How I Got 25% off at Athleta Today…And How You Could Get 45% Off Soon

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Now here is my update for today…

A devastating thing happened to me a few weeks ago: I left my Lululemon “Live Simply” hoodie at the gym.  This was no ordinary hoodie.  It was the perfect eggplant color, with an extra-large hood to contain all of my hair.  It was thick.  It had extra-long sleeves with thumb-holes.  But the best part about it was that it was a “bum-covering” hoodie.  That was actually printed in the description.  Bum-covering.  But it was also very form-fitting, so I ended up looking svelte and fabulous, all “I’m just dashing off to Pilates!” instead of all, “I’m dropping my kids off at school and I haven’t showered yet!”   Which was actually what was usually happening.

But I digress.

This hoodie is apparently extremely rare.  All of the other women in my big-haired, unshowered, in-need-of-bum-coverage situation have snapped up all of these hoodies and are hoarding them.  There are none to be had on ebay.  Not even one.  And Lululemon no longer makes bum-covering hoodies, perhaps because all of their customers have perky, fabulous bums and no longer need the coverage.

But I needed a replacement, so I decided to check out Athleta.  Do you know about Athleta?  It’s a Gap brand now.  And it’s pretty fabulous.  In fact, their stuff almost made me forget about my Live Simply.  Almost.  I decided to buy the “Dy-no-mite Kickbooty Pant.” (I know, it’s not a hoodie, but I also needed a new pair of yoga pants).  The description alone made me want to buy them: “turns your backside into your best side.”  Ha!  No more bum-covering for me!

But what was really exciting was the discount I got.  I started at TopCashBack (my referral link – thanks for using it!) and clicked through to Plastic Jungle.  This extra step earned me 2.5% on my Plastic Jungle purchase. (Tip: on 3-14-13, you will earn 3.14% because it’s Pi Day).

I was in luck – Plastic Jungle had e-gift cards in stock!  At an 18% discount, this is a stock-up situation.  I was able to buy four $25 gift cards for a total of $82.  Plastic Jungle does not always have gift cards in stock, but you can set an alert to be notified when cards go on sale.

My next stop was to go through TopCashBack again.  This time, I clicked through to Athleta, for a 5% rebate.  Other Gap brands have similar rebates (Gap and Banana Republic are currently at 5%, while Old Navy is currently at 4%, but these percentages fluctuate each week – I’ve seen them as high as 12%).

I knew that I could use the Banana Republic e-gift cards at any Gap brand, so I saved a total of 25.5% on my Kick Booty purchase:

1. 2.5% rebate at TopCashBack – earned at Plastic Jungle
2. 18% off gift cards at Plastic Jungle
3. 5% rebate at TopCashBack – earned at Athleta

Athleta has not had a promotion in several months (the last one was in November of 2012), so they are due for another soon. Typically during their promos they offer 20% off (although I have seen them offer 30% off). So if you’ve lost a fabulous hoodie, or are in the market to kick some booty, you could follow the steps above, and either prepare yourself for a future sale (so you’ll be ready to pounce!) or just break down and grab a fab item or two today.

Rock on.

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