Pinching Pennies - Glasses

     Pinching pennies!  I’ll pinch them boogers till they bleed over some things, others I’m a little more lax about.  I would like to say that I get a great deal no matter what I’m buying, but I’m not that good yet. 

     One of the largest expenses for some people are healthcare associated costs.  Some people don’t think about vision when they think about healthcare; although, if we can’t see that is a massive impact on the way we live our lives.  Some people opt out of vision, because they don't think it's that important.  But it really can be.  Cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, etc., can completely derail a person's way of life.  

     I am fortunate enough to have a vision plan that covers the cost of an eye exam every year or two.  I really ought to check on the frequency, but I believe I am allowed one eye exam annually.  After that?  I’m on my own.  Glasses are not covered.  Contacts are not covered.  Corrective surgery is not covered.  Not that I’d really consider surgery after the nightmare my husband has been through with his, but you get my point.  I think, and again, I really should check on this, that I might have coverage for what would be considered a more medical problem, like treatment of an actual condition, infection, etc., but refractive correction for poor eyesight is not one of the things that Tricare cares about, apparently.

     The last time I bought glasses from an optometrist’s office, they cost me over $300.  I was talking to my cousin the other day, and her most recent pair (bought this year) were in the same ballpark.  That’s a lot to me.  That's a car payment, a month's worth of groceries, or a trip back to Georgia to see family.  I can say to myself, “Self, that’s no problem.  Just put back $25 a month.  No big.”  Then something comes up and the car needs a battery, or the tire suddenly develops a slow leak, or the electric bill is unusually high, or the kid gets sick, and there went that $25. 

     And why are glasses so danged expensive anyway?  I started wondering if I *had* to pay that much money for a few bits of metal and some specially bent plastic.  I asked around, and a few people referred me to Zenni Optical.  They boast about having frames as low as $6.99, lenses included.  What?  Yep.  I was a bit leery.  I mean, how good could they be, right?> Turns out the super cheap ones are mostly kid sized or for people with teeny tiny heads.  I have to move on up to at least the $20 range to fit my big ole melon. 

     But how good are they?  Good enough.  I bought a pair of sunglasses and a pair of eyeglasses three years ago for $25 with a buy-1-get-1 coupon.  They’re still holding up.  The prescription is accurate.  The eye doctor I go to uses the old prescription as a jumping off point for the current eye exam, so my glasses were tested while I was there today.  The sunglasses have been left in the car for three years solid and had no issues with the heat or cold.  My cousin’s $300 glasses cracked in the heat of her car a week or so after purchase.  Unreal.  For $300, those boogers need to be indestructible, life-time guaranteed. 

     I just placed an order for glasses and sunglasses today, and I paid $64, shipped, with anti-glare coating, scratch resistant lenses, and the sunglasses tinted at 80% with UVA and UVB protection.  If I had bought them from my eye doctor, I probably would have had to cough up around $600 for the lot, or more, assuming I got the cheapest I could find and had a combo deal.  That’s 90% difference.  Yes, they can be more expensive than that, if you get the fancier bells and whistles on your lenses, like fingerprint resistant, water resistant, a higher rated UVA/UVB protective coating, or the super thin lenses, but it is possible to get single vision glasses for as little as $7 plus a few dollars for shipping.  That's hard to beat.  

     No, I am not getting any money for this.  There are no affiliate links in this blog post.  I just wanted to share, because having to come up with hundreds of dollars for glasses can be hard to do.  In the immortal words of Mrs. Lovett, times is hard.  If you do order from them, make sure that you have a hard copy of your prescription that you can photograph, scan, or in some other way upload and email to them.  Also, ask your eye doctor for your pupilary distance (PD) so you can find correct sized frames for your head and your lenses' prescription will be centered for your eyes.