How I Saved 45% and Got Free Yoga Pants At Lane Bryant

EOD_LaneBryant_Sales

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I had been shopping with my wife for nearly four hours when we walked through the doors of Lane Bryant. She was looking for some new clothes, but was encountering some trouble finding what she was looking for. Within a few minutes of walking in the door, she found several things she wanted to try on. When she looked at the prices, however, she thought they were a little more than she was willing to spend.

I pointed at a sign advertising a “Buy One, Get One 50% Off” sale. The smile returned to her face and she excitedly headed for the dressing room. Unfortunately, the second wave of excitement was also short lived as the pants were too long. My wife needs petite length, and they didn’t have any in stock. The sales person did some checking at the register terminal, and confirmed that the pants of her desire could be ordered, and be in the store in a few days.

My wife was about to tell her to order them, when I shook my head. She was confused as to why I would tell her not to order the pants. After all, we had been searching all day and had finally found pants she liked, AND they were on sale.

What she didn’t know was I was checking on my phone as well, and had found something that would save us even more money.

Once we got home, I brought up Lane Bryant’s website. On the front page in huge bold print was an advertisement for the buy one, get one 50% off sale. But we already knew about that. Then I pointed to a banner on the top of the screen describing an online only sale of $25 off a purchase of $75, $50 off $150 purchases.

I searched for the objects my wife had selected in the store, and added them to my virtual shopping cart:

Purchase Option #1:

  • Item #1: $80
  • Item #2: $40
  • Item #3: $30

Total Before Any Discounts: $150

Then, the buy one get one 50% off sale kicked in:

  • Item #1: $80
  • Item #2: $40
  • Item #3 (50%off) $15

Total After 50% Off Discount: $135

Additionally, the $25 off a $75 or more online deal kicked in:

Total After $25 Online Shopping Discount: $110

I saved $40, not bad! But, I wasn’t done yet. We weren’t taking full advantage of the buy one get one 50% off deal because our purchase was an odd number of items. I wondered what would happen if I added one more item:

Purchase Option #2:

  • Item #1: $80
  • Item #2: $40
  • Item #3: $30
  • Item #4: $40

Total Before Any Discounts: $190

Now that we have an even number of items, two items are discounted 50%, resulting in the following:

  • Item #1: $80
  • Item #2: $40
  • Item #3 (50% off) $15
  • Item #4 (50% off) $20

Total After 50% off Discounts: $155

Notice that the bill now exceeds $150, which means I’m eligible for the $50 off a $150 purchase discount.

Total After $50 Online Shopping Discount: $105

Did you notice that my bill after adding a 4th item was LESS THAN it was with just three items? That’s right, the cost to add a 4th item was a negative $5!!! How could that be?

It all has to do with stacking discounts. By adding the 4th item I earned another item to be 50% off. That reduced my bill by $20. THEN, because the total after the 50% discounts exceeded $150, I earned an additional $25 online discount.

By adding a $40 item, I earned an additional $45 in discounts, resulting in the cost of the 4th item being -$5.

I saved a total of $85 off the sticker price, or about 45%.

Here are a few tips to help you maximize your savings when shopping at Lane Bryant, or any retailer that offers sales with deep discounted sale prices (I’m looking at YOU Kohls):

  1. Never, ever, EVER buy anything at full price. The reason they can offer such deep discounts is because the prices are inflated to make the sale look good.
  2. Keep a wish list of things you’d like to buy when they go on sale.
  3. Check often for the start of a sale.
  4. If the sale is the “buy one, get one” sort of sale, look to maximize savings by purchasing an even number of items.
  5. Check both the brick and mortar store as well as their online portal for additional discounts that can be stacked.
  6. Play around with your order. Sometimes you can find yourself in a scenario like I did, where you can get something for free, or extremely cheap by hitting on multiple discounts.
  7. Do NOT overspend. Spending money is still spending money. Make sure that what you buy fits within your budget.

Do you shop at any retailers that offer deep discounts? How do you maximize your savings? Have you ever reduced your bill by buying more?

About Travis

8 Responses to “How I Saved 45% and Got Free Yoga Pants At Lane Bryant”

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  1. Sassy Mamaw says:

    There are also sites like Ebates, where you log in before you shop, and get cash back on your purchases. Currently, Lane Bryant offers 2.5% cash back, which would get you $2.63. It comes later in a separate check from Ebates, but I’m okay with that. (With my online Christmas shopping, I usually end up with $20-$30 cash back in February!)

  2. Good deal! I’ve often stacked discounts like that, including at Lane Bryant with my wife. Even if what you want is only available at one retailer, it still pays to “shop around” by looking at online and offline deals and coupons codes.

    • Travis says:

      Sometimes the coupon codes can decide what retailer to use – and shopping online lets a person do all that comparison from the comfort of their arm chair! 🙂

  3. Wonderful work, my friend! I am seriously impressed with your shopping savvy. 🙂

  4. Lisa says:

    Thanks for sharing! I got a great deal with BOGO 50% off sales, and $100 off a $200 purchase!

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