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

£0. Already had pads and tampons in the cupboard from last month. Generally a pack of pads and a box of 24 tampons does me 2 periods - cost about £3. I'm lucky that I don't really suffer so no pain relief/lost days/ruined clothes etc.

I used about 8 tampax (£2 for 24, so 50p), 6 sanitary towels (12 for £1 so 50p) and 2 paracetomel (20 for 20p so 2p)

£1.02

I did buy a moon cup but didn't get on with it, but I guess my periods cost around £12 a year.

Mooncup and washable pads £0
Very heavy period, flooded clothes in daytime and sheets/bedding at night. 6 loads of extra washing. £6?
Ruined MIL's white fabric dining chair on Christmas Day. £150
2 prescriptions, tranexamic acid and then noriethisterone to make my 22 day period finally fucking stop. £18

£174 total. 🍫

I'm currently on my period.

It won't cost me anything.

I buy my sanitary wear when on offer so always have a stash. I do not need to restock each month.
I take the occasional paracetamol from general stock at home or my work drawer.
None of my clothes ever get ruined.

I use a combination of expensive non-allergenic pads disposable pads I have to buy online and cut up flannels in giant pants if I’m not leaving the house. As I only use a few purchased pads it’s probably around £3-4.

But! Perimenopause means every period comes with agonising urogenital atrophy symptoms (caused by the cyclical fall in estrogren levels) which is costing an absolute fortune in various internal and external moisturisers, antihistamines, cystitis powders and herbal supplements, while I try and figure out what works (and what makes me worse). Sometimes this kicks off thrush. Joy.

So I reckon around £30 a month at the moment, but it’s a new phase of my menstruating life, and hopefully the costs (and my poor sore vulva!) will calm down soon!

Heavy periods. Menstrual cup user, and I am on pain meds anyway. I cloth nappy so any bloody laundry just goes in with those or in the sun to stain treat 🤷🏻‍♀️. No days off work - though I'd like to on day one I don't. So essentially nothing extra 🤷🏻‍♀️

First PP period atm so I don’t know how long it’ll last for and what it’ll be like as it changed after the birth of my first DC.
I’ve bought about 4 packets of the always maxi night as I’m changing every hour or two and I have some of the purple ones for when it calms down a bit towards the end. I may have to buy more. I’ll estimate about £15-20 with painkillers, extra loo roll, and sanitary products.

I’m going to look into period pants and a mooncup for in the future though!

I'm on the mini pill so haven't had a period since I gave birth, but when I was younger and before going on any sort of pill they were super heavy. I would spend about £4 on pads and £1 or 2 on some painkillers- more if you add the extra washing powder for sheets and clothes I guess.

69p. I use a packet of aldi pads and don't take pain killers. Even my postnatal bleeds only cost about £1 in maternity pads.

I find it a bit odd that it's girls that suffer period poverty but there doesn't seem to be a comparable issue with boys and the cost of shaving. I know facial hair tends to be a later product of male puberty, but it does make me wonder.

And I also wonder why there's not a comparable problem with bras. You have a period once a month for a few days, but a lot of girls need to wear supportive underwear everyday - - and it's a pretty expensive requirement.

I use a menstrual cup which cost me £20 two years ago.
My periods on average last about 5 days, so according to my (awful) maths, my last period cost about a penny.

Around 6 or so tampons and a couple of panty liners.

Nothing. I take microgynon continually so I don't have periods. I have no idea what the cost to the NHS is though.
Occasionally I get a breakthrough bleed and spot for a few days. When this happens I use about 50ps worth of panty liners. I don't need painkillers and have never lost time from work due to a period.

About a pound, I spend about £5 a month on san pro and ibroprofen fit myself and 2 DD's, I personally have short, light periods, never had pain ever. Own brand for everything and I have modibodi for overnight in case my tampon leaks

I spend about £6 on pads, the nighttime variety as I have a very heavy flow. About £5 on painkillers, another £8 on extra iron vitamins and finally I will list my chocolate at about £30 (used to be superfat, so I control the quality that I consume now, so that I don't slipback-before anyone judges me!)
So my total is £49, which I know is indulgent but I grew up poor, I guess is this overcompensating.
I totally understand period poverty, growing we didn't have much money at all. I had to save my lunch money to pay for pads, my flow was heavy then too and I went without proper lunches to pay for my pads.
My parents never knew I struggled along because I used to hear them at night talking about money worries. I didn't want to add another problem to mix, so I saved from lunch weekly £8 to pay for pads.
This was roughly 25/28years ago and I always thought pads were so expensive.
Nearly 40yrs old now and I appreciate just how bad poverty can be for some people. It shapes how you perceive yourself and how you think you are judged.
I am really glad that schools are giving pads now, hopefully it should really help and alleviate some of the immediate problems faced by girls in poverty.

Thousands, plus the next 18+ years of my life.

DD was born New Years Eve.

Each period costs me a £1 for a box of tesco tampons.
If I had heavier periods it would cost me more.

47p for a box of super tampons. I’m only on for 2/3 days and
My supermarket employers give us 50% discount on own brand sanitary protection

About £1.40 for 2 packets of supermarket own brand pads.

I have a contraceptive injection which is free with my GP surgery and I haven't had a period for the last 14 years so no periods means zero cost for me.

My last one was over Xmas so I didn't miss work, but I usually need at least a day in bed when it happens. Possible for me because I work for myself, but still annoying. So that sort of costs me money and I have to make the time up on other days.

Have reusable san pro, that's paid for itself by now but was an expensive outlay at the time.

Don't use pain killers as they don't really help me and make me gip.

Usually end up having to get at least one takeaway as I don't feel well enough to cook and I'd rather lick the floor then eat DH's cooking.

If I do leak, it's usually at night, so there is the additional laundering cost.

About £5. I could spend less but I prefer organic cotton pads to make my skin less uncomfortable. But if I was counting the pennies I'd be going for much cheaper. Painkillers probably cost me about 10p per month. No underwear ruined...I only buy black now so they wash up fine if caught out. That's about it for me.

I'm in no way debating that period poverty exists but I'm generally quite cheap.

I use Sainsburys maternity pads. Probably 2 packs per period (£2). I find them more comfy than branded and I'm lucky in that my periods are actually better post children. No pain killers, no ruined clothes, no time off work.

Moon cup so zero cost. However I had a six hour round trip to a big city yesterday. Changing my moon cup in the M&S loos isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. You can’t pour it down the loo without pouring it onto loo paper first or it stains the loo. Not nice for the general public. So it’s a faff, wash hands before using the loo, queue up again if their is a queue. Take your coat off, put paper down the loo, check it flushes ok, reflush, spend five minutes in the cubical etc.

So I would never preach their use to younger girls or long days out of the house. But for me, I love my mooncup. It does leak sometimes if you don’t change it often enough but that’s not a problem to do ( unless your out and about)

Mine cost however much the box of tanpons from Aldi was. I bought a couple of boxes the other month and I've enough left over for next. I guess about £1.50 this month?
.
No pain relief needed, no ruined clothes, no time off work.

About £2.

But I felt really wiped out on day 1 this month so skived off going swimming, which saved me £4. So I'm £2 up on the deal this time round.