It seems like in a world filled with menstrual madness we should have more options when it comes to dealing with our monthly monsters. Yet, it seems like us vagina owners only have two real ways to deal with our slight blood problem.

Many women tend to think there are only two options when it comes to our time of the month: pads or tampons. Both are pretty annoying and unreasonably expensive, not to mention taxed as a "luxury" item, as if it's totally not a complete health hazard to not have them. Well if you're as sick of paper being shoved up and around your hoo-ha as I am, you'll appreciate that we actually have more than one option when it comes to treating the luxury of not bleeding on everything we own for a week straight. The most common alternatives are period underwear (panties for around $11 that soak up all of the blood and can hold quite a bit, yet they need to be hand washed), sea sponges (living organism reusable tampons for around $20 but need maintenance), and my personal favorite, the Diva Cup. Now I'd love to tell you all about the many ways to block your red river from running, but because I only have experience with the Diva Cup, it's what I'm going to focus on. Here are all the reasons to cup up:

So first a little background on the Diva Cup: It's a small cup about 2.7 inches long with a diameter of 1.6 inches and it can hold up to 20 milliliters of liquid. It's made of pure silicone which is reusable, flexible, and bacteria resistant. You get in a squat, pinch the cup and fold it in half then insert it up your vagina until it opens, you then rotate it 360 degrees. To take it out you get into a squat and do a kegel until you can comfortably grab the stem and pull out, when the cup comes out pinch it so it's a bit smaller. Then proceed to wash it out (or not if you can't get to a sink) and boil before every period (optional).

1. It's Cost Effective - At any local drugstore a Diva Cup can range around $20- $40 and even less if you can find a good deal online. Now this might seem like a lot for something that gets reluctantly shoved up your vagina a few times every month but think about it: both pads and tampons are around eight dollars a box, and depending on your flow and amount of roommates or sisters you could be buying a box of either or both every one to two months. So at the very least, if you only bought one box of either not both every other month you would be spending $48 a year. At most, one box of each every month, you'd be spending $192 every year. Now Diva Cups are reusable, so you don't have to keep buying them all the time. The cup is recommended to be replaced every year, but many women have reported using theirs until it no longer can be used, which can be decades. Now this may not make a massive dent in your wallet but for a second consider homeless and financially struggling women, a onetime buy could mean not having to decide between being sanitary and feeding herself or family every month. Diva Cups have been sent around to the third world in order to provide a fiscally responsible, safe and clean alternative to dirty rags or just free bleeding.

2. It's Safer - Now you may think that putting the same thing up your vagina over and over might be unsafe, but according to your boyfriend it's completely fine. And unlike tampons (and his fun sack), the Diva Cup is completely bacteria resistant because it's made of pure silicone. Now where as we all know that leaving in a tampon for 12 hours is a massive no no for many reasons, you can cup it up for the whole day without having to worry about the absolute pain associated with a dry ass tampon, and without having to worry about losing limbs or possibly your life to Toxic Shock Syndrome, which can happen even if you change your tampon in an appropriate amount of time and is caused by you guessed it, bacteria.

3. It's Easier - Like I said, you can leave in your cup for around 12 hours, even though you can certainly push those limits depending on your flow. And because the cup suctions to the wall of your bat cave, it's a lot harder for there to be leaks so feel free to wear your feel good thong and not have to worry about your nether regions looking like Normandy if you're too busy or incapable of changing your tampon every few hours. As a general rule I like to dump and wash it before I go to bed and when I wake up, even on my heaviest days (which often tests the hold of super tampons) the cup seems like there's barely anything in it compared to the size of the cup. Now I'm not going to lie - at first the cup is not easy to get in, or well out. Luckily because it's only twice a day you can more than likely take care of business in your own home where you can take your time and figure out which version of your inner contortionist can get the darn thing in just right. But rest assure, just like tampons, after a bit of practice it gets easier and easier. Oh and I don't know if this is as much as an issue for everyone else but going to the bathroom is a million times easier because you don't pee on a string and nothing moves up there.

Now I know -- cups can be intimidating. They seem big, even though trust me your vagina can and (possibly, depending on a few preferences) will have some much bigger things down there. If you're afraid it will stretch out a bit (which it won't I swear) do some kegels for reassurance. They also seem pretty gross. I mean blood in a cup who would do that? Honestly, most women are pretty comfortable with their uterus tears, we've all had to spend way too much time around them. Like Ygritte from Game of Thrones says, "Girls see more blood than boys,” but even if you're still not that into the whole blood scene, I swear it's really not that gross. You should be willing to get your hands a bit dirty, but tampons and pads can often times be just as gross, there's really no avoiding it. At the end of the day the Diva Cup is an amazing alternative to an annoying, expensive and potentially dangerous tampons.