Money saved

Apologies in advance if I manage to gross anyone out with this post.

I use cloth sanitary pads, and have since 2007. Why? Two reasons, really. One is that it's better for the environment since they don't go in landfills after one use. The other reason is money.

The cloth ones do cost much more money up front. When I did my research last winter they generally cost about $10 per pad. But that's up front. They actually save money over all.

Thinking about this I got curious about the exact savings, and I decided to do a bit of math.

I asked mom how much disposable pads cost, and it's been so long for her  that she couldn't answer immediately. (She's officially an old crone, and has been for a few years.) Mom guesses she spent about $13 or $14 a month on pads for one person, so I decided to do my math for $13.50 a month.

Spending $13.50 a month on disposal pads adds up to $810 over five years.

Whereas the reusable...I probably spent $200 on a set that were supposed to last for five years. (That was the cost for what I consider to be a decent set when I did my research again last December.) And although I've had to throw a couple out, most are still going strong. Those things are quite durable, and should last a while longer.

So that's about $600 saved since I invested in the cloth pads. So far. The savings are increasing the longer they last.

Just think of all the lattes and chocolate I can buy instead for PMS with that money!