A Year of Contacts: How Many Boxes and 6 Ways to Pay Less
A Year of Contacts: How Many Boxes You Need, and 6 Ways to Pay Less
A year of daily disposables is 9 boxes of 90 for two eyes — 730 lenses. A year of monthly lenses is 4 boxes of 6, or 2 boxes of 12. Box size is the biggest lever: across the 11 daily lenses we list in both sizes, the 90-pack costs 19% to 43% less per lens than the 30-pack.
Two questions sit behind almost every call we get about contact lens prices. How many boxes does a year actually take? And what can I do to make the year cost less without wearing something my eyes hate?
This page answers both. The per-lens price of every box we sell lives on our contact lens price board, so we will not repeat it here. What follows is the arithmetic and the six levers.
How many boxes of contacts do you need for a year?
For two eyes, full time: 9 boxes of 90 dailies, or 25 boxes of 30, or 4 boxes of 6 monthlies. That is the whole answer, and it comes out of two sums.
How we count boxes
Same method as our price board, applied with no exceptions. A daily disposable is one lens per eye per day worn, so a full year of two-eye wear is 730 lenses. A monthly lens is one lens per eye per month — 12 per eye, 24 for two eyes — because the lens expires 30 days after you open it whether you wore it or not.
Boxes are then rounded up to a whole box, because nobody sells you two thirds of one.
| Replacement schedule | Box size | 7 days a week | 5 days a week | 3 days a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily disposable | 30 lenses | 25 boxes | 18 boxes | 11 boxes |
| Daily disposable | 90 lenses | 9 boxes | 6 boxes | 4 boxes |
| Two-week lens (we do not carry one) | 6 lenses | 9 boxes | 9 boxes | 9 boxes |
| Monthly | 6 lenses | 4 boxes | 4 boxes | 4 boxes |
| Monthly | 12 lenses | 2 boxes | 2 boxes | 2 boxes |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
Read the flat rows first. Wear a daily three days a week instead of seven and your box count drops from 9 to 4, because unopened lenses simply wait for you. Wear a monthly three days a week and it stays at 4 boxes, because the calendar, not your eyes, decides when that lens is finished. Part-time wear is the one thing that makes dailies the frugal choice.
Our own range is dailies and monthlies only. If you wear a two-week lens from somewhere else, its row is above so the arithmetic is still useful to you — and our guide to two-week versus monthly schedules covers the trade-offs.
One box or two? Your prescription decides
If both eyes take the identical lens, the boxes are interchangeable and you buy 9. If your two eyes need different powers, cylinders or axes, the boxes are not interchangeable — you buy per eye, and a year of 90-packs goes from 9 boxes to 10. Monthly boxes happen to divide evenly either way, so a monthly year stays at 4 or 2. This is a common reason a quote does not match what somebody expected, so it is worth checking before you order.
Work out your own box count
Pick what you wear, how often you wear it, and whether your two eyes take the same lens. The counter returns the number of boxes and then draws them, because nine boxes and twenty-five boxes are the same sentence in writing and two very different piles on a counter.
How many boxes is your year?
Counts lenses, not dollars. For the price of any particular box, see the price board.
Order for a year
9 boxes
Daily disposable, 90-pack, worn 7 days a week, one shared prescription.
- Lenses you need730
- Lenses in that order810
- Days of wear it covers405
Nine boxes, one order, 40 days of buffer for the day you tear a lens.
A monthly or two-week lens ignores the days-a-week setting on purpose: it is replaced on a date, not after a number of wears. Only a daily disposable stretches when you wear it less. Buffer matters — lenses get torn, dropped and lost, so a year order that lands a little long is the right kind of long.
Why the smaller box is usually the more expensive box
Here is the trap that costs people the most money, and it is on the shelf label. Dailies AquaComfort Plus is $40 in the 30-pack and $72 in the 90-pack. The small box is cheaper to pick up. It is far more expensive to wear.
A full-time year of that lens for two eyes is 25 of the small boxes or 9 of the large ones, so it is $1,000 bought in 30-packs against $648 bought in 90-packs — a $352 difference for the identical lens in the identical material. Biotrue ONEday is a wider gap again: $1,250 against $765, or $485 a year.
Box prices are our live listed prices, verified 24 July 2026. Yearly figures are whole boxes at those prices — 25 thirty-packs or 9 ninety-packs for two eyes worn every day — so they are the order, not an average. Per-lens and per-day figures are on the price board.
Across the 11 daily lenses we list in both sizes, stepping up to the 90-pack takes 19% to 43% off the cost of a lens, with a median of about 32%. The narrowest gap is a toric: Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric saves 19% per lens, which over a year of whole boxes is $1,125 against $981 — a $144 gap, almost thirty times the $5 code further down this page. Box size is not a coupon. It is the price.
Both sizes of every lens above sit next to each other in our contact lens collection, each with its own box price, so you can see what the bigger box of the lens you already wear costs before you commit a year to it.
The box price is not the price of the year. The year is the number that leaves your account.
Six ways to pay less for a year of contacts
In order of how much they move the number. The first one does more than the other five combined.
Step up the box size
Buy the 90-pack instead of the 30. Same lens, same material, same manufacturer, one third fewer dollars per lens. This is the whole ball game, and it is the one lever nobody has to ask permission for.
19–43% off per lensBuy the year in one order, against your benefit year
Nine boxes in one order is one prescription check, one shipment and one claim. Four scattered part-year orders is four of each, usually at the small-box rate. If your plan carries an eyewear or contact lens allowance, a single order also spends it in one clean line instead of fragments that strand the last $30 of it.
1 order, 1 claimOrder before your benefit year resets
Most vision allowances run on a fixed benefit year and do not carry over. If yours resets on December 31 and you have not touched it, that money is gone on January 1 — and unopened boxes keep, so ordering the year in December is not a gamble.
We cannot see your plan from here and we will not guess your maximum. Call (780) 490-0090 with your card and we will look it up before you order. Direct billing where your plan allows it.
Use it or lose itUse the online code
Code CHARMCONTACTS takes $5 off a contact lens order on charmoptical.ca. Small, real, and it does not ask you to change anything about what you wear.
$5 offClear the free-shipping line in one order
Shipping is free anywhere in Canada on orders over $100. Nine of our thirteen 90-packs clear that on their own; the other four do not. A year supply always does, which is another reason splitting the year into small orders quietly costs more than it looks.
Free over $100Ask whether a different schedule suits your eyes
A year of dailies is 9 boxes. A year of monthlies is 4 boxes of 6, or 2 boxes of 12. Our price board prices the median of the monthlies we list at about $278 for a year of wear, against about $986 for the median daily.
Two honest deductions: monthlies need solution and a case every night, which is a real drugstore cost we do not sell, and not every eye tolerates a monthly lens. Nobody should switch on price alone — that is what a contact lens fitting decides.
Clinical, not budgetary| Lever | What it changes | The figure |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Step up the box size | Same lens, fewer boxes, less per lens | 19–43% off, median 32% |
| 2. Buy the year in one order | One prescription check, one shipment, one claim | 9 boxes, not 4 orders |
| 3. Order before the reset | Spends an allowance that does not carry over | Your plan — we look it up |
| 4. Use the code CHARMCONTACTS | Comes off the order total online | $5 off |
| 5. Clear the shipping line | No shipping charge, anywhere in Canada | Orders over $100 |
| 6. Reconsider the schedule | Fewer lenses, fewer boxes, a fitting first | $278 vs $986 a year of wear |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
What a year-supply order actually looks like
Nothing exotic. We need a current contact lens prescription with the brand and the full parameters on it, and we match those parameters against the boxes before anything ships. A glasses prescription will not do it — there is no base curve, no diameter and no brand on one. Our guide to ordering contact lenses online in Canada walks through the fields.
Reordering is faster than first-time ordering, because we already hold your parameters. Phone (780) 490-0090, tell us the boxes, and we will tell you the total before you commit to it. You can also browse the whole range on our contact lenses page or order from the contact lens collection.
The fitting is a separate fee
A contact lens exam and fitting is $135 at Charm, and it is not included in the $99 comprehensive eye exam. If you have never worn contacts, or you are changing lens type to cut the yearly bill, that is the appointment that decides whether the change is safe. Details on the contact lens fitting page, or book at see.charmoptical.ca. By appointment only.
Where paying less goes wrong
Buying a year at once is a good idea. Buying a year from anywhere at all is not. The Canadian Association of Optometrists states plainly that "contact lenses are Health Canada approved and FDA regulated medical devices", and lists the risks of ordering them online as lenses with "the wrong prescription and fit", "counterfeit contact lens products", "overseas contact lenses that are not approved by Health Canada", and "contact lenses that are inappropriately transported or stored affecting the integrity of the lens" (Canadian Association of Optometrists).
That last one is the bulk-buying risk specifically. A year of lenses is a medical device sitting in your cupboard for twelve months, so check the expiry date printed on the boxes when they arrive, keep them at room temperature, and do not decant them into anything. Our guide on whether contact lenses expire covers the dates and the storage.
Where the line is
Buying a full year of lenses you will actually wear, and claiming it against your own allowance, is completely legitimate — that is what the allowance is for. Claiming boxes that were never dispensed, or putting a family member's lenses through your plan, is misrepresentation. The test is simple: the invoice has to describe what you actually received, for the person who actually received it. If you are ever unsure, call us and we will tell you plainly. The industry's consumer guidance is at CLHIA, and our 16-question quiz on telling real benefits fraud from the myths is worth ten minutes.
Order a year
We will price your exact prescription before you buy
Tell us your brand and parameters and we will tell you the box count and the total for a year, with the code and the shipping already in it. Free shipping across Canada on orders over $100.
FAQ
How many boxes of contact lenses do I need for a year?
For two eyes worn full time, a year of daily disposables is 9 boxes of 90 or 25 boxes of 30, and a year of monthly lenses is 4 boxes of 6 or 2 boxes of 12. The arithmetic is one lens per eye per day for a daily, which is 730 lenses a year, and one lens per eye per month for a monthly, which is 24. Boxes are rounded up to whole boxes. If you wear dailies part time the count drops, because unopened lenses keep: three days a week is 4 boxes of 90 instead of 9.
How many boxes of monthly contacts is a year supply?
Four boxes of six, or two boxes of twelve, for two eyes. A monthly lens is replaced 30 days after you open it, so you need 12 lenses per eye per year no matter how often you wear them. That is the part people get wrong: wearing monthlies only at weekends does not make a box last longer, because the calendar decides when the lens is finished rather than the number of times you put it in.
Is the 90-pack cheaper than the 30-pack of the same contact lens?
Yes, by a lot. Across the 11 daily lenses we list in both sizes, the 90-pack costs 19% to 43% less per lens than the 30-pack, with a median of about 32%. Dailies AquaComfort Plus is $40 in the 30-pack and $72 in the 90-pack, and a full-time year for two eyes is 25 small boxes or 9 large ones, so it is $1,000 against $648, a difference of $352 for the identical lens. Biotrue ONEday shows a $485 gap, $1,250 against $765. The small box is cheaper to pick up and more expensive to wear.
Do I need a separate box of contacts for each eye?
Only if your two eyes need different lenses. If both eyes take the identical power, and the identical cylinder and axis for a toric, the boxes are interchangeable and a full-time year of dailies is 9 boxes of 90. If the eyes differ, the boxes are not interchangeable, so you buy per eye and the count goes to 10 boxes of 90. Monthly boxes divide evenly either way, so a monthly year stays at 4 boxes of 6 or 2 boxes of 12. This is a common reason a quote does not match what somebody expected, so check it before you order.
How can I pay less for contact lenses in Canada?
Six levers, in order of how much they move the number. Step up the box size, because the 90-pack costs 19% to 43% less per lens than the 30-pack. Buy the year in one order rather than in fragments. Order before your benefit year resets, since most vision allowances do not carry over. Use the code CHARMCONTACTS for $5 off a contact lens order online. Clear the free shipping line, which is orders over $100 anywhere in Canada. And ask your optometrist whether a different replacement schedule suits your eyes, because a year of monthlies is 4 boxes rather than 9.
Is there a discount code for contact lenses at Charm Optical?
Yes. The code CHARMCONTACTS takes $5 off a contact lens order on charmoptical.ca, and shipping is free across Canada on orders over $100. Both apply to a year supply the same way they apply to a single box, so a one-order year picks up the code once and clears the shipping threshold comfortably. For the price of any particular box, call (780) 490-0090 and we will price your exact prescription, including what your plan covers.
Do unopened boxes of contact lenses go bad before I can use them?
Not within a year, provided you store them properly. Every blister carries a printed expiry date, so check it when the boxes arrive and use the oldest boxes first. Keep them at room temperature, keep them sealed until you wear them, and never move lenses into another container. The Canadian Association of Optometrists lists contact lenses that are inappropriately transported or stored as one of the real risks of buying online, which is why where you buy a year supply matters as much as what you pay for it.
Do I need a prescription to buy a year supply of contact lenses?
Yes. The Canadian Association of Optometrists states that contact lenses are Health Canada approved and FDA regulated medical devices. We need a valid, current contact lens prescription before we can dispense a year supply. A glasses prescription is not enough: it has no base curve, no diameter and no lens brand on it. At Charm Optical a contact lens exam and fitting is $135, which is separate from the $99 comprehensive eye exam, and appointments are required.
Get the number for your prescription, not for an average
One phone call, one total
Tell us your brand and your parameters. We will price the year.
Box counts depend on your prescription, and your prescription is the one thing a table cannot know. Call (780) 490-0090 and we will price your exact lenses for a year, apply the code, check the shipping threshold, and tell you what your plan covers before you spend anything.
Or reorder it yourself
If nothing about your lenses has changed
Same boxes, same listed prices, no call needed. Put the year in the cart and we check your prescription against the parameters before anything ships — a current contact lens prescription is required either way.
Order contact lenses online$5 off with the code CHARMCONTACTS. Free shipping across Canada on orders over $100, or free pickup at 5035 Ellerslie Rd SW at any order value.
5035 Ellerslie Road SW, Edmonton. Need an up-to-date prescription first? A contact lens exam and fitting is $135, by appointment — book at see.charmoptical.ca. Prices CAD, verified 24 July 2026; confirm the current figure with us before you order.