To not accept that there is 'period poverty' in the UK.....?

[rosetree7]

Fully expecting to be told I am BU, but I genuinely do not get this 'period poverty' malarkey.

Some reports say periods cost £42-45 a month (£500 a year.) Never in my life have I - or anyone else I know - spent £42-45 a MONTH on their period. Not even a tenth of that actually.

Some of the things they (supposedly) spend money on are tampons and STs (obviously...) You can get a pack of sanitary towels for less than a pound. Less than 50p in some shops!

And also mooncups.

Although mooncups cost £16 to £22, most mooncups will last 10 years, so you'd only buy 3 or 4 in your lifetime!!! And they also spend on pain relief - but paracetamol and ibuprofen are 16 to 26p a packet from Wilkos. And plenty of other shops sell them for a similar price!

Oh and apparently, they have to keep spending money on new underwear every month. What a load of shit.. I have bought 18 pairs of underpants in 5 years, (at a cost of around £25 for the entire 5 years!) 5 pairs of them are dark coloured - and I wear them for my periods. Never in my life have I bought new underpants for every new period.

So what is this all about? And how on earth are they coming up with such a ludicrous figure as £42-45 a month?! I mean, some girls are apparently using toilet roll as they 'can't afford' sanitary towels? In most cases, toilet roll is more expensive than sanitary towels FGS!

I think it's useful and helping me understand it more, also raising more questions.

hebemumsnet personally I say leave the thread but delete the OP's comments. They're unhelpful and make a mockery of those in poverty. Or if you can't / won't, zap the thread. It's unfair leaving their comments up.

@argumentativefeminist 👍🏻👏🏻
There's sockpuppetting too, tons of it.

Maybe if you leave it up, you could amend the OP to make it clear that's why it's still up. I don't think it should be allowed to stand as it is. It will keep getting resurrected, for one thing...

So, I Googled because I wondered what was included in the £42 monthly spend and 'some reports' don't say the average cost is £42. A politician once said that and was widely rounded on for her excessive figures. Most reports and charities estimate the monthly cost to be £10-£11 a month.

There are families who cannot afford to spend £10-£11 a month. There are families who can't afford food, rent, power, of course the cab't fork out a tenner a month on top of the basics.

I spend at least £5/6 on towels and I need 2 prescriptions, one for painkillers because I get such bad cramps, OTC painkillers don't touch them, and one for migraine meds for the 2 migraines I get every month without fail. I only get 12 pills in the pack so they don't last long. Some months I struggle to afford all this.

Poundland sells tampax and pads

Not surprised, @xJessica, that's £20 minimum per month

Any number that is quoted will be an average. There are times when periods can lead to medical problems, and those push the averages way up.

We just had an awful time with poor DD (only 14) that resulted in THREE emergency medical consultations (with suggestions of going to ER at each one, because she was borderline in need of hospital treatment). I spent several hundred on sanitary products, medical bills (most will be refunded via insurance, but not everyone has insurance and we're in the US), new clothes, beach towels, pain killers, driving to urgent care etc etc. We also missed out on a planned trip we'd paid for that was non-refundable.

So far, it's cost about $1,000, and there's going to be months/years of doctor follow-ups, medicine & monitoring. All of these cost a small amount that just adds to the cost.

If we'd ended up in ER that cost would have jumped by a couple more thousand dollars.

So - overall, the average cost of her periods is going to be pretty high, and stay high for a while (because of ongoing costs). I know that this is really unusual, and being in the US adds to the cost as insurance covers most but not all costs. If we'd missed our plane back home we'd have had to pay out probably another $5,000 in flights & accommodation. I'm only putting in the cost to us - the insurance will also be picking up a hefty tab.

I assume that when these figures are quoted extreme situations like DDs are factored in. Yes, they are extreme, but you don't know until it happens to you whether your personal average is going to be low or high. Someone who is living in poverty doesn't get to choose to have the cheap type of periods - they are just as likely (maybe more) to suddenly have a medical problem as another person. Someone using a food bank can probably cope with a low-cost period, but that doesn't mean they'll have that kind of a period. Even with the NHS there are costs involved with being ill that make illness a real worry for people.

I have literally sat on the toilet and cried because I had unexpectedly got my period and knew I didn't even have 80p to buy supermarket tampons. (when your bank account is overdrawn and every penny has been spent a period can seem like the final straw)

I have chosen to buy my teenage daughter her top range sanitary items (she is a young girl ffs) rather than food for myself.

I have had the pill prescribed so that I could avoid getting a period at all - the prescription is free.

Thank God my situation has improved. But many of us have had to choose between food or period supplies.

Yeah, eivissa. They're EVERYWHERE, aren't they? 🙄🙄🙄

I do think it is a bit feeble to report a thread because you don't like an opinion. We are all entitled to our own experiences and opinions, if you don't like it, debate it like an adult.

Normally I would agree (and I didn't report) but the OP was only intending to insult people, and totally ignored the many, many posts that mentioned flooding, OTC or prescription painkillers, etc. I can only think they set out to goad.

Wow. What an unbelievably naive view you have if you think period poverty isnt a thing in this country.

As a 19 year old mum i had to make a choice.sometimes between feeding my child, or putting gas on the meter or buying more sanpro. I chose my kid every time and had to (quite often) use toilet roll or a cloth in my knickers.
I have very heavy periods, so i desperarely needed sanpro.

Now im 26, have 3 kids and am lucky enough that i managed to save enough money to buy a range of reusable pads. (I dont want to use a mooncup as i have a tilted uterus and dont know if that will affect it etc)

Period poverty is definitely real. Ive lived it.

4 tampons a day??? I freaking wish!

Also why don't girls go to their school nurse if parents don't buy them? Can anybody with experience of not having enough at home tell me? Did you feel that was an option?

Ours kept enough to give you a week's worth if you asked, this was about 10 years ago.
Even if caught of guard, you could wad up til you got to her.

Seriously? Some families have to choose between feeding their children and putting money on their gas or leccy card!

YABU and thick

Willow2017, please READ what I actually said i said EVERN if you use 4 tampons EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. Appreciate people use more than 4 tampons a day, are you using that every day of the year. No you aren't so same costs apply.

@BishopBrennansArse yes I started my period today and went to Poundland for my supply I got 24 always pads for £2

Would people on a very low income not qualify for free prescriptions?
I really can't see how periods could cost £500 per year.

I do get mine in poundland as well as other toiletries, because we are close to one, not everyone is.

madmomma completely agree! I had awful, heavy long periods (sometimes a break of less than a fortnight in between), my GP was unsympathetic and said it’s something I just have to live with. The combined pill made a small difference. It wasn’t until I saw a gynaecologist for a different matter and he said there was no reason for me to have periods and put me on the mini pill. That was bliss until they swapped the brand I was on.

@JustPutSomeGlitterOnIt not all schools provide sanitary protection for students & as PP's have stated some teachers buy it out if their own pockets.

DD's school only started providing free sanpro in the last school year not sure if it's something to do with the new HT or a LA thing as I haven't heard of any other local school doing this.

I'd love to have a nice 'normal' period but sadly I don't. My GP & gynae have spent a long time trying to make it better but now looking at surgery. I have a 2wk period flooding hourly, it really can cost a fortune especially when replacing clothes, sheets and even mattresses. I use a cup but still need heavy night pads to catch the flooding.

I can now afford this but a few years ago it was truly awful trying to afford sanitary ware

A pack of tesco own brand towels is around 65p. In Aldi this week they had their sanpro at 44p.
Surely schools could provide these?