The Period Cost

Did you know? “American women spend well over $2 billion per year on feminine hygiene products, and the average woman will use over 16,800 tampons and pads over the course of her lifetime.” Maloney told Rewire.

Wait, what’s going on? How is that possible? While many women would love to skip their periods, this is something we cannot avoid. With about half of the world’s population going through their monthly periods, many women are unaware of how much their period costs over time…

Let us remind you of some facts:

● Women have their periods once a month

● The average woman will menstruate from the age of 13 until roughly the age of 51

● Each period will last between 3 and 7 days, which would equal to 456 periods over 40 years

As we mentally and physically prepare ourselves for “that week.” From our mood swings to hormonal acne, cravings, and let’s not forget the cramps that come along… It’s a “hot week”!

According to a study conducted by OnePoll, 2,000 women participated, and here are the following results:

● 69% think menstrual products are too expensive;

● 72% believe menstrual products should be free;

● 60% of women admitted to budgeting to afford sanitary products; and

● 79% of women have made sacrifices to afford their necessities.

Now, if women didn’t have their periods. What would they do with their money?

If menstrual products were free or subsidized by the government, many women would take a vacation, save for retirement, or pay for a house.

Let’s take a deeper dive into the financial aspect of periods in general. We are going to quantify some of the expenses women endure when they are on their periods. Cheers, and here’s to a detail accounting on how much periods really cost.

Costs of Sanitary Products

When we think of sanitary products, we immediately think of tampons, sanitary pads, and panty liners. And for those who are environmentally friendly- we think period panties and menstrual cups.

These are just the standard hygiene products most women would buy every month, and since it is expected, we would account for this as a fixed expense. With products ranging in price, some are subject to tax (some activists in various states are working to get rid of the tampon tax). And most of these products cannot be safely reused (tampons, panty liners, and pads). Although our tampon tax (au revoir 13% of tax) in Canada, tariff tax still applies.

Let’s breakdown the costs even further and assume no changes in price (no inflation):

● Tampons: One tampon can be used for up to 8 hours, and throughout the day, we use 4 tampons/day. How much does it really cost throughout a woman’s lifetime?

As an economist would say, let’s assume we are looking at 20 tampons for a 5-days menstrual cycle and during a woman’s lifetime, she will experience this for 38 years. (We are using an average method)

12 months X 20 tampons = 240 tampons per year

Let’s not get started with organic tampons; they cost an extra $3 to $4 for a small box.

● Pads: If you believe that women will keep their tampons during their sleep, dream on! We don’t need our beauty sleep uninterrupted by changing our bloody tampons every 4 to 8 hours. So, we rely on pads. Yes, the ones that feel like diapers. And let us remind you, it all depends on your flow and your preferences.

Let’s list them for you:

● Thin or Regular

● Long or Regular

● Size: 1, 2, 3 or 4

● Slender or Not Slender

● Wings or No Wings

● Scented or Unscented

● Light, Regular, Heavy or Extra Heavy

Now, let’s break down the cost:

We aren’t going to complicate it, so we are going to assume regular size with wings,

1 pad overnight for 5-days menstrual cycle.

5 pads per month X 12 months = 60 pads per month

Now, how does one reach $6,000 over her lifetime? Let us inform you, we buy various packs depending on our flow. We keep them in our ‘toolbox,’ and when it happens, we are ready. Sometimes, it just so happens that periods occur early, and we forget our pouch of products. The cost of pads and tampons accumulate quickly, and we just can’t help ourselves. As much as we try to prepare because when it flows, it flows. Things happen, and we are human. PERIOD.

● Pantyliners: Pantyliners come in various sizes, you can purchase the 30 pack, 60 pack, or the 90 pack, and of course, they vary in prices from $3.99 to $6.99. Let’s assume 5 panty liners per cycle would cost an average of $450 per lifetime.

● Ruined panties: We’ve all ruined panties multiple times during our periods, and sometimes it’s not even worth salvaging. If one ruined period panty costs approximately $5, that equals $2,280 for 456 periods.

Cost of Period Care & Medications

Of course, there are side effects, who are we kidding? From mild cramps to major abdominal pain, we sure would need to purchase a few over-the-counter products to subside the pain.

Do all women experience pain? According to a study, 80% of women experience menstrual pain throughout their lifetime. It gets so bad that some women need to be placed on bed rest loaded with copious amounts of pain relievers to get through ONE menstrual cycle.

Now, for all those who are aware... Menstruation comes with various symptoms - mood swings, pimples, muscle pain, cramps, etc.…. To combat these symptoms, women have leaned on multiple products such as acne medications, painkillers, heating pads, birth control, etc…

● Over-the-counter medication: Midol, Advil, or any painkiller, at 12 capsules (at $9.99 for every 40 capsules) by 456 periods, this would add up to approx 5,500 capsules for a women’s lifetime, which would be $1,350.

Cost of Humiliation

For some women, period cramps get so bad that they need to stay home and miss work. Yes, that’s right, if we are lucky, we can work from home. But if that wasn’t an option and if we have no remaining sick days or personal days offs, we can lose up to $200/day just for not showing up to work. Just imagine this scenario, it’s the time of your month, and you can’t work because your period pain is so bad. (Trust, it’s happened to us a few times!)

● Lost days at work: $200/day (for 2 days of your period) X 12 months = $4,800 pre-tax X 20 years= $96,000 pre-tax is lost just because you have your period and you can’t show up to work.

Cost of Laundry

Periods come with various costs, but does one ever think about the amount of laundry we do during our periods? From the stains and leaks... It happens to the best of us! Of course, this can be avoided by constantly changing our tampons and pads more frequently. But we can only predict when to change, and sometimes it just happens. Even worse, we need to change sheets because we bleed in bed during our sleep.

Add an extra load of laundry. $5/laundry (includes washer and dryer) X 456 periods could potentially total up to $2,280. $2,280 on washing your period clothes. (Yay us!)

Cost of period cravings

What’s a period without cravings? PAIN! Our heart desires what it desires during our periods. We said it! Nothing like comfort food to make us feel better. From chocolate, ice cream, popcorn, teas, hot chocolate, hamburgers, chips, pizza, fries, to really anything that makes you feel better during your menstruation period. We won’t analyze each cost, but let’s take a bar chocolate bar. This usually costs about $2 X 456 periods = $912. Don’t get us started with the others; it’ll just make us sad while writing this.

Do I hear contributions we should be putting that money into our investments and savings? We don’t challenge that whatsoever! We actually agree. It is a considerable sum of money that a woman would need to forgo throughout her lifetime. While many women would like to skip our periods, this is not avoidable!

So, how do we prep for these expenses? One word answer. BUDGET!

Budget

Now that we’ve outlined some typical costs a majority of women would encounter, we must account for these costs. We need to ensure that this is accounted for in our budgets since it’s a recurring expense. It’s not an easy expense to swallow since periods vary in pain and in flow, but try to allocate between $20 and $30 per month just to be safe. This will leave you some buffer room for the next month, and if you plan accordingly, MAYBE, just MAYBE, you can save some money.