Junk Mail, Cheap Eye Glasses and Printer Ink

Meet the Junk Mail Bandit… (my son!…eek!)

My kids are not normally into social protesting…but the profusion of junk mail that has been flooding our mailbox since we started receiving my father’s mail as well as our own, has sent them over the edge. (My father passed away a year ago, and I handle the estate finances.) Somewhere, they read that they best way to protest this avalanche of unrequested, unwanted waste of paper, was to simply pack it all up in the postage paid return envelopes given us by the senders and mail it right back to them!

The idea is that it will weigh a lot and the senders will get charged a pretty penny for their own junk mail. Not to mention that THEIR mailbox will be FULL of their OWN junk mail. Is turnabout fair play? I don’t know..and I guess…it’s legal?! Well, I don’t know…maybe you can fill me in on that. I only let the kids do it once because I didn’t want to squelch their good intentions. I really felt squeamish…but the kids are all ready to ‘change the world’ which includes..the mess in our mailboxes. 

I told them that it would probably be better to just sign up for ‘Opt Out’. This is a way to get your mail on a list so that you won’t get any more junk mail. We were signed up for it in our former home but haven’t gotten around to it here. I'll  be doing it again soon. But you can greatly reduce your junk mail and phone solicitation with this option.  Here is a link from DMA Choice to get registered so you are on a Do Not Mail from the National Direct Mail list. It won’t stop everything..but it’s a start! And there are lots of other organizations for stopping junk mail too. A quick internet search can get you started. In the meanwhile…watch out! There may be a junk mail bandit lurking in your house too!

Cheap but Stylish Prescription Glasses 

Doesn’t it kill your budget to have to pay the outrageous prices  being charged for prescription glasses? We don’t have insurance for that but even if we did, I hate to think of all the money being spent on ‘designer frames’. Even the budget ones cost a fortune. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was eight, so you can understand that I dread it every time I have to pay $200-300 for frames, prescription, lenses, and special coatings.   I needed new glasses as my old ones from Eye Buy Direct were getting worn out and I was really wanting to try a new style.  Here you can see both pairs one from four years ago, and one on the right from this year.  Both were great…I was just wanting a ‘new look’, though I was very scared to try to update my style. Thank goodness, they let you try on different styles via their TRY ONLINE program.

 

My whole family (Mom, Son and His wife) and I buy our glasses ONLINE at Eye Buy Direct.  I paid a grand total of $50.00 including Bi-focal lenses, modern style light weight frames, and coating.  All you need to do this is a prescription . I get an eye exam for $50.00 at Wal-mart. (I know..it’s embarrassing! just how cheap I really am. ) It's lasted through two pair of glasses. My glasses work great and look great. I’ve been doing this for five years now. I also ordered a pair of computer glasses for only $20.00.   Yep, that’s it.

How do you try them on? Well, just upload a picture of your face and they will allow you to crop it  and rotate it on their website. I used an old wedding photo once (since I had my glasses off at the time) and I used my webcamera the last two times to do this. They offer a virtual ‘TRY ONLINE’ feature where you can ‘try on’ the different frames. It works fantastic!  (Did I add that it’s pretty fun too?Tee-hee!)

To make things even better, their customer service is great. At one point, they noticed that  I had ordered the wrong frames for the thickness of my lenses so they CALLED me on the phone..and emailed me until they finally got me to help me choose new ones. Amazing!  So save your pocketbook and check out these people. :o)  You can also have a 15% discount if you email me. You can use my ‘friends’ discount. I’ve never done it before, but I noticed when I logged in today that it was an option. 

Here are their lens’ prices.. and the frames are anywhere from $20-50. I buy the $20.00 ones. :o)

• Single Vision (1.5) – FREE
•  Light Adjusting – $35.95
•  Progressive – $39
•  Polycarbonate (1.59) – $29
•  Thin and Lite (1.57) – $25
•  Bifocal – $19

Our local shop..and a very friendly worker.

Cheap Printer Ink

And while you are out shopping, the next time you run out of ink…head to Cartridge World. I see one in just about every shopping center. When my kids were in debate, we made tons and tons of copies. The kids filled 3” binders with paper which they were constantly shuffling with new briefs on every topic imaginable.  The ink used was indescribable. But frugal me, you know I was going to go find a cheap place. Up until then, I had ordered ink online, but now we were in a crisis mode. We had to use Tim’s old laser printer and the ink for it was a fortune. Of course, one cartridge lasts us for a whole year of heavy use. 

Cartridge World takes your old cartridge and recycles it and sells you a recycled full one for half the going cost. I will NEVER buy new cartridges again! And their employees are very well-trained and super friendly! And they are located all over the world. See if there is a location near you!

Well, I hope you got a few good tidbits from my ‘in box’…before the Tiger got it all. Tee-hee!  I’ve been saving them up all month and thought this would be some fun reading   while snuggled up in your covers this evening sipping cocoa after a long day of shopping. Enjoy!