Written by: Kristýna Vondrová
We consider menstruation and money to be delicate topics in social conversations. Now imagine connecting them into one. Financial difficulty of the period. Have you ever counted how many thousands a menstruating woman will "spend" in her life for her cyclical donation?
We calculated not only crowns, but also kilos of waste or years of its decomposition. And our findings fit perfectly into a popular trope: we're not rich enough to buy cheap stuff.
What affects the cost of a period?
Before we dive into determining the average prices of pads and tampons and determining the number of pieces to cover one period, let's summarize the main factors that fatally affect our estimates (and the differences between the resulting amounts for individual ladies).
They include:
- age of onset of menstruation and menopause (determining the number of cycles that await us in life)
- length and intensity of the cycle (from this the frequency of periods and the number of devices used)
- chosen method of contraception (e.g., with an IUD, menstruation disappears during its application)
- number of pregnancies and duration of breastfeeding (which usually increases the period during which the mother does not menstruate)
- personal preferences and consumer habits (for example, the price of one pad depending on the brand and distribution channel it varies up to sixfold)
So the range of individual results is surprisingly wide. We will try to stick to the average. If you want to get a more accurate result, try period cost calculator.
How much does menstruation cost per month, year and lifetime?
Let's assume that our model woman will menstruate 5 days a month. If he uses 6 disposables each day, we get to 30 total. Let's say our heroine uses pads and tampons in a 50:50 ratio.
The price of one insert most often ranges from 2 to 10 CZK, for tampons from 5 to 6 CZK. Let's simplify the calculation by setting the unit price of any disposable period product at CZK 6. If we use 30 of them in one cycle, we get to an indicative cost of CZK 180 per month.
For menstruation - and 360 pieces of bleached cotton, which immediately after use become non-recyclable waste - we pay CZK 2,160. If the two hundred a month didn't "hurt" us so much, we are already thinking about the two thousand with a deeper sigh. In reality, it will be a higher amount because our bodies are not governed by calendar months, but by lunar ones. With a 28-day cycle, we have an average of 12.7 periods per year.
And how much will we pay for the physiological manifestation of our fertility in the course of our whole life? If we menstruate from about 13 to 51 years old, we go through about 456 cycles in our reproductive age. Suddenly we are talking about a figure exceeding 82 thousand crowns (if we do not consider the unstoppable rise in prices). But it is enough to get heavier bleeding and 7-day bleeding in the wine, and you will climb an order of magnitude higher, to 150,000 CZK. Wow. After all, having a period is not a choice!
In addition to our wallets, the planet is also crying. Imagine a pile of over 13,000 used pads and tampons ending up in mixed municipal waste. Those roads with trash cans and garbage trucks... Each one would also take roughly 250 years to break down. Let's not succumb to the greenwashing of drug giants: sustainable menstruation cannot be achieved through organic cotton tampons.
How can you have a more affordable, greener period?
After calculating the costs of comfortable and safe menstruation management in our latitudes, even the biggest cynics will admit that period poverty is not only marginal problem of people on the fringes of society. University students or single mothers also suffer from it. Therefore, alongside ecologically oriented consumers) they are looking for a more suitable solution.
The team is menstrual cup. It lasts around five years and replaces over a thousand disposables, as we have shown above. One piece covers the entire period without problems (unlike menstrual panties). Produced locally, sustainably and free of phthalates, latex, BPA or bleach. What's more, it also stands up to our games with the calculator: at 890 CZK for a cup of Whoop·de·doo and CZK 180 per period, the investment will pay for itself in just five months. A win-win for both accounting and environmental education, right?
Put an end to period poverty with us!
So why doesn't every woman on a tight budget have a menstrual cup when it makes absolute sense? It is precisely the price in the higher hundreds that prevents women at risk of poverty from making an economic and ecological choice.
And it is precisely to single women that we want to treat menstruation with dignity. Therefore, in the ongoing crowdfunding campaign on Donio , we present a limited edition of our menstrual cup (in a new, more sustainable packaging with a drawing by artist Lukáš Musil). For every cup that campaign contributors buy for themselves in rewards, we donate another to single mothers.
We're asking you, our community of customers. Visit the campaign page. Read more about the issue of period poverty in the Czech Republic. View the offer of original rewards. Buy a new cup for yourself and the single parent. Help us reduce the percentage of women who use toilet paper or tissue instead of toiletries (and miss work or school) in a desperate attempt to save money. We believe that together we can move the icebreaker.