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.

Still agog that some people can make 1 pack of 20 last a whole period!!!

Ladies let me explain... a bottle of him. A bottle of wine. Ibuprofen. Pads. Tampax. May have some change for crisps 😉
The struggle is real!!

A bottle of gin!!! Ffs i got blinded by the bastard sun!

She isn't poor, so why is she talking about how much she spends on her periods in relation to how some women are so poor they cannot afford san pro?

I think she was working on the assumption that some or most of the people in that room wouldn't be aware of the costs involved in dealing with periods - particularly heavy ones. I know my very sweet and very understanding husband didn't have a clue until I went through some things with him and he was shocked and horrified. He nearly wept when, at one point while we were a bit broke, he realised I was buying the cheapest tampons even though they were uncomfortable and less effective.

"She isn't poor so why is she is she talking about how much she spends on her periods."

I'm not lover of Policticians. I think to a certain extent they're all out for them selves.
However.When they try and put themselves in the real world they're ridiculed. Talk about not being able to win.
If someone in Parliament was to say
"Oh £25 is nothing. I don't know what people füas about
She'd be verbally pounced on. With comments like
"Well it may be nothing to you, in your cushy posh job, love.
We can't have it both ways

I've also posted this pic on the thread re the services being cut as 'unnecessary' which includes d&c and hysterectomy for heavy painful periods - note not ONE procedure that is solely accessed by MEN has been cut!

The money IS there - it's about what this govt prioritises and what they ideologically want rid of! They've kept hunt in as health sec despite his being hated, running the nhs into the ground and having written a treatise on privatising the nhs ffs - they're not even TRYING to hide their aim!

@Graphista I'm very interested to know what makes you so certain the money is there?

Partly cos it's somehow available when it's needed for something they DO want to spend on, partly lots of reading, watching documentaries and discussion with relatives in the know

There is always money there when they want it. It is just that this bunch are being parsimonious.

I too have people in the know.

I don't believe that figure at all!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't use a box of 20 tampons in a period and even with buying organic cotton ones it's only a few quid. I also use organic cotton liners but maybe 3 or 4 per period - pennies..?

Ibuprofen and paracetamol cost around 40p per packet each. I use them on the first couple of days but not a whole pack.

Black knickers in case if a leakage so you don't stain.

I can't spend more than £4.

There's no freaking way you can spend £25 on a period. She does women and the issue a real disservice with such a blatant exaggeration or lie.

Still agog that some people can make 1 pack of 20 last a whole period!!!

When i had periods 1 box would last 2 periods
However, i hate blood, so Cerelle has been my best friend for years now!

@Hiphopfrog - "I can't spend more than £4". So because you don't, all the other women on here are exaggerating? It's more than 30 pages, but have a look at some women's experiences. Then count yourself lucky.

@Clionba the 30 pages on here are not a valid basis to work out an average cost.

I didn't say they were.
Nor do I think lucky women with light periods are, either.

Still agog that some people can make 1 pack of 20 last a whole period!

I know, I've been through more than that in the last 24 hours alone and can't currently leave the house due to bleeding through every half an hour. I think some women are in for a shock when they reach peri.

Escapist very true. I had no idea what hit me when I hit peri. It was a nightmare.

There's no freaking way you can spend £25 on a period

Which part of the 30odd pages of women explaining how they can and DO spend £35 on a period didn’t you understand?

*£25

@Clionba Sorry I don't believe it. Even if my period was 4 times heavier, so basically hemorrhaging and I needed 4 boxes of organic tampons a box of pad and two whole packets of painkillers I'm still nowhere near. How can you possibly spend that much?? And as for ruined underwear, wearing fancy light coloured knickers is just stupid. Plain black ones from H&M cost barely anything and don't show the marks, even from a major leakage. Sorry as far as I'm concerned this is just hamming it up for effect because no man will dare contradict it.

Well Jacques if some women have light periods then surely that's the universal experience? Never in my life have I had a migraine. I don't know why people make such a fuss about them!

£25 is probably just an average figure. Many will spend much less, many will spend much more. I spend under £2 because I am extremely lucky. Painless, a few days, less than a pack will do me easily.

@Hiphopfrog fine. Although no men contradicting is probably a stretch.
I hope your menopause is similarly problem free. I really do.

Hiphopfrog you still imagine a period will last 4 - 6 days when you are perimenopausal and only come once a month.

Even if my period was 4 times heavier, so basically hemorrhaging and I needed 4 boxes of organic tampons a box of pad and two whole packets of painkillers I'm still nowhere near

Lucky for you. Are you one of those tiresome people who can't see beyond their own experiences?

This thread would have been so much easier if people didn't try and extrapolate their own small frame of reference to apply to every woman.

How can you possibly spend that much??

It has been explained. Countless times.

For those who can't believe it wouldn't tot up - this is what I'd have spent on a 'good' period pre-ablation.

Prescriptions - 2 periods of mefanamic and transamic acid - £8.80 each - £8.80 p/p
Tampons - at worst 1 every half hour, last day towards every 3 hours, lets just say 1 every 2 hours to average it over 7 days - 3 x 20 super plus tampons at £2 each - £6 p/p
Pads - at least 2 per day - one pack of always silk (others didn't work as well and did nasty things to my undercarriage) - £2 p/p
Cocodamol - 1 pack - £2 p/p
Nappies for night time leakage - economy 20 per pack at £1.50 - £0.50 p/p
Extra washes of leaked on clothes, towels, underwear, etc (figures taken from averages on google) - 20p washing powder, 15p electric, 50p tumble drying costs when needed, about 3 extra loads p/p - £2.55 p/p
Extra showers not including soaps (take from averages again) - 20p per shower - one extra per day - £1.20 p/p
Total p/p - £23.25

And that was for a good period - one where I could get by on just that amount, I didn't ruin any clothing that needed replacing, or had to get my upholstery or mattress cleaned yep, that's happened a few times. Nor any extra food/hot water bottle usage/anything else that may be associated that I've forgotten.