How I Saved 90% on Prescription Eyeglasses!

 

While my son, Jake, was home visiting from college last weekend he informed that he needed a new pair of glasses.  He has been wearing contacts every day but he wanted to give his eyes a break once in a while and wear glasses instead. He somehow lost the pair that I bought for him at Target in 2010 for $209.99, along with the bright red case.

I had taken him to Target for an eye exam back then, but later switched to an ophthalmologist, I guess because I thought our health insurance would cover part of the cost. The ophthalmologist was a long drive away, and it turns out that our health insurance applied our visits to Jake's deductible, so I was out of pocket by $123.00 every year to see him.

A few weeks ago I got an letter in the mail from Target that said something like "we miss you, come back and we will give you a good deal". Enclosed was a coupon for 30% off glasses and a promo on contacts. So, when Jake said he needed glasses, we decided to return to the eye doctor there. Our exam cost $110.00 and we got a prescription for new glasses.

But I decided not to buy them from Target, even with the 30% discount. because I found such an awesome deal from Zenni Optical.  I've seen Zenni Optical mentioned on coupon forums for years, and even looked at their website last year after we had gotten a new prescription, but I was stymied by how to fill the form out and order. I didn't know how to read the required information on the prescription and transfer it to the order form. This time I went prepared!

Jake actually printed out the order form before our visit and had the doctor fill in the sphere, cylinder, axis, NV-add (for both OD- right and OD- Left) as well as his PD (pupillary distance). Then we came home and easily did the order on-line.

I went through Ebates to get 4% cash back on my order, then picked out a pair of frames for $15.95. The shipping and handling cost $4.95 so my total order came to $20.90! 

I've already gotten an email from Ebates that 64 cents has been added to my account, so that makes the total cost for Jake's new glasses $20.26!

That is a savings of 90 percent over what I paid last time! And the glasses will be shipped directly to Jake at college so I don't have to pick them up or deliver them.

You can sign up for Ebates here and you can see the Zenni Optical website here.