With the cost of living continuing to skyrocket, finding new ways to save money has become something of a sport in our household.
From ordering pet food and toilet roll in bulk to switching out expensive treats for own brand bargains, we have been looking after the pennies in the hope that they, in turn, will take care of the pounds.
One area of my personal expenditure where I never thought I'd be able to make a significant reduction, however, was the need to adjust my failing eyesight.
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As a long-time, loyal customer of a high street optician, I have been taking advantage of two-for-one deals and money-off eye tests for the past two decades.
The thought of ordering prescription glasses online seemed like a misnomer to me. How on earth would I be able to choose a frame without trying on a huge selection in store and how would some distant optician who has never had his face in mine know my prescription or if the glasses should sit right?
Turns out, not only does buying your glasses online save a ton of money, but my experience with Glasses2you taught me that the optician doesn't need to be close enough to smell your breath in order to produce practically perfect eyewear.
Choosing glasses from Glasses2You
As one of many online eyewear providers, Glasses2You offers high-quality prescription glasses for a fraction of the price of standard High Street retailers. As a UK-based firm, they use fully-qualified dispensing opticians but by doing away with the need for town centre premises, they can undercut the high street by limiting their overheads.
They are also offering 30% off all orders, including all frames and lenses, to customers when they sign up using code MIRROR30, which made it feel like the perfect time to give them a try.
While the money-saving aspect sounded awesome, I was dubious about how well the online eyewear premise would work in practice. As I found out, it works really, really well.
How to order your glasses online
To begin with, you will need an up-to-date prescription. I had an existing one from my usual provider that was only a few months old, so I was able to use the information on that.
If you don't have one, you can book with any local optician and ask them to provide you with a printed copy of your prescription.
I then had the overwhelming task of choosing my frames. I have a particular style and I know what I like so it was great to be able to narrow the selection choices by style, material and colour.
The website goes into great detail about what you need to consider when choosing frames, including how to understand the measurements for lens diameter, bridge, arm length, frame width and the height of the lenses.
They even have a super helpful video on the Glasses2You website that explains it brilliantly.
When it comes to checking that the frames suit your face, Glasses2You has a handy widget that you can use by enabling the webcam on your laptop or using the camera on your phone.
Once it recognises a picture of your face, you can try on as many different pairs as you want to get a real-life feel for what they would look like when you wear them.
I must have tried on around 20 pairs, before deciding on a pair of Guess frames in a dark brown and leopard print colourway.
Once in the basket, the online buying process takes you through a selection of options for the type of lens you prefer, including anti-scratch coatings, UV or blue-light protection and thin or even photochromic lenses that change automatically depending on light levels.
Feeling a bit nervous about committing to my purchase, I checked the T&Cs and was massively reassured by the Glasses2You 30-day no-quibble guarantee which says you can get a full refund or exchange for another pair if you don't get on with them.
With frames starting from as little as £19.95 and lens options starting from just £5, buying glasses online really could save us visually challenged individuals a ton of cash.
While budget frames are perhaps the biggest part of the Glasses2You's range, they also offer a wide variety of designer options from the likes of Calvin Klein, Gant, Ted Baker, Oakley and Ray Bans, all of which can be ordered with or without prescription lenses.
I opted for the frames from Guess at £89.95 with the addition of the basic £5 lenses. Because I tend to squint in the sunlight, I added the brown photochromic tint which cost an additional £35. My glasses order came to £129.95 with an additional £4.95 for postage and packing.
Having popped in my prescription details, I made sure to check and doubled check that everything was correct. Even though I knew that I could return the specs if I had made a mistake, I wanted to do everything possible to ensure that when they arrived they would be absolutely what I needed.
Having paid around £130 for a pair of designer glasses complete with photochromic lenses I was feeling pretty happy with myself. With my usual non-designer prescription glasses costing me over £200 without the photochromic tint, I felt I was on to a winner already.
It took around ten days for my new glasses to arrive, and I was kept up to date with regular emails.
Packaged in a brown padded envelope that easily fitted through my letter box, the glasses were carefully wrapped in bubble wrap, and tucked inside a Guess glasses case which in turn was wrapped in even more bubble wrap to protect them in transit.
Eager to try my new bins on, I shrieked with delight when they arrived. Unwrapped and ready to go in mere moments, I popped them on my face and ran to look in the mirror.
Were my online glasses as good as my usual high street optician's?
My primary concern was, of course, what they looked like on me. While the frames were a little more delicate than expected (I like chunky ones) they felt really sturdy and the prescription and fit across my nose was perfect. For the most part, I was delighted with my trendy new designer eyewear.
One thing I hadn't considered, however, was my ears. When used as a tool to keep your glasses from sliding off your head, it's super important that the glasses hook around your ears and rest securely against your head. It turns out, that I have a small head and what must be slightly wonky ears as my new specs have a tendency to slide forward when I tilt my head down.
While this isn't a deal breaker, it is a little awkward, but I will be contacting the customer services team to see how they can help me with this issue.
Other than that, the quality of the frames, the photochromic tint and the lenses were all as good if not better than the more expensive models I usually pick up from my local optician store.
Ordering my new glasses online may have felt like a step into the unknown, but having seen how easy it was and the quality of the glasses that arrived on my doorstep, I would definitely use Glasses2You again.
