Buying Glasses Online – PD & Fitting Height

March 28th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Buying Online, Manage Money, Save Money, Vision Care

photo credit: oskay

How often have you heard someone tell you how much he or she paid for their prescription glasses? How often have you told someone how much you paid?  These statements never seem to suggest that the glasses were cheaper than expected.  In response to the high cost of glasses, buying glasses online is becoming commonplace, with price being the primary driver for the increasing success of this option.

I am not going to tell you to or not to buy your glasses online, but I am going to provide you with some points to consider before hitting the submit button on your next online eyeglass order.  So, caveat emptor (buyer beware).

Eyeglasses require a prescription. This prescription will include measurements that will allow each eye of the patient to see as clear as possible at distance or near or for both distance and near.   Some patients may require other specialized features that are prescribed to aid the eyes in working together (you will need to include these values in your online order).  Prescriptions typically include an expiration date, a date specified either by state regulations and/or the prescribing doctor.   This is it – there is rarely inclusion of other information that is necessary to fabricate the pair of glasses.  This additional information is typically gathered by the optician when eyeglasses are being ordered.  So, if you are going to order glasses online, you should know more about this ‘additional information’.

Pupillary distance (pd): The pd is the distance between your eyes and is used to place the optical center of the lenses in front of your pupils.   Here are four points about this value to consider when ordering glasses online:

1. The measurement for the pd may be done simply with a ruler or a device called a pupilometer.   If you have your pd from your optician or eye doctor, you can use these values.  But if you have to measure the pd at home, you will need a ruler marked in millimeters.  The process to measure pd requires that the ‘patient’ be effectively looking at distance.  This is done by measuring each eye separately and not by simply having the ‘patient’ look  at the person taking the measurement and recording a single value.  This would be a near measurement and will not account for differences between the right and left eyes.  If the measurement taken is of the near pd, the distance pd will be underestimated by up to 3 mm.  (A common way determine where to place the center of the lenses is to properly mark the location of the pupils relative to a pair of eyeglass lenses and then measure these marks for the right and left eye.) 

Look for Opportunities During a Recession

March 25th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Blogging, Customer Service, Make Money, Opportunities

photo credit: philectric

The ongoing economic turmoil and uncertainty has dominated the news.  There is a fear that this recession could be the next depression, that nobody is quite sure of the way out of it and that government actions will have consequences long after the recession is over.  Or maybe you or a family member, friend or neighbor has lost his or her job or is worrying about losing their job.  The objective of this post, though, is to highlight opportunities amongst the bad news.

There is positive news. Some businesses are doing well.  For example, discount stores are doing well as people want to save money on their everyday shopping items.   Liquidation auctioneers are busy, homes are becoming more affordable, bringing in speculators and bicycle sales are likely doing well.

Let’s take a look at some other changes that are underway and see if there are opportunities.

Adversity necessitates creativity. Entrepreneurship and innovation increase during tough times.  Now, the internet allows anyone to start a website and turn a hobby or passion, an interest or even their drive to succeed into a potential source of income, an outlet from the bad news or a source for other people’s benefit.  And, you can now work virtually, for someone across the globe – you are no longer limited to a job that requires commuting.  If you don’t have a website, think about starting one.  Out of work, learn about social networking to help you find a job.  Examples of social networks include LinkedIn, Facebook and forums or community dependent websites that drawer visitors in to discuss topics that interest you.  Have special expertise, writing or graphic design skills, think about becoming a freelancer.  There are many sites on the web that help freelancers find work.

How We Saved $31 Dollars This Month on Our Electric Bill

March 21st, 2009 by andum | Posted in Save Money

How often do you look at the inserts that are stuffed in your monthly bills?  A year ago or so I decided to research an insert that was included with my electricity bill, because it said I could shop for an electricity supplier.   Why would I want to do that?  Well, apparently, these other suppliers offered different rates.   Still curious, I went to the website noted on the insert and discovered a number of approved suppliers – all of whom offered lower rates than the default supplier (CL&P).  I filled out the necessary form and after a month or so our electric bill included our new supplier who was charging about 5% less than the rate that we had been paying.  I figured if the supplier portion of our monthly bill averaged $150 a month or $1800 a year, we would save a little less than $100 a year.  Not a lot of money, but there didn’t seem to be any downside.  In fact, other than listing a new supplier on our bill from CL&P, nothing changed, since CL&P still is responsible for delivery and billing.  In the past year, occasionally I would remember that we were saving money each month, but didn’t think too much more about it until it was time to write this post, my first post for Wealth Itself.

Here is what I discovered in researching this post – I was now saving a lot more than 5% because the supplier that I selected had not increased their rate since I had signed up, while CL&P had increased their rates.  For this past month we used 1771 KWH at a rate of $0.1048 per KWH; CL&P’s rate for this same period: $0.12217 per KWH, a rate that is more than 16% higher than what we are paying.  Our savings for the year will now be about $275 dollars. 

15 Minutes to Riches is Now Wealth Itself

March 15th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Site Update

March 15, 2009: The new name of the site is Wealth Itself (www.wealthitself.com).  Please see About Wealth Itself on why I picked the domain name. If you are looking for a post, please search the Archives or use the site’s Google custom search function.  I will be soon posting regularly, mostly about the creation and preservation of wealth, but not exclusively.

15 Minutes to Riches Has A New Owner

March 7th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Site Update

March 7, 2009: I have purchased 15minutestoriches.com from Matt.  Over the next week or so I will be working through the usual issues with a transfer, introducing a new name for the website and will begin regular posting.