Child Cheat Codes: Shopping for new glasses

Often, I find that the most helpful time savers don’t really have anything to do with the kids directly. They are things that save me time on my personal errands so that I have more time to spend doing the kid things.

With that in mind, may I present Warby Parker. Warby Parker sells glasses, both online and in retail stores. I went to their site and set up an account. I then started browsing both their normal glasses and their sunglasses. The prices range from $95 to $150, depending on in which glasses you are interesting, but $95 is fair more common for normal glasses.

Also, you can load a picture of yourself into their system and their site will do a mock-up of what you would look like in those glasses. I find that it is really only good to get a slightly more than general idea of how any pair would look on you, but it did help me weed some things out.

My issue with purchasing things online, especially clothes and accessories, was that you are never sure how it is actually going to fit or look until you get it. Then, if it doesn’t fit, you have to hassle with a return. Warby Parker helps with that. First, you can look up a retail establishment near you that carries the glasses in which you are interested and go to try them on. That’s nice. This is nicer: Warby Parker will send you up to 5 pairs of glasses for you to try on, in your home, free. You do not pay for shipping either to your house or back to Warby Parker when you are done. You get to try them for 5 days, then you send them back. As soon as you send them back, you can order 5 more pair. It takes about 2-3 days for the package to get to you. They include a return label in the package, so all you have to do is slap it on the box and either schedule a pickup or drop it off at a UPS store.

I hate shopping for glasses, so this has revolutionized my glasses experience.

Now, they do ask you for credit card information for your free try-on’s as a sort of insurance if you keep the glasses too long; however, if you get the glasses back to them in time, there are absolutely no charges on your card.

I do wish that Warby Parker had a little more Men’s selection, but that’s more because I have a gargantuan, mal-shaped cranium that I lug about.