How much did your last period cost?

[MrsCipo]

Out of interest, what did your last period cost you in monetary terms? Including san pro, pain killers, time off work, ruined clothes and anything else you had to pay for? I had a conversation about period poverty the other day, but those involved have reusable san pro, not particularly heavy periods, etc, so didn't really 'get it'. I thought a cross section sample from a lot more women would be a bit more representative. Also wondering what other costs, in addition to those above, have been missed out

I use a moo cup I've had for over 10 years (should really change it) I have a bulk pot of painkillers from the US so don't usually buy them but I bought a 24p pack when out this time. Usually take painkillers on day 1.

So 24p usually nothing. Moon cups are fab!!

Fully support tampons/pads being free though and sanitary products are so needed in food banks!

£0
Mooncup, reusable pads as back up (obviously these arent free but Ive had them all for years)
I don't work, get pain meds on repeat prescription in Scotland, no extra washing as pads are so small and I only needed to wash 2 so just went in ordinary load.

£5 in San pro although didn't use them all. 25p in pain killers and lost a pair of pants at £1.50 I reckon

A couple of pounds at most for sanitary protection.

It's money I don't notice because it's just general supermarket shopping. I'm not having to chose between it or a packet of biscuits for the children.

I have a moon cup so probably just under £1 for painkillers.

Couple of pound at most. I use sanitary towels and normally use a couple of packs. I have relatively light periods so don’t need to replace sheets/underwear/clothes. Not too painful, couple of paracetamol will do on day 1/2, and don’t need time off work.

About £2 not much at all. Never take painkillers and have never taken time off work for it. Two packs of towels at £1 each, lasts me for the 4 days I have a period for. Obviously my periods aren’t a big issue compared to what some people have.

Nothing. Had leftover pads from last month and loads of tampons. Found some painkillers in DP's work bag for a headache I had that could have been period related.

£1.20/50 in san pro, painkillers already in the house but gained free from hospital visit (if not 4-6 per period on prescription purchased maybe once a year)
I suffer from endo so my periods are on the heavier side.

About £1.50

A couple of pounds each for pads and ibuprofen. £4 is nothing to me, but its a lot of money if you don't have it.

79p for 10 pads from Home Bargains.

No more than £2.

I’m not sure I could say. I wear modibodi. Not cheap to start with but I now don’t need anything else.

4/5ish. I have a mooncup which I can’t use atm due to it setting off my chronic utis as do tampons and a big bottle of ibuprofen from the states.

So 3 packs of san pro and 2 packs of paracetamol to top up my 8-10 day long periods. The paracetamol will last for a few months though as I mostly use ibuprofen.

Probably about £7/8 once a fortnight - used to have 7-day heavy bleeds with a 14 day cycle. Had to double up on tampons and sanitary towels. Many ruined knickers and loads of loo paper consumed.

(Happily all of above now solved with Mirena coil - which costs the NHS £80 every 5 years)

Heavy periods here - so (tsunami-flow) pads come to about £15. (I like the ones I use as I can trust them 100%, so I will not change to cheaper - I know there are cheaper)

"period pants" - bought 5 pairs of black so stains won't show some time ago, so no current cost there, but initial cost about a tenner..

Use twice as much loo roll, so another couple of quid. Shower twice a day instead of once, don't know the cost of that.

No ruined clothes, no time off, no pain killers - thankfully!

So £15-£20 quid ish per period.

Don’t know the cost

Box of 12 super plus tampax per day for 3 days. Box of 12 regular for the next 2 days

Pack of 10 super plus night pads.

Probably a lot of lost productivity as I have severely low iron levels.

Dd probably spends about a fiver. She does use disposable pads but organic cotton ones as she doesn’t react to them.

I use a moon cup so only 18p ish for pain killers plus a few pence for extra knickers in the wash and extra loo roll.

Last month, £1.08 - I used almost two packs of supermarket brand heavy flow nighttime pads.

This month £3 total - £2.70 in pads as it's been very heavy for over a week now, lots of clots and flooding and I've got through 5(!) packs. 30p for a pack of paracetamol.

When I was a teenager, even when we had hardly any food in the house and my parents had pawned my laptop for their drug money, I still always had sanpro. If you can't afford, let's be generous, less than £5 a month (but more likely £2-£3) per woman for sanpro, your problem isn't period poverty, it's poverty full stop. You probably also can't put the heating on, buy food or pay for prescriptions either. Free or cheaper sanitary towels won't rescue you from that.

When my high school introduced free sanpro you can bet your life I was told to use it. Anything to save my parents money. My use would have been proof of need in terms of stats but it was more that I used them because I could. But I wasn't forced to bleed onto toilet roll in my knickers without it. Teenage girls who are in that position are not only living in severe poverty but are also being Neglected. Yes with a capital 'n'.

Losing the VAT on sanitary products would save me just under 3p per pack of pads. If you're so poor you already can't afford the pads, it's not going to make much difference.

I use a mooncup, so £0 but if I'm being particular I suppose that's £1.50/period at this point, given its original cost.

Less than a couple of quid. I buy unbranded towels/tampons and unbranded ibuprofen. I genuinely don't understand the huge figures that some people bandy around for period products, I use standard stuff from the supermarket and have pretty average periods, and its never been anything more than a pretty negligible cost for me.

My periods only last a day or two, and that'll be one heavy day, and one lighter day, so it's pretty low cost for me, a few pads (hate tampons) and no pain relief (sometimes have a couple of paracetamol if its bad) so under £1.

Nothing. Use a moon cup (organicup) which is fine with heavy periods as long as you empty it often enough.