Money Saving Tips to Get You Through This Festival Season

It’s Glasto weekend! And everyone’s favourite Somerset farm-based blowout normally heralds the beginning of a string of festival happening across the UK. Festivals aren’t cheap, and if you’re not careful, your budget could soon go completely off-course.

So to help all of you who are currently packing for a weekend of music and fun with mates, here’s a couple of helpful money saving reminders.

Set a budget!
You may feel all boho and carefree in your flower crown and hot pants, but even the hardest worn festivalgoer will be fanatical about sticking to budget. Simply work out how many days you’re going away for, list the amount of things you may need to realistically buy and then set yourself a daily target. Only bring cash to the festival and leave your card at home – this will stop you splurging after one too many ciders! It’s also worth having an emergency stash of money hidden somewhere in case you lose your wallet.

Wear a bumbag
You’ll thank us for this one. Bumbags are a great way of carrying essentials securely and without the faff of bag straps and remembering to bring your rucksack everywhere.

Organise travel in advance
This especially applies if you’re taking the train. Keep an eye out on special deals, see what savings can be made if you split the journey and book well in advance. If you’re driving, see if you can split the petrol costs with your pals. If you’re really struggling, check out sites like GoCarShare and see what members of the public are travelling to the same place as you and have a spare seat.

Booze rules
Some sites let you bring booze in, some don’t. Find out what the rules are of the festival before you haul six crates of lager through the gates. On one hand, if you’re allowed to bring in your own alcohol, you’re saving a small fortune on buying at the bar. If you don’t check and they end up not allowing you to bring your own supply, you’re waving goodbye to a lot of expensive booze.

Volunteer
A lot of festival tickets are prohibitively expensive. If you’re desperate to be there, sign up as a volunteer. This could be working for a charity on site, handing out wristbands, working behind bars, cleaning rubbish or acting as a steward. Whatever the job, it allows you to attend the festival for free. Turn up on time and do your job well, and you’ll make it easier to be shortlisted for the festival and others next year.

Bring your own food
Cereals, chocolate bars, crisps, breakfast bars, fruit, water – packing as many food items as possible allows you to save money on meals. As much as the BBQ stalls and falafel vans serve up decent grub, it’s an expensive way to eat, so do a food shop before your journey.

Use an old phone
If you can avoid bringing your expensive smartphone to a festival, leave it at home and swap the SIM card into an old model. Something like a Nokia 3310 is perfect for a weekend camping, the battery last ages, and its virtually indestructible. And if you do end up losing it while pogoing to DJ Shadow, at least you’re not losing an incredibly pricy bit of kit.