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

around £3/4 I use asda own brand tampons and I buy own brand sanitary towels or whatever's on offer for dd, I always have paracetamol in the house anyway (25p) neither me or dd have unusually heavy periods though, about average. Only had to replace some of dds underwear when she first started her period a year ago.

I use a pack of Tesco tampons which are about 80p.. no need to buy branded .

Nothing. My periods where so awful I started Depo Provera as a teenager and have stayed on it. I would never want to experiance a period again.

£2.50 for a pack of tampons

I've just had a hysterectomy so haven't had one for a while but to show the other extreme.

£28 in pull up pants (the incontinence ones)
£5 in pads to go in them.
Nothing in painkillers as have a pre pay card.
Week off work in hospital - although that's paid it cost my company obviously - about £700.

😬

no need to buy branded

For you, perhaps. Not every woman is the same.

Under .3 of a penny a month for reusables, (mooncup and pads) over 10 years taking all costs into a account

Only on mumsnet do women spend so little on periods! Mine cost a fortune- about £12 per month. Cheap tampons leave me with a burning feeling so I use good ones, plus bada, and get through a lot of them with heavy periods.

Plus pads!! Don’t know where ‘bada’ came from! 😂

No need to get arsey with what different women spend or don't spend. We're all endure this together sisters!

Mywren, I don't get what there is that you don't understand.

Plenty of us have tried the very cheap supermarket brand of sanitary towels. For me they leaked, were not at all absorbent, chafed badly, irritated my skin until red raw and simply didn't work. Only certain brands like Always and Tampax are actually usable for me at all and I know I am far from alone.

Then there is the small issue of easy access to a major supermarket. If you live in a village you will probably have to drive (so most teenagers will be too young) as buses are infrequent to non-existent.

It really can't be that hard to understand the problems that some other women and girls experience. Just because you are not affected doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. Far from it

£2.50

I have spent about £60 on menstrual cups and £50 on washable pads in the last ten years, so let's say I've had 110 periods in that time, that would be £1 per period.
I don't need painkillers or time off work.
I bought five pairs of black knickers five years ago or so, so I don't throw away underwear because it's stained.

Reusable sanpro isn't free, it doesn't mean you don't spend anything on your period. You just spend less.

Just goes to show we are all different with different needs (and flows 🤣).

50p for the pack of ibuprofen ( used the whole pack over 3 days)

£1 pack of bodyform pads ( of which I used half)

So £1

About £4.50 tampons and towels. My period has lengthened to 8 days since having the coil. Urgh.

Almost £0
Mooncup I've had for years, I guess you could put a nominal figure on it per use. Plus I use sterilizing tablets to clean it at the end of the period so maybe another few pennies for 1/4 of one of those.
Get painkillers on prescription, so free also (in Scotland).

I agree that I don't understand period poverty either when sanpro is cheap in major supermarkets and you can even get them for free in school
There is so much on this thread alone to help you understand it. 'cheap' is a very relative term; how about availability/access to shops to buy the 'cheap' stuff? For girls of school age, how about unsupportive/poor/chaotic/abusive and neglectful families hampering their access to sanpro?...
For starters.

Food banks do take sanpro, at least the ones local to me. They take toiletries, too - should be grocery bank rather than food bank.

£1 on san pro as caught short, then back to moon cup and reusable pads

I have painful heavy periods and migraine. 7 day period, heavy for 4 days & use about 5 pads a day, then sometimes a random day when you think it's stopped but comes back with a vengeance and you end up ruining your clean pants. I use about 25/30 pads per period.

San pro £6, ibuprofen £2 (because I like the liquid capsules), paracetamol 30p, time off work 1.5 days (due to migraine but I get sick pay so this was a cost to my employer I suppose), 1 pair of pants ruined £1.50ish. So £9 ish for me Per period. A yearly cost of just over £100.

Maybe £10 san pro, I have ridiculously heavy period so use 2x heavy flow pads one right up to front of pants and one at back. Started period last week Monday and still going yay. I try not to take painkillers but I do need them. Normally spend about £2 on ibu profen. Paracetamol does zero for the pain for me. Spend a lot on loo roll as well.

I use reusable pads and period pants, so on an individual period basis, just the cost of washing them, and I tend to stick them in with the cloth nappies. Obviously there was an initial outlay, though.

No painkillers as weirdly having a baby seems to have sorted out my period pain!

£0 mooncup

Only on mumsnet do women spend so little on periods!
What does this even mean - are you saying only women on mumsnet use mooncups, or don't need to spend ££ on painkillers etc? No-one who doesn't spend much (or anything) has said they don't believe other women have to!