If it wasn’t clear, I’m taking this site in a new direction. It’s still going to serve as an online resume and portfolio, but I plan to fully utilize it as my corner of the Internet. My platform. I’ve added a tab where Meghan and I will document our home remodel, but this Front Page will ultimately serve for discussions on writing, publishing, and other digressions that cross my path.
This post is a digression. Think of it like an excursion. An adventure.
A very nerdy, very frugal adventure.
I wear glasses. I have since High School, and I’m almost entirely useless without them. Until recently, I would buy a pair of glasses, wear them until the prescription was outdated, and buy a new pair. With eyeglass insurance almost entirely antiquated, buying a new pair–even if every two years–was a significant cost. I wear single-vision lenses, and the last pair of glasses I bought commercially cost over $400. That was during a 1/2 price lens sale.
I essentially destroyed the $400 pair while priming all the new walls in the house. It turns out that primer has some deteriorating properties when applied directly to eyeglass lenses, and shouldn’t be wiped off with a dry shirt. Instead of running back to the mall do drop another fist full of dollars, I decided to search out a more reasonable option.
Enter EyeBuyDirect.com.
EyeBuyDirect is one of many online glasses retailers that boast dirt-cheap prescription glasses. The frames are extremely stylish. They aren’t name-brand, but nobody cares who made your glasses. I heard about the service on The Clark Howard Show, and with prices beginning around $8 for a complete pair, trying it out presented an extremely low-risk high-reward scenario.
I scheduled an eye exam to update my prescription, and requested it in writing when I left. If you have a current prescription you can contact your optometrist’s office and they’ll turn it over without too much fuss. After selecting a good-looking frame from the hundreds to choose from, I was brought to a page where entering the prescription information was idiot-proof.
Ten days later I had my glasses.
They were perfect. They fit well, the prescription was dead-on, and they looked great. I opted for a lot of extras on the lenses, adding scratch-resistance and uv-protection, but even with all the extras the total cost of the glasses was somewhere around $25.
I haven’t looked back. Since my first pair in November of 2009, I’ve ordered four more. I tell everybody who will listen about buying glasses online, and I encourage people to spread the word. Most sites offer bi-focal and progressive lenses, and I’m in the process of ordering a pair of prescription sunglasses–something that will be nice to have, but that I could never justify the cost for.
If you wear glasses, I encourage you to check it out. The risk is virtually zero. If you’d like more information, a fella named Ira runs a great informational site over at GlassyEyes.com. He has retailer reviews, special discount coupons, and hosts a great community in his forums that will be happy to answer any questions.
Otherwise, check out EyeBuyDirect, or one of these other retailers:
- ZenniOptical–Probably the cheapest player in the game.
- 39DollarGlasses–Some prices are lower than $39.
- Optical4Less–Another great site.
- GlassesShop–One of the only sites I’ve found that carries true name-brand frames at a deep discount
Thanks for reading.
