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?

Okay sorry I disappeared.

Firstly I apologise that I sound like a dick in the OP however what I failed to mention was that I was writing and thinking in the context of the campaign Free Periods, which is campaigning for free san-pro for school girls.

I personally would say I have a medium period, I buy the Always long with wings sensitive pads (didn't like normal Always ones because of the fragrance), I think they're a 12 pack bought from the pound shop. Day 1 I'd have to change every 1-2h and do have issues with flooding staining etc. I have a load of old pants that I bought from primark for maternity and just reuse these, they are stained and I can't get them out but it doesn't bother me. Same with pjs, I have some floral ones which the stains are harder to notice, I also sleep/sit on blanket in the first couple of days just in case. Agree that it's the biggest pita.

Next 5 days are not so bad, change every 3-4h maybe so what's that like 2-3 packs for a period? This doesn't matter because we've established that everyone's different!

I admit I didn't realise just how bad people have it, and I'm so sorry for your shitty periods! Must totally suck 😔

Anyway my point was that during the interview they said that some girls are having to use socks because they do not have access to san pro as PP said. The people deciding whether or not they have funding available for free access to san pro are going to be MPs or people in government (probably men!) who don't have time to look behind the statistics given to them. If they're told a hugely inflated figure which includes bloody DVDs and magazines there's no way they are going to consider approving it! If they gave a realistic average figure (like another PP said about the san pro market) then maybe we can get free access to san pro for all girls and women in need, which is vital.

Ok, just priced it for me, if I'm having natural period:

£3.50 for a 28pk of super plus extra tampons, say 6 per day, so first 4.5 days.

£3.50 for a 32pk of super plus tampons for the lighter next 4 days.

£3.00 for night time towels (doubled up with tampons in the mornings).

2 solid weeks of ibuprofen - £3

So bang on £13. Take into account a 21 day cycle and some months it would be double that.

Thank fuck I have the mirena now - it's down to a few quid. Though the first 6 months of that involved wearing pads constantly.

I realise that isn't typical, but it's certainly not unusual enough to be unbelievable.

@avocuddl

Most of us agree this is not the cost of products per se, but the wider costs (+ humiliation and embarrassment) are the real issue. I think that girls having better access to san pro is the beginning of a more open approach to something that can be really traumatic for some women/girls throughout their lives. I have 2 DD’s and they won’t ask to use the toilet in lessons when on their period due to the attitude of teaching staff. They also get upset when they have a period on the weekend they stay with their DF due to embarrassment of leaking, where to put used towels. Because I have suffered first hand I am far more understanding of this issue than a lot of other adults they encounter. It’s still something that seems to be shameful and not talked about! I have sometimes needed to spend a good 10 mins in the loo at work cleaning myself up properly but young women probably don’t feel they can do this if School staff and employers don’t recognise how bad periods can be

It just goes to show I am not sure we are any further forward on understanding any of these issues if women are putting other women’s experiences down and dismissing them as ‘abnormal’

In a nutshell I think this campaign will force adults to think about the reality of periods for girls and women

Was cheap as chips till perimenopause flooding. Now i've had to buy double pants, pads, tampons and 2 pairs of the same work trousers to change into because of flooding, plus painkillers for periods that can last 3 weeks at a time. It's a joy.

This thread has been a real eye opener. I’m sure there are women out there who can spend pennies a month on cheap tampons/pads and then there are women who need to spend a great deal more. Then there are women somewhere in the middle.

I have really sensitive skin and these days the cheaper brands of pads and even tampons really irritate my skin. So I buy the likes of cottons, natracare etc. Try to buy in bulk from amazon but not everyone can do that. Not sure how much i would typically spend because I’ve only had 2 periods in the last 2 years due to 2 pregnancies/breastfeeding. But I can see how the costs add up when you are not using the cheap brands. Actually the 4-ish week period after I had DS2 was the worst as I was constantly bleeding and so sore with what was basically nappy rash

I have/suffer from hyperovulation. So both sides release an egg, I had a period every two weeks. So quite easy to spend ££ on periods every month.
Now on cerazette and haven’t had a period in a year. Bliss!

I have light periods. When I was young i was friends with a couple of sisters from a very poor family. They were made to use the old style cloth and belt thing. I felt so Sorry for them. I felt their father didn't value buying nicer sanpro for them. He was a bit of a bully. So when i think of period poverty i think of young girls who don't have money of their own. Posters who talk of leaving sanpro in toilets, it's a great idea. Where would be best to leave it though for girls in the situation I've described?

Also really heavy periods- usually buy own brand products but given I have to use multiple products at once and change regularly I probably spend around 8-10 a month

i probably dont spend that a year on sanitary products.

What about families with mostly or only daughters? When I was 16 me, my 2 sisters and my mum all had periods every month.
4 of us menstruating must have been expensive.

The problem with that 'realistic' figure OP is that not only did the poster doing the calculating ignore non-sanpro costs, she also left out the women using incontinence pads because their periods are too heavy for normal period products.

@AliceLiddel surely you must spend more than £13 per year on sanitary products? What do you use?

I easily spend more than £13 each period. Ridiculously heavy / flooding (ie) having to change almost every time I get up from my desk at work even if I've just been to the loo. It will be like this for a few days then be very heavy thereafter. Typically lasts around 10 days, although has been longer at times requiring medication to stop them. I also have to buy those dry nite style sheets to protect the mattress and bedsheets as despite best efforts accidents happen. It's expensive.

Should be free to those who need it regardless of the £per month. Some will spend more, some less. If it were goid quality and ordered in serious bulk, there must be cost savings. I appreciate there isn't a money tree but this is crucial. It's ludicrous in this day and age.

As I mentioned on a previous post the truly dreadful thing is that MPS voted that sanitary products be taxed as a luxury item. Ffs, how would they feel if women went around bleeding all over the place once a month!! These items are a necessity and if the tax was removed there would probably be less period poverty. I am past the menopause, thank goodness, but I feel absolutely incensed on behalf of women who are of child-bearing age.

I now have very heavy periods so can't use cheap sanitary towels and need the thick/night time ones. I spend about £10 a month so I don't think many people would be spending more than that.

Daily Fail women hating journalism tripe.

The price is an average. There are other things such as damage to clothes and underwear. Women often use both tampons and pads and more that one pack!

Because you don't spend that much, means nobody else does??

I spend £6 3 packs of sanpro) on one period. I buy the heaviest strength. One pack Costs £2, but £3 in supermarkets when not on offer. Period lasts 8-10 days, sometimes more, plus period is every 22 days.

And yes YABVVVVU.

@PookieDo
Iron ( Ferous Sulphate ) tablets can be bought in most Chemist for around £1.50 per hundred.

A luxury item? Omg, they’re a necessity, not a luxury. It was obviously men that decided this. They should try having blood leaking out of them for 5 days a month at least, plus mood swings, cramps, headaches and all the other things that come with it and then see if they still think they’re a luxury item!

I used to spend about £15 a month. I have endometriosis (1 in 10 women do) and I'd get through a pack of pads a day. I have to change them every 2 hours max night and day. So far I've been bleeding for 72 days straight but it's a lot lighter than usual. I now use cloth pads which are so much cheaper

Hot water bottles and heat pads need to be bought too if you don’t have them already.

I have reusables but spot for days then very heavy periods so I have to wash them a lot even though I have 20 pads.

Then for some there is the cost of getting to hospital for the endometriosis surgery, a decent dressing gown to keep your dignity (I got given this as a present) slippers if you don’t have them and 2 days- 2 weeks off work. The latter was paid for me and I don’t actually mind the cost of any of this as I’m on a decent wage but if you’re scraping by the cost could be a huge deal along with dealing with all the horrible physical and emotional effects.

A small cost but I definitely use a lot more loo roll at time of the month to try and feel clean, wipes might also be needed.

I spend way more! I have to buy heavy duty pads for multiple times a day. Some days I could change a pad every hour or two. I tried mooncups as a cheaper reusable product but that end it a blood bath! I also have to by prescription pain killers. Then period pants... it cost a fortune