How much for glasses? £500?

[DustyLee123]

I don’t wear glasses, so no idea how much they cost, but DH came home last week and said that he’d spent over £500 on a new pair. It seems extortionate to me, or is it normal?

I recently paid around £300 for mine - thin lenses, varifocals, anti-glare. Did he go for expensive frames? £500 is steep, but I can see it happening if it’s thrown everything at expensive frames.

I have a high prescription. I used to get a bit of NHS support but the rate hasn’t risen along with min wage rises so now I’m just above the cut off for getting help even though essentially I’m no better off. I usually spend between £200-300 on glasses and that’s using a cheap frame but ultra thin lenses and the coatings etc. I need my glasses constantly except when sleeping so I do get my money’s worth from them but I also need a spare pair with me at all times so have to pay for them on top.

I had to spend £750 on mine, I was outraged. I have complicated varifocals and specsavers et al have never been able to get my prescription right. The last pair they made were a total blur so I had to go to a more expensive optician.
I dread the next time they are due. I have to save up for months.
The frames weren't expensive but I have to be able to see details for work.

I wouldnt dream of talking it through/consulting my OH on what I pay for my glasses!!!!

What a strange comment

I've tried every spec saver type shop and online going - they cannot do my prescription. I earn too much to get anything on the NHS except my eye test.

I wish I could get glasses cheaper than £500. My eyesight is terrible. I do choose the cheapest frames, but I have to wear them all the time so they have to be reasonably sturdy.

How much were the frames?

Really? If you had £300 in your bank account & needed that to last until payday with 3 kids to feed, you wouldn’t say ‘oh gosh I need to buy new glasses this month too, expecting them to cost £500’?

I am on a smallish pension and can't get anything but an annual eye test, certainly not spectacles.

Then he's a bloody fool. Tell him to go to an Asda Optician next time. He can get a decent pair for less than £50.

If you’re not in a position where £500 leaving the family pot wouldn’t have an impact then lucky you.

It’s not a strange comment at all.

This is what I do, I couldnt get on with varifocals

@SirChenjins but it's not an optional spend for most people. I can't function without my glasses - I can't see, I can't drive, I can't work.

I might say to DH "I've got to pay for my glasses this month" but the amount I spend isn't a choice. I need certain lenses and certain things doing to them so that I can see and live my life. Without my glasses I'd be housebound and unable to work, which I'm sure applies to many people who rely on them on a daily basis.

I agree - it’s a spend I’ve had for over 40 years since I started paying for my own glasses and contacts. I still don’t go ahead and spend several hundred pounds without giving DH the heads up (and vice versa),and when money was tight we’d discuss what was needed and when do we could budget accordingly. Normal behaviour for most families, surely.

Has OP said that?

In any case, no one gets to tell me what I do with my money

In my case there wouldnt be a family pot if I didnt have my glasses, I cant see the hand in front of my face without them. I would be housebound and couldnt even make my way round my house either.

I think some people on this thread have no idea how disabling bad sight is.

Just bought mine from specsavers - £450.

I never understand attitudes like this. "No way would I pay....," my glasses are on my face from when I get up to when I go to sleep. Have a relatively high prescription, so want them thinned as much as possible to make them comfortable, and need varifocals. Again don't want go for the basic one, as I want my vision to be the best it can be.

I fondly look back on the days when I could get my glasses for under £100. But sadly my prescription is more complex these days. I want to have nice glasses, and certainly in recent years i need to update my prescription every 2 years, so I save up so I can get the glasses I want, with the extras for the lenses I want as well.

I’m minus 6 and need varifocals - I can’t see to drive, work, read, do daily living stuff without my glasses. I still wouldn’t spend £500 one month without letting DH know that expenditure was coming up and checking there was nothing else that month that needed paying for.

I bought three new pairs of glasses recently for an average of £25 each! I know they can be much more expensive if you've got a particularly strong or unusual prescription but even so, that's double the amount my Mum paid for her last glasses, with a very strong prescription. I've been buying my glasses online for years and have had brilliant service from every company I've used.

I have astigmatism, need vari focals and only wear rimless so that's standard for me!

It's normal, maybe even cheap depending on needs.
My last pair cost a lot more than £500. And the worst part is I cant wear them. I'm very reluctant to even go for another eye test, let alone buy glasses again.

Two pairs of varifocals were £170 last year (£99 frames) specsavers

@SirChenjins I think for most people it's just not something they can discuss - it's an essential like insulin medication or asthma inhalers.

I’m -8, my glasses are essential. My last pair were about £500 & I didn’t discuss it with my DH first BUT I can imagine being in a financial position where a spend like this is a big deal in a family budget. That’s all. OP hasn’t really given many details so perhaps this is her situation, we don’t actually know the ins & outs.

My designer pair at £260 in the opticians were £75 online - same glasses/frames

If you know the size of your frames - it’s printed on them - and have a prescription it’s dead easy.