How to remember to take your medicine every day

A daily dose is easy to lose in a busy day. A few small habits, set up once, make it much harder to forget.

By The Dose Log team · Reviewed 5 November 2026

The simplest way to remember a daily medicine is to tie it to something you already do every day, such as a meal or going to bed, and to have something that reminds you: a pill box, a chart or an alarm.¹ Then keep a list of what you take, so you and anyone helping you know what each dose is.¹

None of this changes what you take or when. That's for your doctor or pharmacist, and the leaflet that comes with each medicine.

Tie it to something you already do

A medicine on its own is easy to forget. A medicine you take with breakfast, or when you brush your teeth at night, rides along with a habit you already have. The National Institute on Aging suggests exactly this: some people use meals or bedtime as their reminder.¹

• Pick one daily moment for each dose, and keep it the same every day.
• Keep the medicine where that moment happens, if it's safe to: by the kettle, or beside your toothbrush. Keep it out of reach of children.
• If a medicine has to be taken with food, or away from it, the label or your pharmacist will say. Fit the habit around that, not the other way round.

Make it visible

Something you can see is harder to ignore than something you have to remember. Charts, calendars and weekly pill boxes all work this way.¹

• A weekly pill box with a compartment for each day, or for each time of day, shows at a glance whether today's dose is still there. Fill it once a week, at the same time.
• A chart or calendar you tick each time is a record too: if you can't remember whether you took it, the tick tells you. Print our free medicine chart for a week at a glance.

Set a reminder that asks again

Timers, alarms and written notes all help, and so do medication reminder apps on your phone.¹ What matters is that the reminder comes at the right moment and is easy to act on.

• Set it for the moment you take it, not earlier, so you don't put it off.
• Choose one that asks again if you don't answer, so a reminder you swipe away while busy comes back.
• Mark the dose as taken when you take it. A reminder that only rings can't tell you later whether you took it.

Keep a list of everything you take

Write down every medicine you take, including vitamins, supplements and anything bought without a prescription, with the amount and the time you take it.¹ Keep one copy at home and one in your wallet or purse.¹

Our free medicine list fills in and prints on one page, and the wallet medicine card folds to fit a card slot.

When you look after someone else's medicines

The same habits work for a parent or a child: one daily moment, one place, one pill box, one record that everyone who helps can see. If you share the job with someone, tick the chart or log the dose as soon as it's given, so nobody gives it twice.

If you've forgotten one

Don't guess. What to do depends on the medicine, so check the leaflet that came with it or ask your pharmacist, who can answer many questions about prescription and over-the-counter medicines.¹ If forgetting happens often, tell your doctor or pharmacist: there may be a simpler way to take it.

This page helps you keep track; it isn't medical advice. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about your own medicines.