Does anyone else feel like diabetes supplies are engulfing your house?!! I love to organize and would love to see pics of the way your organize your supplies!!! 
Also wondering how many extra supplies you have on hand? I try to keep a lot of extras in case I would lose insurance for some reason.
Animas Insets: 28 boxes
Animas Cartridges: 24 Boxes
Dexcom Sensors: 9 boxes
Test Strips: 5 boxes of 100
Dexcom Transmitters: 2
Humalog Insulin vials: 24 vials
Humalog Pens: 10
Humalog Pen Needles: 3 boxes
Alcohol Wipes: 3 boxes
Adhesive remover wipes: 3 boxes
Opsite Flexifix Tape: 3 rolls
Skin Prep Wipes: 3 boxes
I call the stuff in my supply cabinet, 'Diacrap'. Oh and yes It has its own zip code.
BHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Oh my gosh! That is too funny! I love that it has its own zip code....lol....probably has its own country code too eh?!!! :-)
I also have a lot of diacrap.
I already claimed a corner of the kitchen (counter space plus the space on top) as a place to store my most important crap:
-All my test strips (If at the beginning of a three month supply, about 9-10 boxes)
-Backup ReliOn meter and test strips (I am tempted to keep this meter in my purse/backpack and use it to test drinks). I have one meter and maybe 150 test strips
-Insulin pen needles (even though I am on a pump -I probably have about 50-100 pen needles)
-Diabetes books/insulin pump user guide/folder with my bloodwork orders and notes from the previous endo visit
-Current box of insets and pump cartridges
-Low-carb snacks for when my blood sugar is too high for me to eat a lot of carbs (Atkins bars, Level shakes and bars, nuts, etc.)
-Lancets (This pretty takes up all the cabinet space... even though I only change my lancet once in a blue moon. I probably have at least 36 100-count boxes)
-Ketone strips
-Current box of alcohol swabs
-Roll of clear bandage tape (which reminds me that I need to go to the store soon and get some more)
-Enough hypoglycemia treatment to send my non-diabetic sister into a sugar coma if she ate all of it. This includes glucose tablets, glucose gel, candy canes, candy corn, skittles, sour patch kids packets, cake frosting, and my prized possession (a Mickey Mouse jelly bean dispenser that dispenses about 4g of hypo treatment plus a two-pound bag of jelly beans)
Then there is my closet and bedroom, which stores more crap than the corner of the kitchen:
-MORE LANCETS!!!
-More hypo treatment (skittles, candy corn, fruit snacks -all stuff I got on sale after Halloween)
-Boxes of infusion sets and pump cartridges (I have two moving boxes full plus 7-8 of each under my bed)
-More ketone strips
I'm hoping that I can organize both diacrap areas some time this week, though I'm still trying to figure out where I am going to put all my lancets and infusion set boxes.
I've only been pumping for about 7 months, so my reserves have not built up much. Here's a pic of one of the drawers I use.
Quick-Set Infusion Sets: 5 boxes
Reservoirs: 6 Boxes
Enlite Sensors: 4 boxes
Test Strips: 23 boxes of 100
Humalog Insulin vials: 18 vials
Humalog Pens: 35
Humalog Pen Needles: 5 boxes
Alcohol Wipes: 2 boxes
Adhesive remover wipes: 2 boxes
Skin Prep Wipes: 7 boxes
Lancets: Too many to count
Various Rx refills: 3-6 months
Diabetic hoarding! I'm guilty of this too, I easily meet my insurance max co-pay each year anyway, so excess supplies don't cost me anything, and it's nice to have the buffer at times.
Just started a pump recently and had a lot of Lantus stockpiled in the fridge, so I got a disposable cooler from the pharmacy and shipped it off to Insulin for Life, which can redistribute it to needy areas outside the US. Also sent a big box of pen needles. Much better than them going to waste and for legal, ethical, and consequential reasons I wasn't interested in trying to sell any of this stuff on the D black/grey market.
I have tons of diacrap too... lol. much worse organized than you- I will try to post some pics eventually. I have way too many lancets too!!!! I have glucose tabs and little bottles of lancets/needles etc. all over the place on tables too as well as extra lancing devices and test strips so I just keep whatever is in my purse and don't have to worry about only having one set to carry with me everywhere and then forgetting it because I have a tendency to forget things, even my insulin pens sometimes. The good thing about the pump is I can't forget that, hopefully.
Wow, you have a lot of stuff! I've managed to contain mine in one shelf of my linen closet. I usually only have 4-5 months' worth on hand at any given time. Pump reservoir boxes next to infusion sets, with test strips stored behind that. Then my IV prep and alcohol swabs left of that area in front. I finally got rid of the boxes and manuals for my pump, simply because I literally never refer to them anymore and I can find information online if I need it. Insulin in the fridge, of course, and another little basket of stuff like lancets (because I maybe go through 6 a year LOL).
I've been the same about lancets historically, but I've realized that fresher lancets lead to less discomfort/scarring, so I'm trying to be better about changing them out once a week. Really, I should do once a day, because why not.
LOL!!! I'm curious what state in the U.S we could all fill up with our supplies of lancets alone! I too have more than I will ever use in a lifetime because I don't change them....like ever.....lol!!
Yes, I admit that I am a Diabetic supply hoarder. I didn't use to be until I got laid off from my job and had no insurance. It was a very scary time and I had to jump through so many hoops just to finally get insulin. So now, I have a two year supply of everything!!!! Never again am I doing through that!!! It was insane.
I like the chest drawer idea! Hadn't thought of that one!
Ha!!!!! I know....I have way more lancets than I could ever use. I find it amusing that we all have waaaaay too many lancets and like never change them. Please don't tell my Endo! LOL!
p>I'm glad you do have a back-up supply. I never realized how important having extra supplies was until I got laid off from my job in 2011. I went a year without insurance coverage and it was horrendous trying to get the things I needed to just simply stay alive. It was very scary and once I got through that, I swore I would never be caught "with my pants down" again!!!
Using two now…most diacrap goes in center, top one is for overflow and Rx and wound care/first aid. Looks like wifey is going to have to give up the bottom one soon.
You're so right to do this, I'm worried about disasters, losing insurance and so on too. It never hurts to have tons of back up. What is the box that says site change for?
I know Niccolo! I really need to change them more. I just always seem to forget, but I agree! It hurts sooooo much less when we change these out more frequently!
Great question!!! :-) So the box that is labeled "Site Change" is for exactly that....when I need to do an insulin pump or Dexcom site change I just grab this little basket from my closet and head to the bathroom. The basket contains the following supplies:
1 Dexcom Sensor
5-10 Animas Insets
4-5 Animas Insulin Cartridges
1 Bottle of Skin Tac Liquid (for Dexcom site)
Half a box of Smith and Nephew Skin Prep wipes (for pump sites)
Half a box of Alcohol wipes (for wiping top of insulin vial)
1 box of adhesive remover wipes (for getting the Dexcom glue off my arm)
1 Vial of insulin that is clearly marked with the open date on the box.
Every couple weeks, I just restock the little basket....everyhing I need is right there when I do a site change so that makes it much easier....for me anyway.
Wow, I think of myself as organized but my system seems much simpler than many of yours. Maybe because I only use a pump.
I have a shelf in a closet for spare boxes of infusion sets and cartridges, in nothing like the amounts you are talking about and showing. I get 5 of each every 90 days and when I get down to the last box I re-order. Where do you all get so much backlog? I do use much less than I am ordering (change every 4 days not 2) but simply order at longer intervals than 90 days. In the same closet is a bag of test strip boxes from the 9 boxes I order every 90 days.
In a different closet where I also keep my tray of med vials, I have the one box I am currently using of cartridges and infusion sets and a box of alcohol wipes I replenish when low.As well as one box of test strips. End of story. Oh lancets are somewhere in the first closet. I use multiclix and change very infrequently so I've been working on one book I think since I was diagnosed 7 1/2 years ago! And I have one bag of 10 syringes for backup. I have my 4 vials of insulin I get every 90 days in the fridge. When I'm ready to change a set I grab one cartridge, one infusion set and one alcohol wipe from the "current" close and I'm good to go. Now end of story.
And really the "current closet" and "backup supply closet" is because I like making things complicated sometimes.