I don’t know what I was waiting for. I’ve needed new prescription glasses for over two years now but being self-employed means no benefits, and no benefits means mega-bucks for new glasses. So I continued to wear my old glasses, even when one of the little plastic nose support thingies fell off. And my prescription had changed. And they were ugly. But they were all I could afford at the time.
I need glasses for distance. It helps me to not drive into things, and to find the salad dressing aisle at the grocery store. That is important because I love salad, and I love not walking around the grocery store for two days trying to find it. I especially love not walking around for two days and then finding out I’m actually in a hardware store. Spoiler alert. They don’t carry salad dressing at Home Depot.
I’ve known about Zenni Optical for a long time now. I have friends who swear by Zenni’s on-line store for their prescription glasses and they raved about how cheap they are. Last year I made myself an account and then virtually tried on all their glasses. I uploaded a photo of my face, chose my favourites, entered all my prescription information, and then stopped before clicking the dreaded “proceed to check-out” button. I hesitated because I thought that they were a couple of hundred dollars. My friends had told me they were cheap but I thought the price on the website was for the frames. Surely the prescription lenses were several hundred dollars, like they are when you buy them at the at an optical store?
Nope. Not even close.
The price on their website is the price of their glasses, lenses and all. And you can see out of them, and find your salad dressing, and everything. Like magic. Only cheaper.
Since I am out of salad dressing, I decided to take the plunge and order my first on-line purchase of prescription glasses. The first pair I chose was only $6.95, so I decided that I should splurge and buy a second pair. Then I became really cocky. I threw caution to the wind and went all out on pair number two. I spent $12.95 on that pair. I know, I know. Calm down, big spender. But I didn’t.
And because it was so freaking cheap, I ordered clip-on sunglasses for each pair. They were only $3.95 each and dammit, I have been squinting into the sun for the past four years and it was high time I stopped burning out my retinas every time the sun shone while I was driving. I like my retinas.
Two pairs of prescription glasses, and two clip-on sunglasses, plus tax, and shipping came to a grand total of $50.11. That’s after converting the price to U.S. dollars. Cha-ching!
They took about a week to arrive and were packaged in their own glasses case.
These are the first ones I chose. Not to brag, but they were $6.95.
These are the super expensive ones at $12.95.
I'm not 100% sure I'm into blingy, but they totally go with my tiara, which I wear when I decorate for Christmas. Now I will be extra glamorous and I’ll have the added bonus of being able to locate my Christmas tree in my living room. It’s a win-win.
The only thing I’m not totally thrilled with is the clip-on sunglasses.
They are really thin and I’m pretty sure I’ll have destroyed both of them by next Saturday. They are okay in a pinch but next time I’m going to order actual prescription sunglasses from Zenni, now that I’m confident about the quality.
I’m sure there are plenty of arguments for why you should buy glasses from an expensive optical store, and I’d love to debate that, but when you really can’t afford prescription glasses, and you simply cannot find the salad dressing in Home Depot, Zenni Optical is the way to go.
*this blog post is not an affiliate link, but I wish it was. The money would come in handy to buy more glasses.