Recession Beaters pt. III: The Diva Cup

Dear Penny for my thoughts reader-today’s post will be going there.  Yes there-to the lady land of the Hedy.  Unapologetically.  If you don’t want to read it, head on.

I’ve been an unbashed user of menstrual cups for nearly six years now (actually, I used Instead 12 Hour Feminine Protection Cup for a few years before that, but I don’t count it for reasons I’ll get to later.)  My first menstrual cup was The Keeper .  It took some getting used to (I think the best description I ever heard was someone saying that she thought some organs were going to come out when she took it out).  However, I soon feel in love with not having to buy menstrual products every month, and not having to worry about changing my tampon or pad (I really wished I had had one in high school, to avoid the stuffing tampon into pocket as you ask to use the bathroon manuever.)  I also no longer had to worry about leaking-something that plagued me before I used menstrual cups.  It was also nice not to create the waste that happened with tampon applicators or the Instead cups.  Packing for my semester abroad was a dream-instead of debating the merits of stocking up on tampons, I could just fit my Keeper into a pocket in my LL Bean toiletry case.

But it didn’t get as clean as I would have liked, so after one and a half years I got a Diva – Diva Cup.  I found the Diva Cup to be an improved model on the Keeper-it was much more flexible and comfortable.  I also found the measuring gauge on the side to be helpful-I have Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome, which makes things flow more heavily, and it’s nice to be able to tell my doc that a given period leads to this much fluid.  Mine finally started to look a little done in this year, after four years of use.

I think the biggest reason people fear cups is having to get up close and personal with what’s in the cup.  But you have to face it with any other method you use, right?  At least in my experience.

Why is this a recession issue?  Let’s do some math.  1 36 count box of Playtex tampons is  $9.99 on Drugstore.com (I know a lot of people do great things with CVS for this sort of thing, but I’m not that organized).  That’s $.28 a tampon.  Figuring 6 tampons a day, five days per period, and 12 periods a year, that’s $100.80 a year that you’re flushing down the toilet for tampons.  For Instead Cups, they are $9.49 for 24, $.39 a cup.  With 2 cups a day, 5 days a period, 12 periods a year, that $47.45 a year.  So even if you pay the full $39.99 for the Diva Cup, you can save some serious personal product coin.

Questions, comments?  Feel free to leave them.