Basic B*tch's Bible: Boujee Hacks for Coachella & Festival Season – Glam Up on a Budget and Save Where You Can

Ever dreamt of slaying festival fashion without emptying your wallet? You’re in luck because I'm Marley, your go-to for mastering Coachella chic on a dime. This episode is jam-packed with my personal tales and must-know strategies for navigating the glitz, glamour, and unpredictability of festival life. From securing budget-friendly digs—think cramped Airbnb charm—to scoring those coveted tickets without a fiscal meltdown, I've got you covered. Plus, I'll let you in on the secret to braving LA's moody weather without sacrificing an ounce of style.

But, darling, the savings don't stop at accommodations and wardrobe. We're also talking smart travel moves that’ll have you bypassing ghastly Uber bills with a savvy shuttle pass game plan. And when it comes to the festival's enticing drink scene, I've got the inside scoop on how to sip in style without the bank account blues. No guests needed in this episode—it's just us, dishing out life updates, laughter, and all the wisdom to keep you looking fab and feeling great without the price tag sting. So, mark your calendars for next Tuesday, and let's make this Coachella your most unforgettable and budget-friendly adventure yet!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome back wannabes to the show. Confessions of the Wannabe it Girl is the name of the podcast to help you filter out the BS in pursuit of becoming the next it Girl. It is spring. Spring has sprung here in LA, maybe, even though it keeps raining every other week, but you know what spring means. We are back in festival season, pre-coachella vibes, and I am really excited to dive into this episode talking about how to take on festival season like Coachella while being bougie on a budget. Welcome to Confessions of a Wannabe it Girl. I'm your host, marley Fregging, and I'm here to help you filter out all the bullshit and become the next it Girl. This podcast explores the reality of what it really takes to make it out there. As it turns out, it is way less Instagrammable than I thought it was going to be. I'm still very much a work in progress, but there's simply nothing else I'd rather be doing than chasing my dreams. So let's learn from my mistakes and work together to achieve our dreams with more confidence, clarity and direction. Let's get after it. All right, guys.

Speaker 1: 1:09

Before we dive into today's episodes, a little bit of life updates. As you can tell if you're watching along on YouTube, I'm not in my normal recording studio still, and I potentially won't be for quite some freaking time, because of all the rain in LA. My apartment has been horribly affected, rain damage in pretty much every room and I've had to move the studio out of my office. Whatever I'm currently, where we would maybe have a dining room table, but we don't own one. So here we are. And then, of course, the funniest thing is last night, in the midst of all this work, we finally got everything dried out. We have people coming to do water tests, like in two days. Last night, hunter are sitting on the couch and Hunter goes Marley, like do you see the water in the kitchen? I'm like what? Right over to the kitchen, water is leaking in from the ceiling in our kitchen. Our neighbors somehow magically flooded their kitchen and now we have water damage in there. So, honestly, it is nonstop. And I will say the thing that is absolutely keeping me going right now is the excitement of Coachella is just around the freaking corner. I cannot wait. I'm serious. I am a repeat, repeat on repeat about Coachella right now.

Speaker 1: 2:28

I have been going to music festivals. My first music festival was in 2014, when I graduated. I went to EDC Las Vegas. I was the very wise and mature age of 18. And now I am also still 18. No, I'm just kidding, it's been a few years since then. I've been going to music festivals now for 10 years and it's fair to say, in this economy and just the struggles of learning to prioritize, that maybe music festivals is not where I should be putting all of my money.

Speaker 1: 3:03

I'm going to talk today about how we are going to be bougie on a budget. Coachella, in my opinion, is the most bougie music festival because you got the range, you got the celebrities, you got the influencers, you've got the general people trying to flex and also something about the economy and the fashion and just the nature of it. Being in LA tends to attract a little bit more of a cloudy cloud. There's a little bit more money sometimes going into Coachella in the festival people. It's an expensive festival to attend. The accommodations are ridiculous. So how do you handle that on a budget?

Speaker 1: 3:43

I'm going to start by saying that the accommodations are insane, very expensive. Obviously, the best way to not break the bank on your accommodations is to camp at Coachella. However, I almost feel like you might make up for it in doctor's fees after, because you can get so sick from being in the dust, just generally at Coachella, that I can't imagine camping. However, housing for Coachella is ridiculous. Things sell out. Honestly, the best way to do it, in my opinion, if you're trying to ball on a budget, is to bat your cute eyes and be a girl and sleep on somebody's floor, or throw a million people into an Airbnb house with no restrictions. That being said, something else I'm just going to lightly touch on here. We kind of get the point throw a million people into an Airbnb house with no restrictions. That being said, something else I'm just going to lightly touch on here we kind of get the point is tickets Tickets to Coachella ridiculously expensive. It's such a privilege to be able to go to Coachella. Afford a ticket, why not? We get the point. However, this year was the first year that Coachella weekend one tickets have not sold out within the first day, or something we usually get on. We all fight that little blue man in the loading booth. They didn't sell out, and you know what I say to that Woohoo, because in my opinion, coachella has been oversold for quite some time.

Speaker 1: 4:59

I think my first year, 2015,. You were able to navigate through, through the crowds. You could almost walk all the way to the front, get some space in the front. It was a very nice experience without the event being oversold. So I mean, unfortunately maybe there's been a drop in interest.

Speaker 1: 5:18

Gen z just isn't fucking with the price of coachella. They're not not feeling the lineup. Honestly, if I was 18 right now in this economy I don't know if I can afford Coachella. It's gotten crazy. But I will say woohoo to potential that there will be less people attending Coachella. However, I do believe. Now Weekend One has sold out. However, you can still buy weekend two tickets through the official Coachella website. So kind of crazy big shift in here. So I will say easiest, safest bet is to buy your ticket through the Coachella website.

Speaker 1: 5:55

However, I found that the best way to get a good deal on a Coachella ticket is to wait till the day before and find somebody who has a math test the next day or, you know, unfortunately a relative is sick and they or they thought they could go and they can't go and they need to sell their ticket last minute. They're willing to make a deal with you and bring them cash, ask to activate the wristband when you're with them and you can probably swindle a good deal on a ticket. The longer you can wait and the less coveted the lineup the better. The year Kanye was supposed to play ended up dropping. They were reselling on StubHub for something so insane almost double the price or one and a half times the price of what they should have been. So you need to look for a good year and a good time. Tickets tend to drop right before the festival or maybe a month ago. So sorry, missed the boat on that one, but for next year.

Speaker 1: 6:51

So, diving into being bougie on a budget for Coachella, the thing I find I spend the second most amount money if we're not talking about tickets and accommodations, or I don't know if it's the most, maybe it is. I don't want to admit that, though is the pretty penny I spend on my outfits. Yeah, cute, smile, all right. So I think it's no secret at this time that fashion, and like your outfits you wear to a music festival, is a really fun part of playing into being at a music festival. A few years ago, I got a lot of shit on my podcast and TikTok for saying that Coachella is not the place to wear certain clothing to Coachella. They're like remember when it was just about music. You know what I say to that? Sure, it is just about the music. And wear whatever you want, have a great freaking time.

Speaker 1: 7:44

I have chosen to believe at this point that fashion is part of Coachella, that is part of this music festival. For me it is. You don't want it, you don't leave. You don't want it, leave it behind, I don't care. All right, now that I've crossed my T's and dotted my eyes on that, we can spend a ridiculous amount of money on our Coachella outfits. I mean, we've got girlies out there in full price IMG assets, colt, gaia, you know whatnot. Stuff can get freaking expensive with outfits. I mean the Revolve outfit alone. I feel like you put two items in your cart. It's $400. I don't know what to say there. Needless to say, some of my favorite places to check out 12th Tie, revolve, wild Fox they got a range of prices. But there are other companies that I have used in the past and one I've recently discovered that might help you this season save a buck to get a festival outfit. So I'm talking about Fashion Pass Now.

Speaker 1: 8:40

I have been a big fan of Fashion Pass for quite some time. Fashion Pass you pay a flat fee. I think it's something around $75 to $80 a month. Their warehouse is in LA, just FYI. You pay this flat fee. You order their clothes online. Lots of clothes from Revolve and whatnot is on Fashion Pass. They bought them. They have their own couple sets of these things. You order them. They get shipped to your house.

Speaker 1: 9:08

You can get on their basic membership two clothing items and an accessory and then you've got maybe one or two outfits for Coachella for $80. And then when you're done, you just put it back in the return bag they gave you, you drop it off at the post office and good to go. And if you really like the item, you get to keep it. So I've been a big fan of Fashion Pass for like weddings. I think I have used it maybe in the past for accessories for Coachella. And then also if you want to buy an extra item after already subscribing to their monthly month membership, you can pay an extra fee for like an extra item. They have other tiers, like I believe there's an unlimited membership where you can get like an insane amount of items or like six or seven items. I honestly don't know. I've never had the unlimited membership Point being you could really run away with paying one flat fee for a few items to add to your festival wardrobe and then you can return it. It won't be taking up clutter in your closet and it'll be good for the environment and the economy. But yeah, I'm a huge fan of Fashion Pass. Like I said, I've used it as a wedding to attend weddings as a guest. I'm a huge fan of Fashion Pass. Like I said, I've used it as a wedding to attend weddings as a guest. Honestly, brilliant marketing plan. And I do believe the warehouse is in LA or maybe I saw recently on their TikTok they moved to Las Vegas. I say this because if you are close to LA or Las Vegas, you return those items and then you get to pick another item once they've re-received your items and you can get new stuff. The turnaround time in my experience has been extremely fast. So I recommend checking out Fashion Pass. That is the name, fashion Pass. This is not sponsored, but we're open to it, all right.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Next, moving on, we have Bitty Fashion Rental. Dear God, I hope I am saying that right Dyslexia coming in strong. Bippity like bippity, boppity, boo, maybe Bippity fashion rental. So I recently found out about this because my good friend is renting some of her really nice pieces from festivals on this website and Instagram account. You can go on their site, see the clothing that is available that people personally own. Maybe they even have a photo from Coachella last year in the outfit and you're like, oh my God, that's so cute. And then you pay to rent that item and then they send it to you. You wear it for the festival and then send it back. I mean, honestly, genius, you're putting money in other girlies' pockets and you're protected by this site and you get a cute festival outfit. So I would definitely recommend checking out that. I haven't used it yet, but I might be thinking about it Again, not sponsored, but open to it. I might be thinking about it Again, not sponsored, but open to it Again. That is Bippity Fashion Rental. So now we've touched on outfits. Also, if you've been going for a few years, please, please, please, recycle your shoes, switch with friends, try to save the environment, fashion and swap around those outfits. Not saying that we'll all do that, but we should be consciously aware of potentially doing that.

Speaker 1: 12:24

All right, so in the next big ticket item I find that I spend a lot of money on at Coachella is Ubers. I paid for a shuttle pass. Why is my money getting lost in Ubers? Well, I'm going to tell you. Sometimes, maybe, you go to a pregame and you're hanging out with your friends and they're all like, oh, only half of us have shuttle passes. And you're like, oh well, I have a shuttle pass. They're like, well, just Uber. But for some reason you called the Uber Girlie. Don't offer to call it Uber. Don't Make somebody else have them request you. It's the safer bet. Any point.

Speaker 1: 12:50

My point being is you should potentially, if you have a shuttle pass, when you get in an Uber from your pregame or Coachella pre-party, just go to a shuttle stop. I know you think like, oh, we're going to get there faster, it's not going to be that much money. The truth is, the dice is in the desert. It could take you 10 minutes to get there and only $10, or it could take you an hour to get there and it can be $100. The range is large. On that Uber. Getting to the festival dice, I will also say it's the same for if you're going to any of the lovely Coachella pre-parties. Yeah, you're going to roll the dice a little bit on how expensive it's going to be Again after the pre-party if you are really attending the festival. The best way to save money is to Uber from the pre-party to a shuttle stop. You're not only going to save yourself money, you're going to save yourself time because that Uber parking lot is so far away from the true festival grounds versus the shuttle drop-off spot is so far away from the true festival grounds versus the shuttle drop-off spot is so much closer. It's honestly astounding and should be illegal how different they are. But they really make more positives for the shuttle pass. So just get to a shuttle pass from wherever you are arriving in an Uber. Save some money that way.

Speaker 1: 14:11

I'm also going to talk about leaving the festival. We had an interesting experience last year. I really want to touch on. Hunter and I decided to go to an after party after Friday night of Coachella, had a great time at Coachella. We're ready to go check out this after party.

Speaker 1: 14:26

I made Hunter and I take an Uber from the festival and I take an Uber from the festival. That walk for an Uber X was literally I could have been in Australia for all. I freaking knew Along the way. We saw the shuttle lines Uber Black and then was like Lyft and Uber all the way in the back. We couldn't get our phone to connect. I was trying to negotiate with people for cash just to take us. Nothing was cheaper than like $100 to just get us out the festival. What I wish I had done was reverse we were leaving the festival, just take the shuttle out once, get to the closest shuttle exit, which is the La Quinta exit, or La Quinta shuttle, and then just Uber to the after party from there would have saved us a whole lot of time and a whole lot of money, because I do believe that Uber even though eventually I did get one to arrive wasted a lot of time and a lot of money. So again, I will say that taking a shuttle out from the festival and Uber from shuttle stop to said after party is the better course of action.

Speaker 1: 15:39

Now, if you are returning home from a pre-party or you decide not to take this advice, I'm going to talk about how to leave Coachella pre-parties and head to festivals and maybe save a buck. So this happened to me and my girlfriend a few times when we were leaving Revolve Festival and heading to Coachella. You might notice some other girlies trying to do the same thing. It was very hard to try to get an Uber to come and find us at that spot. However, we had been here before and I was able to remember this that I should bring some cash and I could swindle somebody into just taking us if I paid them straight cash. However, to take us from Revolve Festival straight to Coachella Festival was still $100. I was like that is $50 for me and my friend.

Speaker 1: 16:31

In our wise wisdom of being a little tipsy, we look around to find two other cute little girlies trying to get to Coachella as well. So I said to them hey, I have cash, I will pay him. Will you Venmo me? 25 each for it. Beautiful. So it turned into $25 a person instead of 50 for just the two of us. Beautiful, so it turned into $25 a person instead of 50 for just the two of us. Still, I'm not saying that's the best price available, but definitely lowering the costs. Splitting with some nice random looking people when you have the buddy system I don't recommend you hopping in alone with strangers, just to clarify is a very helpful way to maybe save a little money on the Uber situation. Other things I have seen I have all this influencer. She's actually been on the podcast. Her and her friends rent a van and they're hopping to all these parties. So there are ways to save money in the pre and post game festival day, but I would say, bring some cash, split, return to the shuttle, stop when you can, all right.

Speaker 1: 17:33

The other big thing we all know we're spending and dropping a lot of cash on at music festivals is drinking at music festivals. Now, this, I would like to say, alleged advice. This is not legal, this is not whatever. Allegedly, drinks at this is not allegedly. Drinks at Coachella are expensive and if you're over 21, you love the beer garden. The beer garden is one of my favorite places to attend a set, not to mention that the Heineken house, with T-Pain weekend one, is about to be lit. So you know, we're obviously going to feel the need, the desire, the want to drop some money on drinks.

Speaker 1: 18:11

I'm going to stop you right here. Here's how you're going to save some money on drinks. I'm going to stop you right here. Here's how you're going to save some money on a drink. Back it up, back it up, back it up. First off, attending those Coachella pre-parties and whatnot often have free drinks. So make sure to enjoy your water as well as those free cocktails. Two options we're going to discuss.

Speaker 1: 18:28

Odds are good you might know somebody who is at the campsite. Reach out to them before they check in Wednesday or Thursday, wherever the camping happens, I don't know when that happens. Ask them hey, potentially will you take this fifth of vodka for me and then you will be able, once you arrive to the festival with your ticket, to go to their campsite, grab a swig of alcohol free of charge. Well, you already paid for free of upcharge, let's be clear. And so having a homie at a campsite, hold your alcohol or ask if you can buy into their alcohol definitely a way to cut down on some prices spent. Not to mention that there are allegedly there are allegedly flasks that are small, that are plastic, and tampon flasks. You could fill up at alleged places, say your Airbnb, and potentially try or attempt I'm not guaranteeing success. Bring that into the festival Again. I'm just a girl on a budget here. That into the festival Again, I'm just a girl on a budget here. So those are some ideas on how to maybe save some cash with drinking alcohol.

Speaker 1: 19:40

I will say another big thing you should be drinking is water. The biggest scam to me, in my opinion, of all music festivals is that you have to pay for a plastic water bottle. A lot of festivals you can buy reusable ones Coachella I don't know if I've seen reusable water bottles. I know Insomniac is great about the reusable water bottle Point being. You can buy flat. You know what I'm going to go? Grab it. Stand by, all right.

Speaker 1: 20:09

So this, believe it or not, if you're following along on YouTube, this little bag with a scrunched up liddy looking thing and a clip around the side is a water bottle. This little plastic looking bag unfolds, gets screw off the lid. I'm trying to give an auditory explanation for those just listening. And you can fill up this water bottle at the water stations instead of spending I don't know X amount of dollars on a water bottle. These are not that expensive. I think I got a pack of three for like $11 on Amazon. Again, these are what they look like. Again, not sponsored by Amazon, but open to it you can bring those into the festival, refill them and if you lose or drop them it was $11. And it's probably about the price of two plastic water bottles you bought in the festival. If you do end up buying a plastic water bottle at the festival, do try to scrunch it up and shove it in your pocket or your purse or your friend's backpack and try to refill it. Save yourself a few bucks on water, a few other things in the festival you can save money on.

Speaker 1: 21:18

I don't know what's happened global warming, whatever it may be? Coachella has gotten a lot colder than it used to be. I swear those first couple years when I was sweating buckets from like two in the afternoon till 1am. It's gotten a lot colder. There's a lot more wind. People don't remember to bring jackets and they end up waiting in a massive line when you're wasting time and to buy a Coachella $40 or $80, even $100, maybe dollar hoodie that you're only going to wear at the festival. Maybe you'll wear it again. Yes, hunter's holding, is that Misty? Anyways, you're going to end up blowing a lot of your money or you could blow a lot of money on a hoodie because you're cold.

Speaker 1: 22:03

Bring a jacket, bring a medical emergency blanket, bring a shawl that you can stuff in your purse. Last year I had the brilliant idea of bringing a jacket in an airtight Ziploc and it slipped right behind my at the time now boyfriend, now fiance's water pack and then, when I got cold, I just put that shawl or jacket right around. Try to bring a jacket. Save yourself the $40 to $100 that you could drop on the merch tent because you're a cold curly pop. All right, this is the last thing I am actually going to talk about, about being bougie on a budget. I know some of these seem simple, but they add up. All right.

Speaker 1: 22:45

It's Saturday morning, You're a little hungover and maybe Friday morning you were a little excited. Why not? You reach for your phone and you order Postmates and DoorDash for breakfast and late night snacks, post-festival. I'm telling you you're burning a hole in your wallet. I think we all know that we spend way too much money with delivery services for food at music festivals and just in life in general. Here's what you're going to do. I did this last year. It saved me a hundred. I want to say at least $200.

Speaker 1: 23:16

Wednesday night, before heading down to Coachella, I took myself to Little Trader Joe's. I got us breakfast food, light-ish lunch like food and dinner and late snacks. And I'm not kidding. I had a budget of $150 and I spent it all. We're talking chips, we're talking drinks, we're talking alcohol, we're talking very easy microwavable meals. And then we never had to order DoorDash at that crazy upcharge as well, as we never had to wait for our food longer than 20 minutes to be ready post-festival munchies. So I highly recommend doing a grocery run to Trader Joe's getting all your snackies before heading down to the desert.

Speaker 1: 24:04

We all know when you're sharing in that group Airbnb that someone goes to the grocery store and then you're suddenly hit with a $70 Venmo that you're all supposed to split the food on that. You never end up eating. It's not worth it. Just state from the beginning you got your own food, even if you end up sharing and you do run the risk of somebody else eating it. Even if you do end up sharing whatnot? Hey, I already brought my own food. I don't need any of that. I'm good, reneg yourself from the craziness of the group Venmo charge.

Speaker 1: 24:36

So it's fair to say that I am super excited for Coachella and it's honestly on the brain and it's something I want to keep on doing, but in a wannabe it girl fashion, it's not going as glamorous. The bank account is not as full as I would like it to be, so these are ways I am staying bougie on as full as I would like it to be. So these are ways, I am staying bougie on a budget and I hope they help you too. So thank you guys, so much for listening and, as always, we'll see you next Tuesday. Thank you so much for listening to Confessions of a Wannabe it Girl. Don't forget to rate and subscribe to the show. As always, we'll see you next Tuesday.