To say a period does not cost £25

[jinjkl]

I hear the story on the radio about MP Danielle Rowley standing up in parliament to speak out about period poverty.

Good on her - it shouldn't be a taboo subject and I feel for the homeless women or those in poverty who cannot afford basic luxuries. But I can't agree with her statement that each period costs £25, and that women spend £500 a year on sanitary products.

You can buy a 20 pack of supermarket own brand tampons for £1 and that lasts a whole period. Even if you buy Tampax you won't be spending more than £3. Sanitary towels are about the same.

You can pick up some painkillers for under £1. I know some women have extreme periods which require prescription medication, but this is uncommon and it still wouldn't cost anywhere near £25.

Some would probably argue it's the cost of replacing soiled knickers, but the whole period poverty campaign is centred around sanitary protection, not giving women women to buy new knickers after a period (I wish!)

I want sanitary protection to be free as much as the next person, but I just can't abide by these exaggerations. Any woman knows they don't spend £25 every month on their period, and if you are spending this much there is something seriously wrong.

I’ve noticed a couple of comments about prescription costs. If you have more than 1 prescription a month, then it is more cost effective to get a prescription prepayment certificate. www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/prescription-prepayment-certificates

I thought this too..£1 for a pack of tampons in Asda (they are very good quality) and 60 p for a pack of sanitary towels in Lidl (again, very good quality)..job done..I wondered where on earth she got £25 from? Something hand spun by vestal virgins under a full moon perhaps?

What if u have to supply sanitary protection for one or more da7ghter and you are the sole pr9vider?

I find it amusing that women are trying to tell other women how easy it is to use cheap crap when you're on your period. £1 box of tampons lasted nowhere near an entire period here...usually because they're so ineffective they need changing every time you move. Which means you run the risk of leaking everywhere (always pleasant in public) and still need to buy more to cover the shittily small length of time one can be used.

'Luxury' aspects aside (by that i mean chocolate, magazines, even new underwear because push comes to shove you deal with that) nobody should have the right to tell someone they cannot choose what is comfortable. We aren't talking needless spending here like 'can't afford the water bill but i'll have a takeaway' - periods are bloody uncomfortable enough as is, without being forced to use products that are as much use as a chocolate tea pot & that just add to the discomfort.

But doesn't it make sense if you have a limited budget, whether due to benefits, low income or decent income but high rent/mortgage/commuting/childcare costs to use cheaper but perfectly satisfactory products?

Perfectly satisfactory ? Maybe for you. But if you bothered to read the thread, many women state they simply do not work for them. The cheaper products do not cope with heavy periods, so no, it doesn't make sense to use them and be leaking everywhere. To be blunt, do you want to sit in a chair at work, in a cafe, in a cinema where a lady has sat and leaked blood because she has had to use one of these 'cheap satisfactory products'.... I don't think so. Have some compassion for what some women have to cope with each month, read and actually take on board what they are saying. Just because you think these products would be satisfactory doesn't change the fact that they are not for many women.

Why are there so many on this thread not listening or refusing to believe how bad some women's periods are ?

I thought this too..£1 for a pack of tampons in Asda (they are very good quality) and 60 p for a pack of sanitary towels in Lidl (again, very good quality)..job done..I wondered where on earth she got £25 from? Something hand spun by vestal virgins under a full moon perhaps

🙄 And another one.

Long TMI post. I have PCOS, endo and hypothyroidism (which my GP refuses to treat) so my periods are hell. Until recently this would have been my expenses:

Tampax Super Plus (the best thing for my heavy days) - £1.90 for 20, Tesco Tampons - £0.95 for 20, Tesco Night San Towels - £0.66 for 10

Day 1 - 2 hrly with leakage = 12 + 12 pads (double pad, replaced 4 hrly)
Day 2 - hrly with leakage = 24 + 24 pads (double pad, replaced 2 hrly)
Day 3 - 2 hrly with leakage = 12 + 12 pads (double pad, replaced 4 hrly)
Day 4 - 2 hrly with leakage = 12 + 12 pads (double pad, replaced 4 hrly)
Day 5 - 2 hrly with leakage = 12 + 12 pads (double pad, replaced 4 hrly)
Day 6 - 4 hrly with leakage = 6 + 8 pads (double pad, replaced 6 hrly)
Days 7-10 (cheap days) - 4 hrly with lessening leakage = 30 + 20ish pads (single, replaced when grubby)

Total = approx £18 on just pads and tampons.

That doesn't include pain relief, Buscopan, extra toilet roll for when the bowels like to add to the misery, loss of earnings for being unable to stand nevermind work from days 2-6 etc.

My doctor knows. My doctor dgaf. It's hard to understand when you drip for 3 days then it's over I guess?

(I do actually use a cup now. It still needs dealt with just as often but the leakage is much less. It nips like buggery at times, causes bizarre pelvic pains, and pooping is traumatic. For the last few days I go back to tampons just to give my poor fanjo a break.)

Reading the thread, it strikes me that a more pressing problem is the effect on life of heavy and/or painful periods.

How many poorer women lose jobs, or can't progress in work, due to this? If you've got the sort of job where you have to be there, how many employers will keep someone on after they've missed even one day a month with zero notice?

Gosh, reading these posts I feel very lucky. My period only lasts around 3 days and I only need about 3 tampons a day so if I buy a big box it lasts me quite a while.

I never realised people were having to buy so many products for their periods.

Are the products VAT free now?

Depending on flow I sometimes need tampons and maternity/really thick pads and even then sometimes bleed through so have to replace underwear etc but I suffer with endometriosis

I would say at worst it costs around £10 (5 of that in new underwear)

I use "fancy" Lillets because I personally find them really good and suitable for me. They are also the only brand I've found producing an "ultra" tampon which I very definitely need. I have to buy them online from Boots because they are not available locally. On my heaviest days I can go through one of them in the hour it takes to get the kids up and do the school run. I count myself lucky though because what I assume is perimenopause has been a bit kinder to me than others (so far) and I just get a tsunami for 2.5 days and then that's it. I can absolutely understand how some women are paying excessive sums of money for sanitary protection. The saddest thing of all though is how appallingly dismissive GPs are of gynaecological issues. I could do with going to the gp because my hormones clearly need looking at (I'm going bald and can muster up a beard good enough to get in to ZZTop) but I don't know if I can face just being dismissed as an over-exaggerating woman.

2 packs for £1.80 bought around pay day
2 packs for £1.80 pantiliners
36p paracetamols
Hot water bottle bought years ago
Tiger balm that's lasted for eternity
Spare knickers (always carry a pair in my bag)

I cannot make it to £25 unless I have to replace my jeans!

But I have very boringly predictable periods.

No they're not VAT free. Which is an absolute scandal.

This thread has really made me question people's comprehension skills. Either that or people are still not RTFT.

Poster: I can't understand how periods can cost £25 a month.
Plethora of replies: Well for me x, y and z so definitely
Poster: I'm baffled as to how periods can cost £25 a month.
Plethora of different replies: Well for me x, y and z so it can happen
Poster: Why not use 60p towels?
Plethora of replies: For a lot of women, we simply can't use basic products.
Poster: Nope, don't believe it, san pro only costs 20p

Ad. Fucking. Infinitum

I have to say, I don't spend any more than a £5 a month for me and my daughter, but then I only use pads and not tampons because I don't see the point if you need to wear a pad as well then the tampon is a waste of money.

£25 is way over the top for the majority of women and girls, she was clearly trying to make a point but that would've been better made if she had of used a realistic range of cost, and not a figure that could be scoffed at.

Yes YABU.

I doubt shes paying £25 just on tampons but its more than that! For all we know, she has such severe pain she needs a prescription £8, couple of packs of tampons and sanitary pads, perhaps she had to buy some vanish or variant of to remove stains from clothes/underwear...

The fact a thread of women are focusing on the amount she says she has spent, and not the fact austerity and poverty are meaning some women and girls can't afford sanitary products is just baffling.

And those of you saying there are packs for £1 - some can cause a reaction (I can't wear certain brands due to the chemicals they use as they make me really sore) and some are so uncomfortable, thick and not good at the job.

No one is saying you cannot spend money on chocolates and magazines during your period, but this cannot come under period expenditure.
If 25 quid is the average cost for sanitary protection then so be it. It is perfectly reasonable to express surprise even if you are using branded products.

It’s ludicrous that she is including chocolate & magazines in her costs - they aren’t essential! I only wear black underwear now due to far too many ruined pale ones due to leaks in the past. As a woman of a certain age I suffer irregular and “floody” periods and probably spent £8-10 a month on supplies (I need the night time pads most of the time - used to use tampons but they have become very uncomfortable due to the clots)

Yes, I have to do extra washing at that time, yes the first thing I did when I bought a new mattress was put a waterproof cover on it AND a thick mattress protector AND I sleep on a double layer of towel for the first 3 days, but I do that so I don’t need to replace items every month ... A friend of mine has basically ruined every sleeping bag she’s ever owned leaking overnight

If she is taking into consideration sanitary towels/tampons, painkillers, possibly stained underwear from bleeding through or coming on on an unexpected day, then stain remover etc. I can see that could wrack up to £25. However she shouldn't be touting that as the norm, because for most it isn't.

Reading the thread, it strikes me that a more pressing problem is the effect on life of heavy and/or painful periods.

How many poorer women lose jobs, or can't progress in work, due to this?

I couldn't agree more, and that's one of the reasons why feminist screeching "equality" really piss me off. I don't want women to be treated in exactly the same way as men, it would be a lot more beneficial to recognise our differences and adapt accordingly. Some women might really struggle for a couple of days a week, and shouldn't be penalised.

Trying to do a presentation when you are pissing blood and you feel like it's leaking everywhere despite wearing period pants, a couple of maternity pads, a tampax is not fun and can't last more than 1 hour before you have to rush out.

How is a driver supposed to work? Even a teacher will struggle.

For those who don't understand bad periods but had the misfortune of having a miscarriage? Well, it's pretty much the same, I personally found a miscarriage less crampy, even a late one. Women are just slightly less embarrassed to be excused because they're having a miscarriage, than to say they are on their periods.

You can work through the pain and function if you really have to, but you can't stop the damn bleeding.

BlueSapp but then I only use pads and not tampons because I don't see the point if you need to wear a pad as well then the tampon is a waste of money.

If someone needs to wear a pad along with a tampon what do you actually think will happen if they just use a pad?? A fucking massacre is what. Tampons buy time. But I suppose those women could just live in an empty bath for a week and save even more money.

£25 is too much for average monthly cost, unless there are other extenuating circumstances.
Also. saying a period costs £25 downplays the fact that even the true cost of couple of quid is simply unaffordable to women living in poverty and can be literally a choice between buying protection, or eating.

Queen I thought you only need help if you need to change your pad every hour.
My perimenopausal periods meant I doubled up with pads and tampons and had to change every couple of hours. At various times I needed prescription meds too.
Although do still think £25 is excessive.