Spectacle of Spectacles

John and I have a minor obsession.  Okay, maybe it's better said that John has a minor obsession, and I come along for the ride.  John and I both have poor eye-site without the aid of glasses or contacts.  John is not able to wear contacts, so it's all glasses for him.

A couple years ago, John discovered the concept of buying glasses online.  The glasses are significantly cheaper than buying glasses at the mall, not to even mention buying glasses at the eye doctor.  Since John wears glasses daily, he took these inexpensive glasses as an opportunity make the glasses he wears daily a part of his wardrobe that can change.

He watches for sales and new styles. Over time we've purchased many pairs of glasses and I've even gotten in on some of the action.  We've also shared our joy with many friends who now buy all their glasses on-line too.

An inventory of all the glasses in our house.  Though many look similar, most of the variety is in the stems, and we couldn't find an easy way to get all the stems in one picture.

Recently, John went to the eye doctor and got a new prescription, so we had to retire his old glasses and get new ones.  We did some thorough pricing, and even with an insurance stipend, it only made sense to get new lenses for 1 of his existing pairs of glasses.  For the alternative pairs, it was cheaper to just buy new glasses on-line.

We just finished replacing his alternative glasses.  Today, we went through the house and gathered up all the glasses in one spot.  We're going to donate the glasses that we didn't get new lenses for, and before we do, we wanted to take an inventory of all the glasses we have.

• 17 Total Pairs of Glasses
• 13 Prescription, Clear Glasses
• 3 Prescription, Sun Glasses
• 1 Non-prescription, Sun Glasses (for me when I'm wearing contacts, but I did buy them online with one of John's other glasses orders)
• 5 Pairs belong to me
• 12 Pairs belong to John
• 7 are in John's old Prescription (only 1 to get new lenses, other 6 to be donated)
• 1 in my old Prescription (going with John's to donation)
• 3 in my current prescription (though 1 pair I never wear, so it's going to donation too - lest you think this lessens the cost savings: In one order, I bought 2 pairs of glasses for $6 each, and one pair I didn't end up liking.  We just consider the pair I do wear to cost $12; still an awesome deal)
• 5 New Glasses in John's New Prescription
• If you're counting, that's a total of 8 going to donation, and 9 pairs we still use.
• Max Price: $120 (John's rim-less glass - this is the pair we're getting new lenses for)
• Min Price: $6 (We got 4 pairs of glasses for $24 in one order - that includes shipping - 2 were mine and 2 were John's)
• Total spent on all 17 Pairs, including shipping: $525 (That averages out to $31 per pair of glasses)

For those of you thinking, "Man, that's awesome; I want to get in on that!".  Here's a list of all the places we bought from.  There are a plethora of places online if you just do a Google search, but these are the ones we've used.

• www.eyebuydirect.com
• www.zennioptical.com
• www.goggles4u.com
• www.39dollarglasses.com

All you need is your prescription, just make sure it includes your Pupillary Distance, which is not always written in the default prescription format.  When we first started, we went to a mall store and tried on several glasses.  We weren't looking for a specific pair; we tried on a wide variety of sizes, styles, and shapes to get a general feel for what we liked.  Make note of the measurements on the glasses that look like a good size for your face (several of the websites explain the numbers - you can find them all on the glasses stems).

And that's our spectacle of spectacles.