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!

"No woman or girl should be struggling to afford a basic need for something which is out of her control..."

I agree with this, 100%, @whiskeysourpuss. We should be horrified that women and girls are having to use loo roll or socks instead of proper sanitary protection, and that some girls are missing school because they haven't got proper san pro - and to be fair, the vast majority on this thread do seem to think it is unacceptable, and do realise that it is outwith people's control - it isn't just poor budgeting etc.

What I don't understand is why some people cannot imagine anything outside their own experience. They don't have periods that always include flooding - they maybe flood two or three times a year, as @zeezee3 does, so they cannot imagine someone flooding every single time, more than once each period - they will not believe that it can happen, and their experience is not universal.

Or, like @cathf, they have been poor, and have struggled financially, but have never been so much on the bones of their arse that they have not been able to afford san pro, or the bus fare to the nearest supermarket to access cheaper san pro - and because it has not happened to them, it just does not happen to anyone.

I am aware how bloody lucky I am that I have never been on my uppers, or had to struggle financially, but I would never be so arrogant as to assume that MY experience is universal, and that, because I have never struggled, no-one struggles. It just takes a little imagination, common sense, and ability to read.

This figure will also take into account those with things like pre menstrual and menstrual psychosis, depression and mood disorders too.

How or why is that so hard to grasp? Doesn't anyone ever go near a supermarket or a shopping area at some point in their lives?? Of. course they do

Which figure Tomorrow?

Very late to the thread but just wanted to say that I sometimes had to use toilet roll as I couldn’t afford sanitary products. This was when I was a young mum with 2 dc and struggling financially. A good 20 years ago now but ‘period poverty’ is very real & has been going on for a long time.

The £42-£45.

"This is poor advice as claimants can request an advanced payment to cover them for this period."
It's a loan, that they may not get and then they have even less money whilst paying it back.

I guessed it would be a loan and I know very little about universal credit.

Period poverty is real. Just as poverty is real. Some people can't afford to go to the dentist or to get prescriptions. Or buy food. Or new clothes. Even when in work.

Some women do have exceptionally heavy and painful periods. I was one of them but thank god have had the menopause. 2 members of my immediate family had early hysterectomies because of very heavy periods ( they couldn't leave the house). Many many months I had 2 days when I had to phone in sick. It was hell.

Supermarkets actually aren't everywhere. Where I live there is a very poor bus service and the town has a Tesco express that sells more expensive limited food related goods and a teeny tiny 'medical' section that has paracetamol and aspirin. The sanitary protection section is minute and expensive. There is nowhere for 13 and a half miles that sells underwear. Or sheets. Everything here costs more than it would if we lived in , say, Birmingham.

As others ave said, this discussion comes up frequently on MN. Most people don't lie. Sometimes people exaggerate a bit for effect but it's based on truth and experience. A bit of compassion for the poor people who are struggling is good

Doesn't anyone ever go near a supermarket or a shopping area at some point in their lives?? Of. course they do

Yes, and at such times they might not have any fucking money. Duh.

Amen, STDG!

Yeah, some women have painful periods, and flooding (I have had it myself, and have had some pretty bad periods, where I have had to actually go home from work.) But it would probably be 2 or 3 times a year maximum.

I must quite strongly disagree. I have a very regular 28 to 29 day cycle.

The first 2 to 3 days are nearly always "flooding". (Tampons+maxipads, dark trousers / skirts to be sure, often bloodied sheets etc... Some blood stains tend to remain after a cold soak and wash but I obviously continue to use them.)

Plus obviously painkillers.

I'm not saying that this ends up costing me 45£ a month.

And I am able to afford it comfortably.

But I does cost money. Which may be a lot / too much for some people...

Yes, and at such times they might not have any fucking money. Duh.

Wow how unusual that at no point do you never, ever go near a supermarket, shopping precinct, or town, without any money, ever in your life. Pfft. Bollocks.

I really can't zeezee. I'm lucky in that I've got an implant which has stopped my periods and am probably perimenopausal, but, as stated before, DD2's periods will start soon, and we'll have to cut down on something. Maybe just smaller portions for everyone.

@MariaMadita exactly. I used to have to cope with flooding for 6 days in a row sometimes, bleeding between periods, sometimes only a few dry days a month. Only Always Ultra night strength with flaps in place could keep me from flooding, and they're not cheap. (I couldn't cope with tampons because of triggers from my past.)

I could afford this. But there must be a lot of women who would struggle to find that amount of money every month.

And some people work and are on benefits, like us.

Living rurally (this was not during my pp, this was when the kids were babies so I was able to buy sanpro) I had an extremely fixed budget for the groceries and only managed to get to the supermarket once every ten days due to DH shifts (1car family). Sanpro wasn't a problem at the time, I was JAM then, but there were weeks when I had to chose between things, it was that closely budgeted. Had I run out of something it would have had to wait til the next trip as I couldn't afford stuff in the village shop. As I say I wasn't in pp at the time but I have the imagination to envision that the times of visiting the supermarket may coincide with a time where there isn't give in the budget.

Even now as a mother I'd prioritise feeding the kids and providing for them over my own needs. So if it was bread vs sanpro the bread would win.

Oh yes, rural living (we do in the holidays). Everything is more expensive locally, ridiculously so in some cases. No 23 pence sanitary towels. The bus into the nearest town takes approx 45 minutes and they're not very frequent.

….and that is if there even IS a bus..

You genuinely cannot imagine that someone might have a different experience to you, can you, @Neshoma.

I used to live in a tiny rural village. There was one bus a week - not a day, a week - whichpicked up from the village, went to the nearest small town which has no supermarkets, not even a Tesco Metro sized store - just a convenience store and a chemist, neither of which will do the ultra cheap san pro) and comes back later on the same day. If you want to go to even a fairly small Tesco, you have to walk two miles to the bus stop, and then get the bus into a bigger market town - but even that town doesn’t have a big supermarket - for that, you have to go even further. And of course, none of these buses are free, so you have to add the cost of the fare on, and that wipes out any savings you make.

There are several villages near where I used to live that all have the same transport issues -so any number of people who cannot easily get to a supermarket.

But because it doesn’t happen to you, it doesn’t happen, of course.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it isn’t that people misunderstand or don’t get it when it’s explained to them.

They’re actively choosing not to give a shit and smugly finding it funny winding us all up.

I find myself hoping that karma is indeed real.

I've run out of money before and eaten left over Easter egg because it was the only food in the house, waiting for DF to transfer money into my account for food. DS2 was in Dry Nites, the bigger, more economical packs were £6.60. Which is great if you have £6.60.

Wow (again) a group of people who have never been to a larger supermarket or a shopping centre IN THEIR LIVES, who've failed to factor in their isolation/poor bus route/a hike to the nearest bus stop whilst there to stock up.

Absolutely every excuse under the sun why people can't plan ahead or use an opportunity. I'm not surprised we are in the mess we are in.

You seem very determined to sneer at people Neshoma while suggesting people on the breadline “stock up”. Using what? Brass tacks and shiny buttons? Or money from the magic money tree?

No, no, no, you don't understand, we don't have extra money for sanpro! We'd have to cut down on food for sanpro! At the moment, this week, we're doing OK, probably because DD2's away at camp which a relative's paid for, so it's one less mouth to feed.

Honestly, @Neshoma you really don't listen, do you? How are people to 'stock up' at the supermarket if they don't have the money?