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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

999 replies

rosetree7 · 05/08/2018 20:27

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?! Confused 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!

OP posts:
condepetie · 05/08/2018 21:05

And don't start tone policing when the views you're expressing are dismissing the experiences and lives of people who are replying to you.

You are wrong. This happens and it is happening every day.

Nebularin · 05/08/2018 21:06

San pro (towels especially) is a good item to donate to food banks.

chicken75 · 05/08/2018 21:06

Passthecake

A lovely thing to do. I will be doing The same from now on Flowers

Laiste · 05/08/2018 21:06

Oh don't feed it people.

We're being played.

Original poster
rosetree7 · 05/08/2018 21:06

@Jade9390

Agree, it is rubbish. I am suffering with a thyroid condition, just bled for 3 weeks and usually have 2 heavy periods a month. I usually buy more than enough in Superdrug where 60 tampons are less than 3 quid. I have to double up, so always buy 25p value sanitary towels in the main supermarket shop. Moon cups are 99p on ebay.

Thanks Jade. This is what it's like for the vast majority of women in this country. Anyone can afford sanpro, no matter what some posters are saying on here. You can get it for peanuts! 25p to a pound for the sanpro, and less than a quid for painkillers and ibuprofen.

Like I said, a load of exaggerated nonsense!

OP posts:
SoftSheen · 05/08/2018 21:07

Tesco value sanitary towels (10 pack) are 23p. I appreciate that there are people at food bank-levels of poverty who don't even have 23p. However, the vast majority of families, even those on benefits, should be able to manage a couple of packs for their daughters once a month. Sending girls to school without adequate sanitary protection is neglect.

hesbeeneatingapotato · 05/08/2018 21:07

I say this every time it comes up on here.

Not everyone has light and/or pain free periods. I have a coil, the last form of contraception I can try. I've gone through dozens of varieties of pill, implants, endometrial ablation, all sorts. This is the final thing to try that might improve things.

In the last month I've easily spent £40, minimum. That includes two kinds of prescription painkillers. Heat pads for my front and back so I could raise my leg more than an inch off the floor without screaming in agony. I used three packs of pads due to heaviness and length of the bleed. The cheap ones don't absorb the heavy flow, so if I do buy the cheaper ones I end up using more of them. Because of random bleeding, I'm using pads every day, so it's a constant expense. I do occasionally flood, despite trying to keep on top of it, so at a KIT day last month I had to buy new tights and underwear on my way into work. It all adds up.

JacquesHammer · 05/08/2018 21:08

You can get it for peanuts! 25p to a pound for the sanpro, and less than a quid for painkillers and ibuprofen

So are you suggesting you know better than me what sanpro I can use?

Bombardier25966 · 05/08/2018 21:08

You can get it for peanuts!

And if you don't have "peanuts"?

Deadheadstickeronacadillac · 05/08/2018 21:08

Try teaching in a school, then you would see that girls do struggle. Some are too embarrassed to tell their mum they have started their periods and have no money of their own, for some there is not enough money in the house to spare for san pro.
We, as teachers, purchase san pro using our own money to help these girls out and will happily continue to do so.
Granted the amounts quoted do seem on the high side but please do not believe that this problem doesn't exist.
Btw, I live in what is considered to be one of the more affluent areas of the country...

Jozxyqk · 05/08/2018 21:08

Interesting first post. Welcome to Mumsnet.

madmomma · 05/08/2018 21:09

The thing that appalls me just as much as period poverty whilst reading this thread, is the amount of preventable suffering that women are enduring in the first world in these modern times. Surely we shouldn't have to be incapacitated for a week per month in this day and age!!

Nebularin · 05/08/2018 21:10

I would say that those cheap sanitary towels don't look like they'd be good for heavy flow days. Change more often, yes, but even so I wouldn't be very confident.

Frequency · 05/08/2018 21:10

Why is it 25p now? It was 50p when you started the thread. Also, there is heavy flow and there's bleeding through a superplus tampon in an hour (or less for some women). Budget sanpro won't cope with that.

Badcat666 · 05/08/2018 21:10

my last period cost me over 35 quid. That included buying new sanitary pads (I had some already as well which got used up fast) and painkillers. I have PCOS so have NO idea when my periods will arrive and I flood.. I mean flood....

But lucky old me I may only get 4 periods a year! Aren't I lucky so be able to save money OP!

Ever flooded so you feel like you have wet yourself OP? Ever had that? Ever had to sit on towels so you don't fuck up a chair or your sofa? Ever sneezed or coughed and had your period blood flood your towel?

Ever had to line your mattress with a black bin liner and towels before you go to bed?

Those cheap as chips sanitary towels do nothing if you have a super heavy flow, you may as well use them as sweat shields under your armpits.

And I can't use those mooncups so they are no use to me.

When I was growing up you had a serious limited choice of pads and I grew up on the breadline and numerous times we ran out of pads and we had to use loo roll until the shops open. Plus they were not bloody cheap as there were 5 females of menstruating age in the house. In fact I remember spending my paper round money on sanitary products when I was 12 to help save my mum money.

So bully for you at having such amazing, cheap and flood free periods OP.

I expect you will be spending all the money you save on new roller skates so you can get pulled around by some pet dogs in your whitey tight jeans.

Bombardier25966 · 05/08/2018 21:11

I appreciate that there are people at food bank-levels of poverty who don't even have 23p.

The Trussell Trust issued 1.3 million food parcels last year, and that's not including those issued by all the independent food banks.

That's an awful lot of people who, you agree, cannot afford them.

Prestonsflowers · 05/08/2018 21:11

In your op you stated that you were fully prepared to be told that you are unreasonable.

You have been told several times that you are.
And you are refusing to accept it
Not everyone lives in your real world

AIBU means am I being unreasonable and IMO you are.

Aridane · 05/08/2018 21:11

OP - 2 separate issues here

i) the grossly inflated period costs quotes. If it’s the survey I remember, it includes things like chocolate and magazines

ii) but for those on the lowest income where even food is in short supply, of course period poverty (like food poverty) is a thing

trampolinemum · 05/08/2018 21:13

Rosetree7.

OK, I'll bite.
25p for a pack of sanitary towels. I sodding wish. There is absolutely no way in this world a 25p sanitary towel would cut it for me.

Think 7 day periods. It's like someone has turned a tap on. And because I like my white bedding to stay........ white and unfucked up it's an incontinence pants job. £11 for 14 of them.

And during the daytime even night time towels aren't suitable. So that's another load of incontinence wear. Around £7.50 for 40 of them. Times 2 packets.

And no, I can't use any hormonal contraception because it makes me want to kill myself nor can I take mefenamic acid/txa because I have a life-threatening allergy to txa.

On top of what I usually spend there are also prescription costs and the inevitable replacement trousers/underwear/incontinence bedsheets costs. I dread to think what my life would be like if I was in period poverty.

So yes, yadbu

TheQueef · 05/08/2018 21:14

The exaggerated nonsense on this thread is only coming from you Rose

In other words you are spouting absolute shite.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 05/08/2018 21:14

Another case of 'I'm alright Jack.

Willow2017 · 05/08/2018 21:14

Maybe read the thread on universal credit thats running just now?
Families are going weeks without money to buy food as well as heat/light due to this almighty cock up so san pro will be the least of thier priorities.

Maybe the money quoted is ott but the problem isnt. If you dont have money for 6 weeks where are you supposed to get san pro from?

And dont make me laugh about rags ffs. I could soak through extra maxi tampons and pads within an hour for up to 2 weeks at a time and needed prescription painkilles. Not quite 50p a period! Plus washing sheets and clothes when i flooded wasnt free either.

Just cos you spend a pittance doesnt mean everyone is the same.

Slimmingsnake · 05/08/2018 21:14

I didn't have access to sanpro as a teen..often used loo paper...my life would of been a million times better if it was free at school

Bombardier25966 · 05/08/2018 21:15

Congratulations to @speakout for being able to Google sanitary wear!