How to Afford Lululemon

Lululemon is the company famous for $100 yoga pants. It seems so ridiculous really. Who would over pay that much for yoga pants?

Here's the thing. The clothes are super nice. The fabric is soft. The pieces are well made. And if you don't 100% love a piece, bringing it back is hassle free.

So why would you pay $100 for yoga pants? Because they're made really well and you'll wear them all the time. You will feel amazing in the clothes—because they fit you well and because you feel like some part of some not so secret awesome society.

So how do you afford Lululemon?

1. Start small. 
My first piece of Lululemon was a sports bra. It was $48. I really wanted a bra with a strappy back and I was at my local Lululemon for a free barre class. I decided that sports bras typically run $20-$50 so it was doable to spend that much on this piece. It's not really that much more than a normal bra.

2. Budget.
I spend too much on clothes. I wish I could save up for a new car and not spend the money every month, but I do. So I set aside $100 a month for clothes and shoes. So work clothes, new running shoes, workout clothes. That's my budget. So if I don't need anything else, that means 1-2 new pieces of Lululemon a month. So set a budget, and then you know what you can get. Or if you need to save for a purchase.

3. Sale pieces.
Lululemon doesn't really go on sale. Their sales model is based on pieces selling out super quickly and about 90% of their merchandize is sold at full price. But there's that 10%.

Every Thursday at around 11 a.m., they'll mark down a few pieces online in their We Made Too Much section (that's their term for clearance). So $90 pants are $70. And $52 tanks are $39. This can help you save money. The pieces are final sale. No returns or exchanges. You'll need to know what size you are. So I always check out the markdown rack at my local store. It's usually out of season pieces, clothes that didn't sell well and items being discontinued. Then I can try them on and see if I want them.

There are also Lululemon outlets. The closest one to my house is in Orlando (11 hours away).

Lululemon does quarterly clearance sales. March 19th, they marked down a lot more than usual. And once a year Lululemon does an online warehouse sale. This year the sale was July 16-17. It started 11:30 p.m. July 15 and ended around 6:30 p.m. July 17. It was over quicker than expected. There were about 140 pieces on sale to begin with and about 70 pieces when the sale ended. (I posted about what I bought), but you can get $80 crops for $40 and $50 sports bras for $19. Pieces sell out quickly and some (not all) of the prices will drop as the sale progresses. I kept checking for price drops and ordered a few things on the last day of the sale after the prices dropped. Hands down, these are the best prices of the year and your best bet to snatch Lululemon up at a good price (if you don't live near an outlet.)

4. Goal pieces
Set a goal and reward yourself. When I ran 3 miles in under 25 minutes I bought myself a pair of Lululemon tracker shorts. I love them. I wear them twice a week and need another pair. Next goal: run an actual 5k, instead of laps around the track.

5. The staples. 
If you're a Lululemon newbie, go to a showroom and try on some Wunder Unders and see what you think. Their classic pieces that feel great on. And you can slowly build up. One pair of crops, one pair of shorts, a sports bra, a tank, some casual T's. Gradually build your collection based on what you need and what you wear often. I think if you buy an $80 pair of crops and wear then 1-2 times a week for 3 years, that's money better spent then the $40 crops you never wear (I have a lot of those.)

So that's it. You can now get a Lululemon addiction. You can stalk the blogs—get the Thursday preview of the Tuesday releases. Check what's new in the clearance section and plan your next purchase.

Only by the time you have money for it, it will probably be sold out ;) Lululemon stuff sells out fast. But they come out with more stuff every week. So if the crops you want sell out before your Lululemon budget rolls over, there will be more crops. And other brands. Or maybe you don't need to spend the money anyway.

Crops I wanted but sold out super fast. I didn't have the money :(