To ask who is spending £13 on sanitary products per month?

[avocuddl]

Just watching This Morning on period poverty. I appreciate this may be a real issue but I just can't work out the costs stated on the website under 'The Facts' www.freeperiods.org/mission
£18k over a lifetime which equals £13 per month.

The MP said she'd spent £25 on one period?

I buy the always £1 pack and they're fine! A pack of paracetamol is like 20p?

Sorry if this has been done before but aibu?

I supply pads and tampons at work, customer and staff toilets. Nobody knows who it is but I got some fabric bags and refill as needed. Would hate anyone to need some and not be able to ask

I ended up steaming old stains - after I had tried cold and stain removal products. Can’t drag a mattress into the sink or a bucket and can’t put my sofa in either!

I have a medium & sometimes heavy period , i buy cheap brands from Tesco & Lidl but I buy in bulk , i think there only £1 on so I defo do not spend anywhere near that much

YesQueen

Thank goodness for people like you

The whole thing's a bloody nonsense

how long did you wait to put that one here-

I didn’t even include the cost of my iron tablets. I take a crazy expensive brand because ever other formulation I tried caused horrible stomach upset.

I spend about £15 per month. I can't use a mooncup due to injuries caused during my first labour. Period are long, painful and expensive. I actually always hoped that once I'm finished having kids I could be sterilised and not have to go through the misery every month - only just found out that sterilisation doesn't stop them 😭

@JacquesHammer it's something anyone can do if they have a little spare cash. My next tiny project is to fill another bag (they're small fabric ones with ribbon to hang on door hooks) and try and put some in public toilets. I put in applicator tampons (super and regular), super pads and some liners

My periods last 8 days and I think I have endo but the doctor just offered me the pill which I came off because of panic attacks/anxiety (I can't cope with hormones)
I've had my fair share of flooding/clots/wearing two pairs of knickers/pain but they are manageable now despite having a copper coil

Not this again. I fail to understand why some women seem to be so critical of others experiences. I ave never worked it out, but here goes I buy three- four boxes of tampax super absorbent plus tampax, i only use the ones with the plastic adapters (I will explain why later), plus 1-2 packs of always nighttime pads. I don't often get painful periods, maybe 1 in three I get extreme pain and then the rest it's barely noticeable (no idea why), I also have reusable pads, no idea what I paid for those.

I bleed very heavily, always have. On my first three days I can bleed through a tampax within an hour! A super absorbent plus tampax within a hour, while this is very extreme for some it's very normal for me. If I don't get there before I bleed though I have a coupe of minutes grace period with the nighttime pad before the tampax overflows the pad and leaks onto my clothes. I cannot use the cardboard applicators as the cardboard gets too Blood soaked and flops so it becomes impossible to push it in.

The tampax boxes cost £2 each so even just 3 of them is £6, if I get 4 boxes it's £8, always is about the same price with offers and so another £4, so that's £12ish.

I realise I'm on the extreme end of this, but it's crazy that women bash other women because their experience of periods is different.

Come live in Ireland and you'd be spending that and then some.

I do agree that these figures shouldn't be given as the average, that most women spend significantly less. I'm not particularly complaining about how much I spend either, I'm just annoyed there are women to basically make me out as a lair for saying I can understand why some spend so much.

Depending on the point being argued, for example tampon tax, then it's silly to include sheets, towels, knickers, tablets etc because they are not part of the issue being debated. But if those were being added to it over an average I could easily spend £10 more a month or more.

I've tried loads of options, including the mooncup which worked perfectly until I had the my twins. If I could get away with Cheaper options I really would.

I once had a 'period' that lasted for four months. Thankfully I've had a hysterectomy now but in the past I've had to write off underwear, bedding etc. I was on prescription painkillers and I pay for my prescriptions so they were added onto my period expenses too.

I do agree that these figures shouldn't be given as the average, that most women spend significantly less.

It seems high to me and I know not every women is spending £13 every month. But I don't think women who say they only buy a pack a month are adding up all the costs.

Few will never have ruined sheets or clothes in their lifetime, or taken days off work, for example.

A women might be spending next to nothing at 19, but that might change by the time they are in their 40s.

Not me!

I'm on day one of a period that'll last a full week and I've used an entire box of super tampax over the last 24 hours. I think periods can cost more than you imagine if you factor in extra washes, different sizes of tampons depending on stage of your period, liners/towels and ruined underwear....

I heard that too on the radio. £18k per lifetime. Let’s say £5 x 12 x 40 so approx over £2.5k No idea where £18k comes from.
Even if you’re heavy and go through loads of pads/tampons I cannot believe it would equate to 18k. That must be the highest of the high figure for those who have major gynae issues.
I appreciate that period poverty is an issue but I think the figures are on the high side.

It's an average figure some women have extremely heavy periods. When I had mine it usually lasted 2-3 weeks not one and was very heavy for a large portion of that time. I'd also assume that fight may include replacing ruined underwear.

@JustDanceAddict - I agree but it does depend what is the actual question. If the question is the cost of periods rather than the cost of sanitary products. So the costs associated with periods could include days off, loss of education, ruined clothes, bedsheets, mattresses, prescription medication (and the cost to the NHS of serious issues), even environmental impact could be included.

However the cost of sanitary products would be unlikely to average 18k even considering the most severe cases. You would need to be spending near £40 a month to have spent near that figure. Whereas if you consider the wider impact than that could be possible.

@PookieDo

Thanks for the recommendation. I've got Sainsbury's before and laddered every single one of them!

Yes it's difficult isn't it when periods are heavy. I've been reading that coils cause periods to be heavier but unfortunately, due to certain medication I have to have the coil as a reliable contraception.

I could easily spend £15 or more

Pads - 2 packs of 12 at least (mine are heavy)
Painkillers (cheap ones yes)
Deep Heat Pads and Gel - these are not cheap but they are crucial for me to get through a working day on my feet. I can see how periods can be expensive because mine are

@burritofan which own brand non applicator tampons do you get? where I used to get mine from switched to applicator and I don't like them

Not this again. I fail to understand why some women seem to be so critical of others experiences
Indeed. These threads arrive every few weeks (not as frequently as my menopausal periods though 😉) and piss me off about as much as the ‘ooh, all you silly women, not going to their smear tests cos you’re embarrassed, and they’re not painful, blah blah blah’ threads. FFS.

What sad sad stories. Poor girls ☹️ not entirely caused by price of sanpro or VAT, or Costs of laundry and medication etc.

Number 1. Sad sad situation and the poor mum having to make that decision ☹️ 1pound in Tesco for a pack of 10 body form night time ones. Even cheaper in shops such as Home Bargains etc. No need to buy them full price, and no need to use value brands. Most areas have a retail park with budget shops unless you are extremely rural. In which case you're presumably used to travelling (like in my area, is 6miles to local small shopping area , friend is even more rural). I tend to pick mine up once a month - usually on pay day - and stock up on the cheap ones. In mum 1s case, it might be a good idea to get a few packs of whatevers on offer or is cheapest when she is doing shopping. Obviously things happen and I have ran out in the past, and obviously if you have nothing in and no money, you can't replace. Sometimes you can't borrow a fiver off friends etc. Its happened to me. Hence buying when cheap, and not running out since

Situation 2 is so sad for the girl involved ☹️ seems dad is a bit of s dick. Awful girl doesn't feel safe to ask dad. Also a shame parents relationship has been volatile to the extent that the teen doesn't want to say anything for fear of causing arguments. It's clear though that it hasn't just occured to mum. Is it the case that mum can't afford sanpro at all or that the child can't take them to her father's? If it's the former then a conversation needs to be had - leaving a child without essential supplies is neglect. If it's the latter can the child not take a few in her bag just in case? Either way there's a definite failire to communicate

Number 3 is disgraceful and seriously neglectful. Wiping on socks ffs. Good that SS are involved. Hopefully they help those poor children. It is abuse, and not at all a 'normal' or understandable situation. It isn't a case of not being able to afford things. It's prioritising alcohol and drugs and for those kids sakes I hope SS involvement is successful. Those parents are abusive and aren't worthy of the title parents. Serious safeguarding concern.

In fact I'd suggest that all 3, for different reasons and of different levels, are all safeguarding concerns. A failure to provide basic supplies for their children. We aren't talking about 13pounds a month or laundry, chocolate, magazines and prescription painkillers here. Were talking about basic equipment

@iolaus Sainsbury's own! As good as Lillets. I find applicators just IMPOSSIBLE, I'm not a NASA-trained rocket scientist

Also I don't think 13pounds a month is really common. Not unusual, and there are exceptions, but my family and close friends don't spend that. And I have irregular, flooding periods. It's hard, and not helped by mam utterly humiliating and blaming when I bled through. Never quite feeling clean etc.

Anyway, I manage it through wearing two pairs of underwear and two night time towels at all times of period. Depending on blood flow and time of period, pad usage varies. Usually every 4hrs minimum. Keep two pads in my handbag so wherever I go I have some. Wear dark knickers, not always black, but Grey's, navy, red , dark purple etc. Same with pyjamas. I tend to wake at least once overnight and when on period get up and change regardless. Cold water and salt really works to get the stain out, at least a bit. Needs to go right in though. Soak in a bucket of cold water, chuck salt on it, works wonders. And I don't mind wearing underwear with a little stain on. Obviously not on usual clothes, but I've had extremely heavy flow for over 10yesre now and only once come through my outside clothes, when wearing pads. Of course it can catch you unaware, but I tend to feel 'wet', go to the loo, and then sort things out. There have been one or two messes when it happened overnight but again rare