Three things I’m doing to save money on being a woman

In 2018, the Financial Diet put out this video talking about unfair costs of being a woman.

The video explored six topics: impact of parenthood, reproductive health, the Pink Tax, the financial literacy gap, the wage gap and reduced financial access.

It ran about 13 minutes long…and generated more than 1,000 comments. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth checking out (there’s also a companion video about the unfair cost of being a man. You can check that out here).

Not only did I learn a lot watching these videos, they also challenged me to think, both about about how these costs affect me and what I’m doing to deal with it.

Today, I wanted to share about some of the ways I save money on being a woman.

Things I’m doing to save money on being a woman

When I think about the things I have been doing to save money on being a woman, three examples that come to mind.

Please note: this post contains a links to different products. These are not affiliate links. I’m not making any money writing about these products/services — I honestly just like them and wanted to share! If that ever changes, I’ll let you know.

Taking a cheaper (and greener) approach to my time of the month

Earlier this year, I bought a DivaCup.

Even though I have friends who have been using (and loving) menstrual cups for years, I hesitated to get on this bandwagon. The concept intimidated me and I worried about the learning curve.

So I stuck with what I knew — tampons and pads — until I reached a point where my concern about adding more waste to the environment through disposable products outweighed my intimidation.

This is also when I really realized how freaking expensive it is to have a period.

For example, a box of 50 regular, unscented Tampax Pearl tampons is $11.98 (full price) at Walmart Canada. That’s about $0.23 a tampon, which seems alright…until you consider that on average, a woman can use about 20 tampons per cycle.

Twenty tampons a cycle is 240 a year. This means you’ll need five of these boxes a year at a full price cost of $59.90 (before tax).

And that’s only regular tampons! That doesn’t include other size tampons, pads, and liners, nor does it address your needs if you use more than 20 per cycle.

This article from Huffington Post (and this piece from Chatelaine) does a much more thorough job at breaking down the cost (and making a case for why these products should be subsidized, honestly).

Maybe it’s because I have always just viewed this as…part of being a woman, but actually spending some time with those numbers really surprised me.

Switching to a cup cost about $40 upfront and there is definitely a learning curve when you start using it. That said, the personal, environmental and financial benefits made it worthwhile for me.

(It’s safe to say I never thought I would be writing about my period on the internet but…well, here we are)

Finding a more affordable razor

While I’m ready to embrace a more environmentally friendly option for my period, I’m not quite there yet on the razor front. One day, I hope to be ready for a safety razor; until then, it’s disposable blades for me.

For the last couple years, I have been working through my stock of blades from Dollar Shave Club.

You’ve probably heard of this before. If not, here’s the gist: Dollar Shave Club is a subscription razor service. Contrary to the name, it costs more than $1 (in Canada, anyway); depending on what razor you choose, the blades range from about $3.50 – $9.50 a month.

I went with the 4×4 at $6.50 a month. And because I don’t use four blades a month, I amassed quite the collection over my 2.5 year membership. In fact, the only reason I left is because, even after switching to bimonthly delivery, I had more razors than I needed.

It’s been almost two years since I left and I still have a lot of razors stashed away. If you’re looking to save on blades and you don’t care if your razor is “girly” or whatever, this might be a great option for you.

Which leads to…

Saying no to the Pink Tax

The Pink Tax is the practice of charging women more than men for the same product or service.

What does that look like? According to the Canadian Labour Institute, the average Pink Tax premium is 43 per cent in Canada for items like deodorant, shampoo, soap and razors.

“In some cases it shows up in higher prices. In others, it means women get much less product for the same price. Either way, it’s blatant discrimination,” the Institute says.

For many years, I didn’t really think too much about the Pink Tax. That changed the day I ran out of shaving cream and realized the women’s shaving cream did, in fact, cost more than the men’s at the grocery store.

I don’t need my soap or my shaving cream or my deodorant to smell like fruit or flowers or whatever — I just need it to work.

I bought the “men’s” shaving cream. And honestly, it works just as well.

Being aware of the Pink Tax is one of the ways I save money on being a woman.

Final Thoughts

Yes, being a woman can be expensive, but don’t let this post fool you — at the end of the day, being a person can get pricey.

The point in writing this is not to say that one group of people has it any worse off than any other; rather, I wanted to share some thoughts and ideas from my own gender experience, in hopes that they might be useful to others.

Moving to a cup, sourcing a cheaper shaving option and being aware of how the gender lens can be applied to marketing are three things that have helped me save money on being a woman over the years.

How do you save money on gendered products and services?