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Spend, spend....spend


jdgm

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Spend no.1

Today: went for eye test - I get that free, which is just as well because I've been aware for the past year that I need to renew my specs.

In the past I just got them to replace the lenses as it was far cheaper but they are wise to that one now and I was quoted a massive £376 :o [scared] to change lenses on all 4 pairs of glasses, whereas all-new ones (new frames, 2 for 1 offer) came in at £298.

Yes this is for 2 new pairs and 2 new 'free' pairs; I couldn't save any more money by just buying 1 distance and 1 reading pair as they'd be no less!

So I coughed up £298, for 2 x pairs of distance glasses, 1 x pair distance sunglasses polarised, and 1 x reading glasses.

 

Spend no.2

Friday I have the car service, brake drum check and more for which I will pay about £300. Not much more I hope.

 

Spend no.3

Waiting for a renewal letter on my musical equipment insurance, which is about £250 for worldwide cover.

 

So altogether this week I will spend about £850 (GBP), a big chunk of money to lay out in my situation. No Epiphone Lee Malia (or anything else apart from strings) for me just yet I'm afraid.....

 

Am I moaning? No. very I'm lucky to be here, healthy and able to pay for these things, all of which make a huge improvement to my life.

I won't need glasses again I hope for 2-3 years; I always need a good running car like nearly everyone else who can possibly afford one.

Insurance is a bit different; I've always insured my stuff - has cost me over the years - and at the moment I've not got much in the book, but you never know and I prefer feeling covered.

 

Swam 2km today. 62 next week and enjoying the summer so far...... [thumbup]

 

Best wishes to all!

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I had to pay more for glasses this year too. It's the first year I needed something other than reading glasses. They made me some varifocals and I couldnt see a-sodding-thing through 'em. After 2 weeks of trying I gave up and told the optician AGAIN. They gave me another eyetest and discovered they had issued me with someone else's prescription.

 

I've just had a car service too last week (1st year of MOT due 2016 also) and paid for two new front tyres.

 

I'm also 62. Is this what its going to be like from here on?

 

 

I could never swim 2 km though. We only have miles where I live.

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You have imperial measurement pools? That might explain lack of Olympic medals in swimming. [biggrin]

 

Jdgm, consider emigrating mate - I think the deal in Oz is 2 pairs for 75 GBP and I pay 100 GBP for a car service with the local mechanic.

Good on you with the swimming, I do 1km each day over the 6 months across summer and it's a nice change from walking as a simple and enjoyable form of exercise [thumbup]

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Yea I tried varifocals some years ago but just couldn't get used to them at all. In 2004 I was diagnosed with glaucoma/optical hypertension (they can't decide which).

 

Exercise works for me - love swimming - but it's very bad now to overdo it; I can't get out of breath then recover like when I was young, and pushing myself to an athletic extreme would invite sudden death! [scared]

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I've discovered an online glasses company and could not be happier with the quality (not affiliated). I get progressive lenses, anti-glare, UV, polycarbonate lenses in my prescription and my choice of frame, even with all the coatings they were about 1/3 the cost of buying the same thing from my optometrist's in house glasses sales room. The only thing I had to get for myself is the measurement between pupils, the rest is just written right on the prescription. I've had discount glasses from brick and mortar stores with 2 for one specials and such and they are pretty poor quality (screws constantly loosening, lens easily scratched, parts fall off, etc), but the ones I bought online have lasted for multiple years without so much as a loose screw, I'm on my second year with my current ones and they have no scratches, still fit tight and comfortably.

 

$39 Glasses

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Insurance wise here I'm looking at about 45k to 50k a year, that includes farm ,health,crop, and vehicles. I'm insurance poor.

 

 

We have enough insurances just on our hobby farm!

 

I reckon when we sell up and move into town we will be $200 a week better off all things considered.

 

It's been an expensive month for us so far too, as we've bought a car ($24K) and I bought a new laptop this week.

 

Need to pull our heads in for a while I think.

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Two stories.

 

1. My dad's story. Several years ago he went to Sears and ROebuck optical department. He got the exam, picked the frames then was told to come back in an hour to pick them up. Which he did. He noted that things didn't 'look' right. He was told he would get used to the new lenses in time. During the ensuing week, he wore his glasses while he farmed and repaired machinery. After the umpteenth time of losing a lens, then having to re-install it and tighten the screws, he told my brother, give me that LocTite. (He was in the shop) A little daub of thread locker was just the trick for securing the screw. But, by the next weekend he was just not getting used to his new prescription. BACK to Sears he went. The optican took a look at the lenses, scoped them then exclaimed, "Oh my goodness! The prescription is just as it should be but the were made upside down!" After apologizing, he asked my dad to come back in an hour and they would have new lenses made for him, no charge. An hour passed and they were not quite done. He came back yet another half hour later when his glasses were done. Apparently the optician had the devil of a time getting the screws out of the frames. He ended up breaking the frames and had to give my dad another set of frames as well. Did I mention that my dad used INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH LocTite? [lol]

 

2. My story, I had my eyes examined, and a prescription determined. When I spoke to the frame seller, she siad that i did not want the o-o-o-old fashioned plastic lenses, like I had before. My strong prescription would be just intolerably thick! [scared] In fact, the optician said that the lenses I was currently using were carbonate. I was a bit hesitant, but the additional $50 charge for carbonate didn't seem to be too much for thinner lenses, especially when I already had carbonate. The lenses were ordered. A week later, I went to pick them up, I was surprised to note that while reading their text card (newspaper type and size4 text) it appeared that there was a yellow highlighter mark above all the letters in each line of the text. "Strange," I said. It also was more than a bit difficult to focus on the yellowed page. The optician said it would take a few days to get used to the new lenses (where have we heard that before). "Wear these, and nothing else, until you get used to them. This was a Wednesday. I struggled with them through the rest of the week and over the weekend. On Sunday night I was driving home after dark (the first time I'd driven after dark since the new lenses) When the headlights shined on the approaching road signs, a column of light shot up from the sign that reached to the stratosphere! :blink:

 

On Monday morning, I returned to the optical store wearing my old glasses. I then dropped the frames on the desk, I said, "These are unacceptable." [angry]

 

Two things were going on.

First the assumptions for where I read books, newspapers, and daily work correspondence was flawed with the way I used my 'readers'. The Optometrist had the lenses focusing at 19", when I read at about 24". I measured where I read, at desk top level and then the distance at which I view my computer screen, 36". The optometrist was very accommodating and re-examined my eyes at no charge. He used a yard stick to get the distance right on his machine.

 

Second, as far as the lenses, I could see that the way light reflected off the surface of my new lenses was different than my old ones. Guess what? The optometrist determined that my OLD lenses WERE plastic. This is important because after doing some research, there is a phenomenon with the way different clear materials transmit light. There is a measure called and ABE number which quantifies the degree at which a clear material will separate light like a prism. The least refracting is glass, the next least refracting is plastic, the next least is carbonate---especially in strong prescriptions! The optician was clueless when I mentioned the ABBE number. (It is her job to know this, not mine). My lenses were also made, this time, in plastic, for free. Guess what, the plastic did not separate the light and.... they were no thicker than the carbonate.

 

Bottom line, if I cannot see well out of new lenses, I will not leave the store with them. Second, the darn-well better be plastic.

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Should've gone to Specsavers [smile]

 

 

Ian

Yes....that's what I did...... [sad]

 

 

B)

 

(EDIT) Picked up the 4 new pairs today; must say the assistant fitted and adjusted them very well. Not sure about the shades but I have 3 months no-quibble return/replace if I don't like them.

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