact my local Red Cross chapter and signed up for first aid and CPR classes.  I checked with my doctor and found out which items are OK to give to my kids and which items are fine to take with prescriptions that my husband takes.  I made a special note of this information and placed it in my first aid/medical kit.