Too poor to buy sanitary towels

Corkgirl18

Corkgirl18 wrote: »

I work in a DEIS school and there is always a stock of sanitary products kept in case a child needs them.
I also know they were kept in the Convent secondary school I attended.
I would presume this would be the norm in schools here.
Its strange it doesn't happen in the UK.

No. Not in my local school, anyway - which, btw, is also a DEIS school.

The products are available, but I think it's about a euro for one pad/tampon from a dispensing machine.

thisistough

Clazbeag wrote: »

It's always worth asking local homeless shelters if it's something they accept. Homeless women can find even generic own brands too expensive and can be reliant on napkins and loo roll etc.

The nail salon Tropical Popical posted this to their instagram a few weeks ago re donating sanitary products to homeless charities

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

FizzleSticks

FizzleSticks wrote: »

That isn't an issue of not having the money.

Sure the brand name products are expensive but the generic are really cheap, like you'd spend a pound a month, maybe two at a real stretch.

If you can't find a pound or two a month for something your child needs, I'd say that would be one of many things because I'd imagine the child is living in a completely dysfunctional household if a basic need like that wasn't being met.

Have you ever had to use the generic ones?
God-awful, uncomfortable things!

Kermit.de.frog

BlinkingLights wrote: »

You can literally be cut off.

What's wrong with that? Welfare lifers should be cut off.

Lia_lia

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Have you ever had to use the generic ones?
God-awful, uncomfortable things!

I use Lidl non applicator tampons. They cost feck all are fine! Pads are just uncomfortable in general.

end of the road

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

What's wrong with that? Welfare lifers should be cut off.

it costs too much. they would turn to crime, taking up police resources, more prison spaces would be required then are at the moment. if you are happy to pay both our shares in the costs then by all means.

Kermit.de.frog

end of the road wrote: »

it costs too much. they would turn to crime, taking up police resources, more prison spaces would be required then are at the moment. if you are happy to pay both our shares in the costs then by all means.

People should be allowed rip off the welfare system because "they would turn to crime"?

Fcuk em, let em starve.

Jimoslimos

bee06 wrote: »

0% tax in Ireland.

Is this true? I only ask because (as well as being a guy and blissfully ignorant) there was a Commons vote in the UK over a year ago on whether to scrap the tax and it was rejected en-masse by the Tories (including my own lying scumbag MP) who, as is their wont, claimed they couldn't scrap it because their hands were tied by the EU...something something Brexit.

end of the road

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

People should be allowed rip off the welfare system because "they would turn to crime"?

Fcuk em, let em starve.

not Fcuk em let em starve if it means i have to pay more then currently.

Kermit.de.frog

end of the road wrote: »

not Fcuk em let em starve if it means i have to pay more then currently.

They'd starve so that would not be a problem.

end of the road

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

They'd starve so that would not be a problem.

they wouldn't though as they will probably turn to crime. it could be my house they rob.

JupiterKid

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

They'd starve so that would not be a problem.

Lovely attitude right there. So you would advocate a return to Dickensian conditions for those less well off than you and the workhouse?

Kermit.de.frog

JupiterKid wrote: »

Lovely attitude right there. So you would advocate a return to Dickensian conditions for those less well off than you and the workhouse?

No; for lifer, able to work but couldn't be bothered, dole people - good riddance.

They don't contribute to society, they damage it so why should society protect these scumbags?

end of the road

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

No; for lifer, able to work but couldn't be bothered, dole people - good riddance.

that would be against their human rights

Kermit.de.frog

end of the road wrote: »

that would be against their human rights

I don't give a damn about their human rights.

The human rights of the victims of their criminal families are more important to me.

RoYoBo

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

This ^^^

I have volunteered on similar projects locally - trying to help lone parents to budget, learn basic cookery skills, recycle etc. The skills we tried to encourage weren't off the wall - they were things I did/still do myself to stretch my own budget, like exchanging children's clothes and equipment, buying from charity shops, cooking from scratch and keeping track of spending and bills.

Unfortunately, only a very few implemented any of these skills, or even showed an interest in them. Most seemed to resist and resent anything that involved effort or fed into a sense of personal deprivation. These were all lovely, well-meaning women and mothers and it was heart-breaking to see them caught so unwittingly in a lifelong poverty trap.

I particularly remember one woman who insisted that each new baby (of 4 and counting) deserved an entirely new pram and new clothes, no matter how much debt she accumulated as a result. Many others felt that cooking was a waste of time and it was 'cheaper, easier and quicker' to buy takeaways. Even when budgets were drawn up to show the exact opposite - and we actually cooked said real food in the centre - most didn't really want to know.


There is always something you can do to mitigate the effects of a low income IMO. Even just making better plans and prioritising your budget can achieve a lot. That's not an attempt at victim-blaming BTW - it's about being creative with what you have and it's what most people have to do unless they have an income like Bill Gates. How to get that across is the problem ...

Graces7

As an old lady.. used to use rags and wash them. Just rinse them out and put them to dry each month. Old towels.

You can get good towels for almost nothing from charity shops; eg for dogs.

Folk are too dependent on bought products.

Oh and later when I was teaching in the UK, we always had sanitary towels in the office to give to girls who needed them.

Come on folk! If the US can mobilise so much voluntary help when Trump abolishes meals on wheels, the British who won the war can give help to its young.

Grayson

Graces7 wrote: »

As an old lady.. used to use rags and wash them. Just rinse them out and put them to dry each month. Old towels.

You can get good towels for almost nothing from charity shops; eg for dogs.

Folk are too dependent on bought products.

Oh and later when I was teaching in the UK, we always had sanitary towels in the office to give to girls who needed them.

Come on folk! If the US can mobilise so much voluntary help when Trump abolishes meals on wheels, the British who won the war can give help to its young.

Or they can pass a law that makes it mandatory to have these products free in toilets. Like toilet paper. They cost feck all it's it's a basic need, just like toilet paper.

Graces7

There is so much we can do to help in active ways.

Like Breakfast and After School clubs when kids are not being fed at home. Traded once at a local Craft Fair that was fund raising for just that. And the local supermarkets donated cereals.

Old saying, you can either light a candle or rage at the dark.

Same could be done for basic needs like this.

bee06

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Is this true? I only ask because (as well as being a guy and blissfully ignorant) there was a Commons vote in the UK over a year ago on whether to scrap the tax and it was rejected en-masse by the Tories (including my own lying scumbag MP) who, as is their wont, claimed they couldn't scrap it because their hands were tied by the EU...something something Brexit.

Here's the link from the revenue website showing 0% VAT.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/rates/decision-detail-04004.jsp

me_right_one

Candie wrote: »

I don't think rags should be considered an option in 2017. It's hard enough for small children to come to terms with bleeding and pain every few weeks, without expecting them to cope with bloody, unhygenic rags too.

minibear wrote: »

As someone who has suffered all her life with crippling period pain I just hope the girls whose families can't afford sanitary products have access to pain relief if they need it. I've even passed out a few times from period pain. I've given birth twice and the only pain worse than bad period pain was when I was induced and had to have my waters broken artificially.

God, as a fella totally ignorant of these things, I never knew periods involved any sort of pain. It never occurred to me that they might be.... sore

spurious

me_right_one wrote:

God, as a fella totally ignorant of these things, I never knew periods involved any sort of pain. It never occurred to me that they might be.... sore

It's not just pain, though i suspect I might really scare you with some clot tales I could tell.

Truly crippling unable to get out of bed pain is not usual however and should always be medically investigated.

There are ways of stopping periods for a number of years at a a time, but they can affect a person's fertility which for some may be too high a price to pay.

whoopsadoodles

me_right_one wrote: »

God, as a fella totally ignorant of these things, I never knew periods involved any sort of pain. It never occurred to me that they might be.... sore

Most women will experience some level of pain, you'd be very lucky to go through your life and not experience it in some form.

Some of us though, suffer so badly with it that we have trouble walking or standing up straight.

On top of that then, there's the nausea, the migraines, the agony of feeling like someone is stabbing your ovary with a rusty penknife for 24 hours two weeks before the main event. Not being able to lie on your front or get a tight hug because your boobs hurt so much. I'm sure I've missed out on many more....

If you take contraceptive to regulate these issues you could end up with loss of libido, depression, weigh gain, fertility issues. If the contraceptive doesn't regulate it, you could run in to massive medical costs trying to find where the issue might lie and these could result in surgery, minor or major, or worse - result in no cause being found and being told tough sh*t, take some painkillers and get on with it.

If they get particularly bad, they can cause many other complications.

It's a delight though, really!

(wouldn't change being a woman for the world, just that one small thing!)

Autonomous Cowherd

spurious wrote: »

It's not just pain, though i suspect I might really scare you with some clot tales I could tell.

.

Aaahh, the oul clot stories.

“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?
The world would split open.” ~ Muriel Rukeyser

Graces7

Originally Posted by Candie View Post
I don't think rags should be considered an option in 2017. It's hard enough for small children to come to terms with bleeding and pain every few weeks, without expecting them to cope with bloody, unhygenic rags too.

There was I assure you nothing unhygienic. But then we used real nappies too. Washed those too...

Sometimes it seems modern folk are just too.. squeamish.

Small children?

Rags by the way = useful sized old towelling or cloth, not ragged!

JupiterKid

When were disposable sanitary towels available to most women in the West? The 1950s (I have no idea...)?

Graces7

whoopsadoodles wrote: »

Most women will experience some level of pain, you'd be very lucky to go through your life and not experience it in some form.

Some of us though, suffer so badly with it that we have trouble walking or standing up straight.

On top of that then, there's the nausea, the migraines, the agony of feeling like someone is stabbing your ovary with a rusty penknife for 24 hours two weeks before the main event. Not being able to lie on your front or get a tight hug because your boobs hurt so much. I'm sure I've missed out on many more....

If you take contraceptive to regulate these issues you could end up with loss of libido, depression, weigh gain, fertility issues. If the contraceptive doesn't regulate it, you could run in to massive medical costs trying to find where the issue might lie and these could result in surgery, minor or major, or worse - result in no cause being found and being told tough sh*t, take some painkillers and get on with it.

If they get particularly bad, they can cause many other complications.

It's a delight though, really!

(wouldn't change being a woman for the world, just that one small thing!)

Ah those WERE indeed the "good old days" SUch memories you evoke, that I can look back on from my nearly 80 years.. And no, T.S ELiots poignant words re "age and forgetfulness sweeten memory" do not apply to menstruation ... Hot water bottles were our friends...

" Ah yes; I remember it well..."

jimgoose

This is outrageous, in Western Europe in 2017. It's England for fuck sake, not Albania under "Window-Licker" Hoxha. The NHS should step in here and make sure this sort of thing is properly taken care of.