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.

Mine are also £1, may last over two months.

@Aridane

Sorry if it’s been answered upthread - but how does £25 per period amount to £500 per year. Are there 20 periods in a year?

A survey was made of women and found that British women spend on average 500 pounds on their periods per year.

The MP that spoke, Danielle Rowley, said that she was on her period and had already personally spent 25 pounds on her period this month.

Jacques
Idk what service you couldn’t access . (I didn’t understand the initials). I am so glad I’m not the person, who laughs at others misfortune. Full of shit and worms imo.

And I see another couple of mindless posts that the op is not bu because they only spend a ha’penny a decade on their periods. Lucky them.

You do realise that prescription medicine is not free don't you? Many people who aren't exempt from paying struggle to afford that!

Anyone who’s not exempt can get a prepayment prescription card - I pay £10 a month for unlimited prescriptions which is a damn sight less than my sanpro costs me.

I think we need to be looking at why these women are in poverty and are unable to buy sanpro, and probably toothpaste, shampoo, healthy food, paracetamol etc.

The supermarket own brand are worse than useless compared to Tampax.

I have heavy periods, every 28 days I bleed for 7. Five of those days very heavy. At least one day (usually day 3) I'm incapacitated, it's difficult to leave the bathroom let alone the house.i have had to take time off work, and I have even be sent to hospital with shock from bloodloss. I take tranaxemic acid for which I pay prescription charges. I also pay for ferrous sulphate because I'm very anaemic. I buy one 20 box of cheapies (for nights) 40 Tampax for day, towels for day or night.

I don't like the idea of mooncups and don't think I'd cope with it.

Have never added up the costs. It's not something I can effect a change to. If I had to choose between my health and dignity and feeding my children I can only think I'd be very distraught.

Am I the only person grossed out by the thought of a mooncup?

No - makes me feel very sick to think about it too 🤢🤢

The best iron tablets I’ve found are Nature’s Plus Hemaplex soft gels (avail Amazon). Wipes the floor with any other kind - and gets your iron up quickest.

What a privileged post, I have endometriosis and use a pad an hour some days, add in the knickers I ruin, the bedding I wreck, the days off work I have had unpaid, definitely costs about 500 a year. Loads of my friends with endo or even with just heavy periods are the same.

I'm on cerazette so currently not having periods, but during a period I like to use any non-scented pads that are on offer for max £1.50 a pack, I use up to 3 packs.

I don't use tampons & dislike using a mooncup.

I rarely need to replace knickers, 1 pack is less than a fiver in Tesco if the period started suddenly.

Paracetamol & ibuprofen cost max 50p per pack in Tesco.

If you are anaemic like me you get iron pills from the dr at prescription cost. I don't have to pay as I get free prescriptions.

So personally a period costs me £12 maximum (but with prescription charges it would be £20).
So i can see how a woman could spend up to £25 per period.

Add on the cost of chocolate when suffering pmt & the cost is considerably higher!!

I used to only ever buy Lillets but would recommend these from Asda at a fraction of the price.

Ok. So you want a loaf of bread. You can choose the cost of the type of loaf you want.

A lot of women CANNOT choose the cost because they're forced to manage the hand they're dealt by biology.

Many people with allergies and intolerances CANNOT choose the cost of food either. It was a good comparison.

I can't believe that there are still women deriding other women and affecting actuarial bullshit over something that affects most women. What is wrong with some of you?

Men wouldn't do this, I'm convinced of that. Men would think, "Hmm about time this was highlighted, it doesn't affect me personally but anything that makes life easier then great!".

Not women though. Some are determined to dismiss, make fun of the 'chocolate/new knickers' thing because it makes their pathetic selves feel better.

We should all be standing together on this, for the cause, not the penny-counting, not your job, not our job to do that... so why are you trying to do that? You simply don't have the information.

For less than £25 you can buy a mooncup which should last you for years. You'll even get change out of that to buy some generic painkillers.

Sounds like she has ruined the perfectly valid point she was making by exaggerating.

For less than £25 you can buy a mooncup which should last you for years. You'll even get change out of that to buy some generic painkillers

For the 38192838282th time, not everyone can use a mooncup

I would also really recommend investing in a few pairs of period pants for night-time.

For me they are not nearly absorbent enough for daytime (made that mistake once, never again!) but at night-time when you're lying horizontally, you only really need the pants to catch the blood that flows down when you get out of bed. May not work so well if you usually get up several times in the night, but if you tend to sleep through the night and only get up in the morning, it really does save you having to use anything else at all overnight.

I take mine off in the morning before I shower, rinse the blood off straight away and put them in the wash. Have been doing this for months now and they're not even stained.

It's been a game changer for me.

I can't believe that there are still women deriding other women and affecting actuarial bullshit over something that affects most women. What is wrong with some of you?

I'm not deriding other women. I know some women are spending the equivalent of a small countries GDP on San pro...but most aren't.

Men wouldn't do this, I'm convinced of that. Men would think, "Hmm about time this was highlighted, it doesn't affect me personally but anything that makes life easier then great!"

Like fuck they would!

Not women though. Some are determined to dismiss, make fun of the 'chocolate/new knickers' thing because it makes their pathetic selves feel better

No need to throw clothes away, soak them in cold water and stuck in the laundry. Lots of clothes get stained by all manner of things...people surely dont just chuck stuff out do they?!

As for the chocolate thing...it's like a bad facebook meme along the lines of wine o'clock. Makes me cringe.

"For the 38192838282th time, not everyone can use a mooncup"

Maybe not, but a mooncup is the most expensive (one-off purchase) form of san-pro.

I have never spent even close to £25 on towels or tampons in a single month.

"Period pants are what? £25 a pair?"

I got mine off Amazon. Pack of 3 for £15.

proudestmumm

I rather assumed the figure of £25 was for one person.

Clearly you could easily spend that much if you are buying for an unspecified number of women.