Zenni Optical - we like them!

Another one of those times where I WISH this were a sponsored post, because I'm totally going to try to sell you on this way of buying prescription glasses and they totally should pay me for it.  :)

Catie wears glasses now.

These are the glasses she got from our optometrist. Nice, right? Only within a few weeks she had damaged the hinges by taking them off with one hand all the time. I didn't know that was a thing, but Jake (a lifelong glasses-wearer) did.

So we got the frames replaced, because they were still under warranty, but she had to wear floppy glasses for a week until the new frames arrived. So I decided I HAD to get her a back-up pair of glasses, in case something else happened to this pair again.

There are a few online suppliers for prescription glasses, and most of them cost a LOT less than buying a pair through an optometrist. In order to... um... order... your glasses, you need to get a printout of your prescription and (this is important) your pupillary distance, or PD. Sometimes an office will be co-operative with releasing your prescription, but not your PD because they KNOW that you'll be ordering glasses from somewhere else, then. Selling glasses is the way they make their money - they barely clear $5 from insurance covered exams, so I can't really blame them. But I still need to watch my wallet, not theirs. It's your medical information, and it's your right to have it - ask politely but firmly.

Zenni Optical is a really nice online source for less-expensive glasses. Their base price for a full pair - frames AND lenses - is $6.95. They do have more expensive pairs, of course, and every little add-on costs money, as does shipping. But for less than $20 total, we got these!

They're memory titanium - very springy and lightweight, and baby brother-proof. She likes them better than her other glasses, which would cost us around $100 to replace through the optometrist, and wears them daily.

Zenni is pretty cool, too - you get a free case, microfiber wiping cloth, and a little pupillary distance measuring tool. Why? Because after the first family member gets their pair, hopefully everyone else with poor vision will be so impressed that they'll want a pair, too. And the PD tool will save them from having to run to their doctor for the info.

Isn't that thoughtful (and mercenary)? Next time Jake needs new glasses, I'm hoping to talk him into this - the last pair of his set us back over $400 from Pearl Vision!