Saving money on *cough* feminine products

Okay, guys, you can leave now. I'm not going to talk about bras this time. I'm going to talk about menstrual pads, tampons, and the like.

Have you ever noticed how much you spend on tampons or pads? It's a lot. I could write a whole post about "the tampon factor," which is closely related to "the latte factor", but I'll spare you. The brand names cost more than a pack of cigarettes, and it's easy to use up an entire box, or more, every month. I've saved a lot of money over the years with reusable menstrual products. I won't go into the health and environmental benefits, although these are arguably even more important than the financial benefits of reusable products.

For over ten years, I've been using Gladrags, which are washable cotton menstrual pads. They're especially comfy at night. They're expensive at about ten bucks apiece, but if you're crafty you can easily sew some at home. I bought a 3-pack back in college, and then inherited several more when a family member went through menopause and didn't need them any more. I would recommend having at least six to ten pads (and extra liners) if you're serious about reducing your usage of disposables. If you have more cotton pads, you'll have to do laundry less often, and you'll end up using fewer disposable products. I keep my Gladrags in a little basket with a lid on the back of the toilet (thank you, Ikea).

However, they're pretty inconvenient for use away from home (not unlike cloth diapers). So last year I invested in The Keeper*. This natural rubber cup is...well, I won't get into the details of how it works. Check out the website for that. This item is also spendy, costing around $30, but I figured it would take me less than nine months to recover my costs. Unlike Gladrags, it's convenient for use away from the house, especially for travelling. I also like the Keeper because it takes much less water and less time to clean (Gladrags need to be soaked, washed, rinsed, etc). Plus, it's great for swimming.

At this point, between the Keeper and my old Gladrags (which still work fine after a decade of use), I often go months without using any disposable menstrual products. I'd recommend both products to anyone.


* BTW, if you order the Keeper, give them referral code 1Q. This gives me a kickback--I think it's $5. Then send me an email and I'll split the kickback with you fifty-fifty.

Related posts:
* My very best money saving tip: Re-use!
* As I was working on this post, I saw a similar one by SFMom, in which she points us to this great article about reusable menstrual products.