Finance

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Ordering Glasses Online From Zenni Optical, Part One

After much hemming and hawing, I finally placed an order for glasses from Zenni Optical.

This post is going to talk about the ordering process. I have no idea yet if the time and money I spent on Zenni’s website will pay off or not. However, testimonials tell me that I am about to get my money’s worth and then some. We shall see!

Ordering glasses on Zenni started with a fresh prescription. I created an account and entered my prescription details into it so that I wouldn’t have to reenter the information several times and possibly get it wrong.

One measurement that is needed but is not on the prescription is pupillary distance, or PD. My friend had the ruler and know-how to measure that for me. This number ensures that your lenses are correctly centred.

The next thing I did was measure my current pair to give myself an idea of the size I would need my new glasses to be. Important measurements are the width of the nose bridge, the width of the frames, the width of the lenses, the length of the temple, and the height of the lenses.

Finally, I took the time to get a good portrait of myself to upload to the site so that I could virtually try on the glasses.

Then, I started shopping! There are several parameters for narrowing down the search, such as price, PD, gender, type of glasses, and type of prescription. The one I wish was a little more precise is the frame size. After a bit of trial and error, I determined that I needed to look at medium to just slightly larger than medium frames, but it would have been nice to be able to input a range.

I’ve been wearing glasses for 23 years and have an idea of the types of shapes, materials, and colours that look best on me. So I started looking for two sensible pairs with metal frames, spring hinges, and oval or rectangular lenses. I started off with a $24.95 pair until I found a couple of $6.95 pairs that looked just as good. In fact, one of the cheaper pairs looks exactly like the pair I currently have on (which I paid several hundred dollars for, and that’s just for the frame).

The processing and shipping time can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. I don’t know when I’ll next be in an area where I can hang out for a bit waiting on glasses. So I decided that I might as well make this order count, especially since shipping is a flat fee of $4.95 regardless of the size of the order, and there is currently a 10% off coupon! Therefore, I kept shopping!

Once I had some classic (read: boring) frames, I decided that I wanted to try some novelty ones. I finally settled on a pair of pink frames and a similar one in green.

Finally, my current prescription sunglasses are horribly scarred. I’ve always wanted a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses, so I found a frame I liked and, following my friend’s instructions, looked for the tinting option on the order form.

For each pair, I added the anti-reflective (A/R) coating at $4.95 per pair. I was tempted to try the premium oleophobic coating (A/R, water repellent, smudge resistant), but reviews were not good for that option.

When all the frames, options, and shipping were added up and my 10% discount was calculated, my order came to a whopping $71.05. That’s for five pairs of glasses including prescription sunglasses! Walmart wanted to charge me that for lenses set in a truly crappy frame! Do note that I have single vision lenses, not bifocals or progressives.

Two things irked me about the order process. The first is that you cannot edit your order. So when I wanted to remove the fancy coating from one pair, I had to redo the entire order for that one. That wasn’t too painful because you can import your saved prescription, but it would still be nice to be able to change settings.

The second thing that I do not like is that they are not set up to take PayPal. I know the site is reputable, so I was okay with paying with a credit card, but I prefer to use PayPal for online purchases.

I placed my order yesterday, Sunday. First thing this morning (literally, it was 1:28AM my time), I got an email from them saying there was a problem with my order. It appeared to be for one person, but there was a pair out of the five that had a different PD. Which number was correct?

Well, I had started shopping with an estimated PD, updated my prescription with the correct number, but had forgotten to redo one of my orders! I’m so glad that they caught that! This tells me that whomever is processing orders at Zenni is not an automaton.

I was asked to reply to the email, so I did, and I got an email later today confirming that all five pairs will have the correct PD number I gave them and that they had started work on my order!

Now, to see if glasses from Zenni live up to all the hype…

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I Wish I Could Get Used To This

Going back to Canada after my current stay in the U.S. is going to be brutal.

My current level of income is enough to do just a tad better than scrape by in Canada, but it allows me to live so well in the U.S. because everything is so much cheaper here.

This evening, I needed to get groceries for the week and fill the truck. Filling my truck in Canada has cost me $80 to $90. Well, I spent $95 dollars this evening and this is what I got for my money:

– dinner at Tokyo Thai (spicy tuna roll to start ($5), then their shrimp pad thai ($12). Total with tip: $21 (Much more expensive than what I normally spend on a meal in the U.S., but that’s only because I rarely get a starter, and this is still CHEAP compared to what I’d pay in Canada! I would say the tuna was worth $10 in Canada, plus another $18 for the pad thai, plus tax and tip, so about $35.)

– groceries for the week at Farm Fresh and Dollar Tree: $25 (mostly just fresh fruits, veggies, meats, and mustards as I have lots of pantry staples right now. This would be about $50 in Canada.)

– 16 gallons of gas (what I consider to be a full tank since the needle is in the red by that point): $49 (This would be about $83 in most of Canada right now.)

Total: $95 (total I would have spent in Canada: $168)

These numbers are not exaggerated. My monthly budget in the U.S. for usual household expenses is about half of that in Canada. That means I can apply the other half of the amount to debt, entertainment, and items I put off buying north of the border because they are cheaper here (which reminds me that I really need to get going on finding some new house batteries!).

I know I’m a guest in this country and that I will need to leave. But I sure wish the U.S. would grant me asylum and let me stay. Pretty please?

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Four Years As a Full-Time Canadian RVer

Having finished a marathon transcription weekend this evening, I find myself with time now to reflect on my four years as a full-time RVer.

I have reached this anniversary a little weary and jaded, but after analysing my feelings, I am relieved to realise that I still very much love RVIng and it is still the right lifestyle for me. It is the context in which I live my life that has grown tiresome. In short, after four years of full-time RVing in Canada, I can say without reserve that I have had enough of full-time RVing in Canada. And let me say that having seen as much of it as I have, having done everything I could to twist myself dream to fit the legislation, and having spent so much time and energy trying to understand my country, I have earned the right to say that I am sick of it!

When I started RVing, there were no resources for young Canadians starting out on the road. And so, I left with an American vision that is not sustainable in Canada. Our legislation unequivocally denounces the transient lifestyle and makes it impossible to legally have health coverage, insurance, a driver’s license, and a duly registered vehicle.

And let’s not get into the vast different of philosophy about the management of public lands, with the Americans offering all the free long-term spots a boondocker could want while Canada charges upwards of $40 or $50 a night to dry camp on a concrete slab in a national park.

The Canadian climate means that unless you are willing to endure six months of grey dampness in the most expensive regions of our country, you will have to take a chance at an international border crossing. You will have to take several days (and spend hundreds of dollars in fuel) to out race snow to a warm locale in the fall and back north in the spring because, at best, you can only have six months south of the border and our winters are longer than that with their shoulder seasons.

If I was an American, I would be living a very different life on the road. Two of my four Canadian winters literally bled me dry financially and I have not been able to recover from them. The biggest mistake I made on the road was the first major one I encountered: where to spend my first winter. I should have gone south right then. But I thought I’d be able to work through the winter. Ha.

That’s another mistake I made, thinking I could support myself American-style through camphosting and other jobs that target RVers. No. There is no such industry in Canada. The only way to make a self-sustaining living on the road in Canada is to be self-employed. That’s the second mistake I made. I should have focused on building a business right from the start instead of slaving away at jobs that paid minimum wage or slightly better.

I know I sound terribly negative about my life, but it’s not so. In my old age, I will look back on my first Klondike Summer, the friendships I have made, the incredible Canadian scenery that made me weep with awe, and the satisfaction that all I have experienced enabled me to write an important ebook. These memories will make the bitter memories fade away like frost under the first spring sun. I will only remember that I made choices that set me free, opened up my horizons, and left me feeling profoundly satisfied.

I like where I am right now on the eve of my fourth anniversary of full-time RVing. My rig is in great shape, my business is finally taking off, I have a couple of successful border crossings under my belt, and I really think this will be the winter where I will sit on a beach by the Gulf of Mexico and drink wonderful rum-based drinks out of coconuts. Really, this is it!

So the negative things I’ve enumerated above only serve to drive me to make changes in how I approach my life on the road and to shape my future in the way I want it to be, not the way the Canadian government says it must be. I am not one of those bloggers who likes to lay out her maybes for commenters to pick apart, but rather one who prefers to present faits accomplis, things that are done. I will just say that the wheels are churning and the last four years have given me the courage to face a new challenge. The only hint I will give is that when you are as sick of your country as I am of mine, maybe it’s time to see how other people live so you can gain a little perspective.

It may be too soon for this radical change in direction or exactly the right time. I won’t know until I get south of the border this fall. But the research and planning and discussions are making me come back to life again the way I did emerging from my first winter as I headed north on the Alaska Highway.

Sometimes you don’t know when you’re taking the first step through a door until you’re already inside. Ann Voskamp

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Cost of the Alberta Trip to Buy My New Toad

I’m meeting with the third party’s adjuster tomorrow morning to discuss my claim for non-Aviva covered expenses due to the accident. I already sent justifications/evidence for things like lost income and supplemental medical coverage, but I didn’t have much to justify my $1,500 for the trip to Alberta to buy my new toad.

So I took about an hour this morning to add up everything and get my receipts in order. My trip to Alberta cost me $1,600 in flights, hotels, taxis, buses, fuel, and food. My estimate was pretty good!

One piece of good news was that I was never charged for the car rental I ended up not using! So I only lost the two nights at the hotel in Calgary, but that was made up by staying at Chez Life on Our Ark in Stettler for two nights.

My breakdown for the trip had been:

$500 for fuel (actual: $596)

$300 for meals and incidentals (actual: $241, with this category including the bus and taxis)

$200 for the hotel (actual: $330 since I got a hotel in Sault Ste Marie)

$50 for a car (actual: $0)

So I have no problem justifying that claim. Now, I just have to get them to understand that buying a car in Quebec was not a viable option. The adjuster is a Quebecer so he does know a bit about how things work in Canada, which may help.

I will be so happy if I get that $2,700 that I am claiming. It’ll cover the toad conversion, meaning that I won’t have to save up anything this summer beyond my usual amount in preparation for departure and I just may be able to take a proper vacation in August. I shouldn’t be out this money and I really hope I don’t have to sue for it. 🙁