I have a lot of glasses and I feel like I should explain that I didn’t pay a lot for them. I get them from this sketchy website called Zenni Optical which has starting prices at $8 for single vision frames+lens. You have to pay more if want bifocals, if you have very strong prescriptions, and if you want it tinted for sunglasses ($5). The bottom line is, they are very cheap, they look nice, and they help me see.
In order to order glasses online, you just need your prescription and your pupillary distance, both of which you can get at your optometrist’s.
Usually they don’t tell you your pupillary distance, so you’ll probably have to ask for it. That’s what they’re measuring when they make you look through the binocular thing. Hypothetically you can measure it yourself, but I think that’s scary.
Now you know!