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 have quoted and asked questions of other posters too. I have also asked for clarification on.how people budget when they dont have a penny to any of the posters blaming people for thier poverty but not one has replied.

Cathf just happens to be posting one rule for her and one rule for everyone else all the time. It doesnt work rhat way in rl. If you constantly state that people in poverty only have themselves to blame then you will get called out on it. Having seen it first hand how families can be brought to thier knees due to circumstsnces outwith thier control it really annoys me that everyone gets blanket tarred as irresponsible and neglectful.

Shit happens just be glad its not to
You.

@Rebel. Is that your best response?

pissedoff
Exactly but she cant wont see it cos then she couldnt blame the undeserving poor for thier own misfortune.

I had the discussion not that long ago when I saw an advert on TV. Myself I am a red head (so very heavy bleeding - sorry for TMI) and have never ever had a problem with buying products or pain relief or pants and don't understand where this cost is coming from?
You can buy products for £1-£5, pain relief for less than £1 and go to Primark and get cheap pants for £1-£5 odd....
I can't get my head around it either.

But what if you don’t have that money baby?

baby have you read the thread? The figure has been deemed to be an over estimation but if you haven't even the £1-5 for San-pro you haven't got it.

When people are moved to Universal Credit they don't get any money for the first 5 - 6 weeks.
People who work and get credits to top up their wages don't get anything in months with 5 weeks ion them, as that takes them over the threshold.
Women in abusive relationships find that UC is paid to their partner by default.
Some people are on zero hours contracts.

There is no safety net, it has been dismantled.
And yet there are still people who don't get why someone in the UK has no money.

Also baby what about women who need prescription painkillers at £8?

What has being a red head got to with periods???

I have to admit that my issue isn’t the san pro but the fact that I tend to faint during my period as I have two to three weeks of heavy flow, due to pcos, and get rather tired even with iron pills. Have asked for a hysterectomy but doctors say no.
In terms of cost though my period caused me to faint just under two years ago and hit my head, I went to hospital at the time Andrade a brain scan and was clear.
Found out a year later I had caused other injuries. Had a major op in January due to this but this is the true cost for me for heavy periods when a doctor won’t give a hysterectomy.

baby - the nearest Primark to me, if I didn't drive, is a £5 return bus ride away, driving is the cost of fuel and parking, add that to the £5 for the pants, the additional few £ for the sanpro, it's very quickly £15 or more. Going by my DM weekly budget given on the previous page please tell me where she is supposed to find that £15 if needed?

‘and had’ not ‘Andrade’.

babyarz I don't have enough money to last the week without sanpro. When DD2's periods start, that'll be something else that we'll have to change our buying habits for, eat less of something else to make the money stretch. Less meat, maybe, but my DC don't like many other sources of protein, and DD2 would rather starve than eat something she doesn't like.

if you have a risk of flooding you may need to have darker clothing so it doesn't show & some people may need to were 2 pair of undies at time it could flood sheets & covers - you may be restricted to using the heavy weight maternity or night time sts - tampons & moon cups may not be suitable for every woman. It depends also on length of period & frequency. This especially the case when periods first start & when the woman is in perimenopause

The lack of empathy that appears to be the in “thing” at the moment makes me ashamed of people.

It’s not good, it’s not right and it certainly isn’t anything to be smug about or proud of.

😂

Sorry, that was to BishopBrenbansArse.

FFS Brennans*

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks

I wish I’d timed my serious post better, Bishop’s was brilliant!

Tbh this is just the tip of the iceberg of the lack of funding in women’s health though.

No Primark here. How selfish of retailers not to think about my need for cheap stuff. Bastards. Luckily we have an asda or a tesco in walking distance. Where i used to live we didn't have anything in walking distance & had to catch a bus. For £5.60 return. So this 23p san pro is already costing £5.83 for just one box/pack

"You'll just have to take my word for it that I know what it's like to have no money, to not be able to replace things and to not be able to afford petrol for my old car."

I assume that this WASN'T because you had failed to budget well enough, @cathf. So how is it that you cannot understand that other people can do their best to budget their money (as you presumably did), but can still be hit by a circumstance that is outwith their control, that completely wrecks the budget, and leaves them unable to afford even the essentials?

What about the person who unexpectedly loses their job, and has to wait six weeks for their benefits to come through? If they don't have enough savings to live on, what are they supposed to budget with? Fresh air? And if they have been on a NMW job, and just scraping by, and haven't managed to build up any meaningful savings - can you not see how easily someone could end up with not a single penny left for something like sanitary protection?

And @Neshoma deciding never to donate to a foodbank or Red Box project, because you are miffed at how this thread has gone - I cannot believe how petty and miserly you are willing to be, nor how proud you are to declare it.

@PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks be careful in giving your daughter less meat as you don't want her to end up anaemic as heme iron is more easily absorbed than non-heme iron, and trying to convince some GPs to give you a blood test for anaemia is hell.

So what can I do BlueBug?