How To Make Money Fast: 41 Proven Ways (Online, Offline, and at Home)
Some days the big bad wolf comes knocking, and you must make money fast, like today.
There is no shame in looking for additional ways to make money, even if it's only $100 to pay your cell phone bill or pay extra towards a student loan. Life can happen to all of us.
In fact, during the great recession of 2008, it was estimated that making an extra $300 per month was the deciding factor between staying afloat or experiencing significant financial turmoil. Just $300… that's it!
So whether you need $300 to make ends meet or make money fast today, here are some of the quickest ways, strategies, and ideas to make some quick cash.
41 Proven Ways To Make Money Fast Today
The following list contains proven methods that can help you make money fast, broken down into six main categories:
- How to make money fast from your couch
- Ways to make money fast today without a computer
- Make money fast today with your car or bike
- Use apps and banking hacks to make more money
- Freelancing ideas
- Long-term ways to make extra money
How To Make Money Fast From Your Couch
In 1985, our parents and grandparents couldn't make money from their couches while watching their favorite Netflix series. Luckily for us, we can, and all it takes is a mobile device, an internet connection, and some spare time.
Here are more than 40 simple ways to start making money today without much effort!
1. Play Games on Your Phone
Getting paid to play video games on your mobile device is one of the best ways to earn money without a lot of work; however, it also won't pay as much money as some of the other options on this list.
Mistplay
Mistplay is an Android app that rewards you for playing games. Download this free app, find new games in your mixlist and earn units as you play. Redeem your points for free gift cards whenever you want!
Other fun mobile apps that will pay you real money are:
- Solitaire Cash – A fun twist on the classic card game
- Bubble Cash – Match, shoot, and pop bubbles to win real prizes
- Bingo Cash – Fill your card and yell “Bingo” from your couch
*Note: Solitaire Cash, Bubble Cash, and Bingo Cash tournaments are not available in the following states: AZ, IN, IA, LA, ME, MT, SC, and WA.
2. Complete Online Surveys
While there may be more exciting ways to make money fast, completing surveys is an easy way to earn extra cash in your free time.
In fact, most of these online platforms offer sign-up bonuses when you become a member. And many offer the option to complete paid online surveys on your phone.
Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is one of the best online survey sites and has been around for a long time. Survey Junkie works with market research companies to gather survey data for their clients.
Choose to get paid real money or free gift cards for sharing your opinions with Survey Junkie.
Make Money Fast With Survey Junkie
Swagbucks
Swagbucks is similar to Survey Junkie. You can make money commuting on the train or waiting at the doctor's office. The great things about Swagbucks is the different ways you can earn money, including answering surveys and polls, searching the web, and playing games. Get a $10 welcome bonus when you sign up!
Make Money Fast With Swagbucks
InboxDollars
Another good option is InboxDollars, which offers a great opportunity to get more free money sent to your PayPal account for participating in surveys, playing games, and completing other simple tasks online. Get a $5 welcome bonus when you sign up.
Make Money Fast With InboxDollars
3. Rent Out Your Home
Do you own a home, travel a lot, or have a vacation home? If so, one of the quickest and most lucrative ways to make money is to rent out your home. Listing your home on Vrbo will allow you to earn rental income on your property when you're not using it.
Whether you live in a booming city, by a local airport, or in a rural area, Vrbo allows you to rent out your home to people looking for hotel alternatives.
Make Money From Home With Vrbo
4. Get Paid for Your Data With Nielsen
Nielsen is a company that historically tracked television ratings. However, as our world changes, television ratings are slowly becoming less significant, and consumer internet data continues to become more important.
That's why Neilsen will now pay you to share your internet data.
How it works:
- Sign up with Nielsen
- Download the free app
- Get rewarded (paid) for allowing Nielsen to track your internet usage
5. Tutor Kids Online
Are you a stay-at-home mom, teacher, or college student looking to make some money at home tutoring online? You can get paid to tutor kids online – thank you, gig economy!
These platforms handle most of the leg work for you
VipKid
VIPKid is the most widely known online tutoring website, boasting over 30,000 tutors worldwide. They specialize in teaching English to international students (primarily Chinese students).
If you're looking to earn extra income from home, are a native English speaker, and have a bachelor's degree (it does not have to be a teaching degree) VIPKid is an excellent way to get paid to teach.
Wyzant
Wyzant is a great option for tutoring and making money online because they let you set your own rates!
In addition, the best thing about Wyzant is that you get to keep 100% of the tutoring fees for any students you refer.
Additionally, Wyzant offers hassle-free payments.
Chegg
You can earn $20 an hour tutoring online with Chegg.
Chegg does online tutoring differently, offering what they call “Online Demand Tutoring.”
Essentially, their business model leverages the need for instant learning that students worldwide may require while doing homework or studying.
To qualify, you must pass a test in your subject area.
Stay Local
Tutoring is an attractive work-from-home job because it allows you to set your own schedule. Still, it's not limited to online work. You can find side gigs tutoring people in person, too.
Visit local schools, hang flyers, and let your friends and family know you're looking for potential clients to tutor.
6. Scan Receipts and Get Cashback
While you won't get rich scanning receipts, you can earn a decent chunk of change each month depending on your shopping habits.
Take some of these popular cashback apps for a spin:
Rakuten
If you're unfamiliar with Rakuten (it used to be known as Ebates), it's an easy-to-use cashback app that will reward you with a percentage of cashback on your purchases by first going to the Rakuten site.
Begin by downloading the free Rakuten app on your mobile device, setting up an account, and searching for your favorite retailers. Rakuten will send you directly to their site, and you will earn a percentage of your purchase in the form of cashback in your Rakuten account.
Rakuten has been a leader in the cashback market for a long time and is a very reputable company.
Ibotta
You can make $10 just for signing up with Ibotta right now, even if you never use it again; here is how:
- Download the Ibotta app
- Create an account
- Get $10 and transfer it to get free PayPal money
Once you have the app, you can make money by scanning the receipts that you get when you do your everyday shopping.
In fact, Ibotta even lets you pay with your app, so you don't even have to scan!
7. Work as a Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants, or VAs, help support businesses remotely. Depending on your skills, you may already be qualified to work as a virtual assistant.
As a VA, you can do most tasks typically done in an office setting, including:
- Customer service support
- Answering emails
- Bookkeeping tasks
- Creating spreadsheets
- Posting on social media
- And more…
You can find VA jobs by joining VA for Hire groups on Facebook, searching on Upwork or other online job forums. Another perk of being a VA is that many people are willing to train you to do specific tasks.
8. Check Out ShopKick
If you like getting free gift cards, ShopKick is a great shopping app, as you can earn “Kicks” simply by walking into stores.
Those kicks can be exchanged for free Amazon gift cards or cards from Target, Walmart, and many more.
Here is how ShopKick works:
- Download the free app
- Create an account
- Collect your Kicks when you walk into stores like Walmart or Target
- Earn $5 for every 1,250 kicks you get
- No spending required
9. Donate Blood Plasma
Donating plasma is slightly different from donating blood. Blood plasma donations are used to make medications for those with blood clotting issues, and it is perfectly safe to donate.
And while you'll obviously need to leave your house to donate plasma, you can read a book, use your laptop, or play on your phone while donating.
Plasma centers will pay you to donate your blood plasma several times a month; you'll make around $30 per donation.
Ways To Make Money Fast Today Without a Computer
If you want to make money from home but don't want to sit on your laptop all day, here are some ideas to make money fast without a computer.
10. Sell Stuff From Around Your Home
You can sell junk piled up in your garage, old decorations from your wedding, or stuff you purged while spring cleaning. Look around your home and gather all the unused things taking up space. Hop on eBay or retail websites to list your items or hold a garage sale.
Some different ways to sell things to sell your stuff include:
- Neighborhood yard sales
- Facebook Marketplace
- OfferUp
- Craigslist
- eBay
- Mercari
- Poshmark
When selling your items, take good-quality photos, price them accordingly, and communicate well with interested parties.
Sometimes, selling electronics, car parts, furniture, and expensive wedding items can quickly add up to hundreds of dollars.
11. Take Care of Pets
Getting paid to care for people's pets is a dream job for most animal lovers. In many cases, you're technically leaving your home to do so, but in others, you can welcome the pet into your home to petsit.
Here is how to become a dog walker:
- Reach out to local dog walking companies and work part-time
- Start your own dog-walking company
- Ask your dog-owning neighbors if they need help
- Use the Rover app to land dog-walking and petsitting gigs
12. Become a Tasker
If you're handy, you could make good money helping other people with random tasks like putting together grills, taking apart furniture, or installing ceiling fans.
Whether you can do small handyman jobs or more elaborate things like installing cabinets – the options are endless!
Here are some tips to land handyman gigs:
- Market yourself on social media (Instagram or Facebook Marketplace)
- Talk to friends and family and build a reputation
- Take photos of your work and share them on Craigslist
- Use the handyman app Tasker to land local jobs
13. Do Yard Work
Mowing the neighbor's grass and raking their leaves in the fall may be reminiscent of your first gig in middle school. Still, paid yard work and landscaping jobs often pay much better for adults.
Find landscaping jobs with these steps:
- Ask neighbors with long grass and messy yards if they need help
- Charge between $20-$50 (size matters) for mowing grass
- Make a deal to mow the yard 2x-4x monthly and collect cash or offer digital payment options like Venmo and PayPal
- Repeat the process for landscaping needs. Mulching and cleaning out a townhome's mulch beds is $150 and takes a few hours
14. Wash and Detail Cars
If you like washing and detailing cars, you can turn that interest into income! Detailing cars inside and out, especially large SUVs can be a simple way to make $100 in less than two hours.
Here are some strategies for detailing cars:
- Offer different cleaning packages (interior, exterior, interior & exterior)
- Earn repeat customers and offer ongoing packages every other month
- Get paid in cash or provide digital payment options like Venmo or PayPal
15. Call Local Business Owners
This might seem like a weird way to make more money. Still, you can make some quick cash if you call local small business owners (especially ones you have a connection to) and inquire about their needs.
Simply ask if they have any tasks they need help completing, and if you have skills – like sales, marketing, cleaning, or handyman – offer your services.
16. House Sit
Many people hire house sitters when they travel. Someone to water the plants, collect the mail, and generally monitor their property. House sitting is an incredibly easy gig where you can often charge upwards of $25 per day.
17. Move Furniture
You can earn $50 an hour (or more) when you help a neighbor, friend, or random person move to their next home.
Check Craigslist, Facebook, or your local paper to find people who need help moving. Agree to a rate and ask for half up front. Then, complete the work and collect the second half of your fee. If you have a truck, you can also charge extra for its use.
How To Make Money Fast With Your Car or Bike:
You can make money with your car, a bike, your phone, and around 20 minutes of your time to create an account with one of the following:
- Deliver food
- Deliver people (to their destination)
- Deliver packages
18. Drive for Uber
If you have never heard of Uber, you have lived under a rock for the last few years. Uber is a rideshare company that allows people to pay for rides wherever they need to go.
Uber is constantly searching for drivers. So if you have a car that meets the requirements, consider becoming an Uber driver and get paid to drive people around.
19. Deliver Food With Postmates
You can deliver food with Postmates if you live in a city and make some quick cash!
Typically Postmates delivery experts make $4-$6 per delivery, hence why you want to deliver in an area with a high volume of people and food joints.
20. Amazon Delivery
Amazon is the largest eCommerce platform in the world. Because of this, they need your help and will pay you to deliver customer orders.
With Amazon Flex, most drivers make $18-$25 per hour, and you choose your own hours and be your own boss.
21. DoorDash Delivery
DoorDash became more popular than ever in 2020 (along with many delivery services.) If you're not familiar with DoorDash, they offer delivery from restaurants.
You can earn cash quickly delivering food, and most DoorDash drivers make $7-$10 per hour and can deliver to 2-3 people per hour.
22. Uber Eats Delivery
People are lazy, so if you're ambitious, you can capitalize on this by delivering food to them with UberEats…on your bike.
Uber Eats delivery options are available in select cities on your bike, making it one of the best side gigs for college students!
Use Apps & Banking Hacks To Make More Money
Plenty of banking hacks will help you keep money in your pocket, but they're also spectacular ways to make more money. See how these apps and banking hacks can help you make $100 as soon as today!
23. Save Your Spare Change With Acorns
We all spend money.
Whether on bills, groceries, our cars, or simply just going out, at the end of the day, the number of our monthly purchases adds up quickly. But since people are using less and less cash, spare change is essentially non-existent.
Unless, of course, you're using the Acorns app.
Acorns is a financial app that lets users link their checking or credit accounts to the app. Then, with each purchase, the balance is rounded to the next dollar, and the difference goes into an investment account.
For example, a purchase of $3.20 would round to $4.00, depositing .80 cents into your acorns account.
How to use Acorns:
- Download the Acorns app
- Acorns have different levels of investment options, such as aggressive and conservative
- Users can withdraw money at any time
- The Acorns fee is $1 a month – that's it
24. Sign Up for a Credit Card
Before you continue reading this quick way to make $100 fast, remember that credit cards require financial discipline, and applying for credit cards requires a pull on your credit.
All that being said, one of the easiest and quickest ways to make $100 or even more is to sign up for credit cards that offer cash bonuses of $100, $150, or even more!
If you are okay with the credit pull, some people will do this every few months to continually collect credit card bonuses.
25. Invest With Fundrise
Ever wanted to be a real estate investor?
Perhaps you're like most people, and you don't have the capital to be Grant Cardone just yet, and purchase a rental property for investment purposes outright. Still, you can get your start with Fundrise.
Fundrise is an investment service similar to your standard brokerage account. But, instead of investing in the regular stuff – stocks and bonds – Fundrise helps you get private real estate investments.
Highlights of Fundrise:
- 8.7-12.4% historical annual returns
- You can diversify your investment portfolio with real estate
- Maximize your returns with Fundrise's low-fee approach
- Build a balanced portfolio
26. Use Cushion Banking and Get $100 Back
Ever forget to pay a credit card bill on time or overdraft your checking account?
Even if you're highly organized and on top of your money and budget each month, sometimes life happens, and things fall through the cracks. That's where the Cushion Banking app comes in handy!
Cushion lets users link their credit and checking accounts to its app. Once connected, Cushion's “Fee Fighter” bots go through your accounts and request refunds for any banking fees you were charged (on your behalf) from the financial institution.
27. Let RocketMoney Negotiate Your Bills
RocketMoney is an app that links all your accounts, including your monthly bills, to one platform. It analyzes your recurring subscriptions and bills and give you tailored recommendations that help you save money.
RocketMoney will even negotiate your monthly rates.
Tips for using RocketMoney:
- Click to download RocketMoney here
- Complete your profile and see what subscriptions the app recommends canceling
- See where you're overpaying on bills (like car insurance, cell phones, and internet)
- Negotiate on your own instead of paying for them to negotiate for you
28. Refinance Student Loans
If you have student loans, you may want to look into refinancing them.
The purpose of refinancing student loans is to:
1) Lower payments
2) Save hundreds in interest payments each year
Restructuring your loans can result in savings of $100, $200, or even more each month.
Here are some tips and ideas to refinance student loans for extra money:
- See what you can qualify for by LendKey.
- Ensure you know the pros and cons of refinancing, like federal loan perks.
- Make sure you understand the change in loan terms.
While you might not get $100 instantly like some of these other ways to make quick money – you can make money (by saving in interest each month) by refinancing your student loans.
Over the long run, refinancing with LendKey can save you thousands.
29. Claim Property
One of the easiest ways to make money from home is by searching for unclaimed property. In addition to being easy money, it only takes a few minutes to claim.
Visit Unclaimed.org to see if there is any “property” owed to you. The group that runs the website, NAUPA, is the leader in helping rightful owners find their unclaimed property.
Search for your name and claim anything that is owed to you, and you will receive a check.
Freelance To Make Money Fast Today
Endless freelance opportunities can help you make money fast today, especially with the inception of freelance portals like Fiverr and Upwork.
If you have digital writing or design skills, you can make money as a freelance writer or editor.
30. Copywriting
Copywriting – writing ‘copy' or advertisement text – is a great way to make extra money on your computer that can be done outside your regular nine to five.
While knowing how to write excellent email content is a skill you will need, copywriting can include the following:
- Advertising
- Websites
- Emails
- Blog posts
- Landing pages
The best place to start making money with writing is Fivver or Upwork, where people are searching to hire freelancers (see #31 below.)
31. Editing Gigs
Like copywriting, editing gigs are in high demand, primarily as the digital media industry continues to grow.
Writers, bloggers, and social media influencers constantly look for those who can edit and optimize their writing. So look for gigs on freelance websites or simply Google “remote editor jobs.”
Who knew high school English class would be so important?
32. Design Websites
Designing and building websites can be lucrative, but it does require some degree of know-how. If this is a skill you'd be interested in learning, start by watching some YouTube videos or taking an online course on Udemy.
To book jobs, start with your network of people who have a website that needs an update or a business with no site.
33. Use Fiverr or Upwork
For all of the above-mentioned freelance ideas to make money fast today, you can leverage your skills to land freelance gigs with two platforms:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
There are ways to market yourself, like tapping into your power base. Finding gigs to make money online using a platform like Fivver takes some hassle away, such as getting paid and customer service!
34. Graphic Design
If you have a design background, you can find work as a freelance graphic designer.
Ways to land freelance graphic design gigs:
- List your services on Fiverr
- Talk to schools, colleges, and small business owners about creative ways to design for their business
- Reach out to gyms, groups, churches, etc., that use graphics often
- Inquire with t-shirt and branding companies for part-time work
Long-Term Ideas To Make More Money
Here is a list of ideas to help you make money – perhaps not today – but maybe every day in the future. Think of these as long-term ways to make money!
Some of these skills may take a few months of practicing and researching, but each can yield a few thousand dollars a month, if you can put in the time.
35. Manage Social Media Accounts
Many small business owners look to social media platforms to get a leg up on their competition – but also outsource some of their daily work.
Companies know they need a digital presence, especially on social media. Still, many need help finding the time to post consistently to achieve the desired results.
You can charge $200 a month or more for managing just one social media account and make some serious money working from your couch a few times a week.
Here are tips for making money fast with social media accounts:
- Focus on becoming a pro with one platform at a time
- Add value and create posts
- Research each platform's algorithm and user goal (for example, Facebook wants user engagement on its site – so keep followers engaged)
- Offer advertising services like Facebook ads or Instagram sponsored content
- Charge $200 per platform, $300 for two, and $500 or more for a full service
- Help clients grow by gaining followers, likes, and engagement
- Use auto-scheduling programs to be more efficient
36. Start a Blog
While starting a blog that makes money requires time and effort, it's possible with proper monetization strategies to start making money with a blog in a few months.
Remember that you will first need to get a WordPress site and hosting (for less than $3.00 a month, Bluehost will do both, use this link to start.)
Ways to make money blogging include:
- Sponsored content & posts
- Ads on your blog with 10,000 monthly views
- Affiliate marketing
- Selling digital products
- Amazon Associates affiliate program
37. Grow an Instagram Page
Instead of spending time scrolling on Instagram, instead, focus on building your own following on Instagram.
When you hit 10,000 followers, you can start making serious money promoting products on your page. Depending on your niche, if you have 20,000 followers and up and you can sometimes make $1,000 a sponsored post.
Keys to growing an Instagram following to make more money include:
- Good quality images
- Be niche specific and have a target audience in mind
- Produce original content
- Engagement in hashtags and with other accounts
- Do not pay for followers
- Have a catchy profile and photo
- Use a hashtag strategy
- Be consistent
38. Flip Domains
There are ways to make money by flipping domains and websites that, if done correctly, can be very profitable (talk about making money online, literally!)
Flipping domains isn't something you just walk into and can often require some technical expertise; however, if you can:
- Grow a website's domain authority
- Add quick content to a domain
- Find valuable domain names that you can flip
Then you can make money flipping domains or websites. Think of websites similar to digital real estate investments!
39. Create a YouTube Channel
If you have a smartphone (most likely) and have something valuable to share – start recording and post it on YouTube.
The keys to making money on YouTube include the following:
- Reaching 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time to monetize your channel
- Having a goal and plan
- Doing proper keyword research and optimizing your videos
- Knowing your audience
40. Sell Flea Market Items on eBay
If you enjoy shopping at flea markets, flipping items on eBay is worth a look. It's a simple gig but can be time-consuming if you're sourcing the items yourself.
You can try other platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Still, eBay is your best bet if you're looking to buy someone else's stuff and make a profit selling it online.
Things to keep in mind if you want to earn extra money selling on eBay:
- Find items on the app OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, flea markets, or garage sales
- Look for things that appear valuable but need some TLC
- Buy the item, clean it up, and list it on eBay
- Be mindful of how to best ship items to be most profitable
41. Flip Cars
While there is a level of expertise in assessing car values and knowing how to fix cars without losing money, flipping cars can be a substantial money maker.
Here are a few tips to get started:
- Look for people looking to get rid of solid cars in a hurry
- Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, and trucks hold their value best
- Scour Craigslist for vehicles that “won't start” or have a dead battery
- If you can jump-start it and it runs, it can be a simple fix
- Assess the value before buying
- Make minor fixes, and in a month, resell the car
In addition, you're not limited to cars and trucks – you can also flip motorcycles, vans, and RVs.
Final Take
When it comes to making money fast, there is a point in our lives when we need money for something. It's time to take action and start earning.
- Use the list from above and start exploring ways to make money long term to avoid needing to consistently make money in the short term.
- Do your best to save a portion of what you make, even if it's 1%. Increase it monthly so that you hit appropriate age savings targets.
- Use the money you make to pay off debt or further your financial goals.
- Create a profitable side hustle by taking these money-making tips and scaling a business to improve your financial situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Can I Make Money Right Now
You can earn by collecting sign-up bonuses, completing online surveys, walking dogs, doing odd jobs, picking up overtime shifts, and asking for a raise. Other options to consider include freelance work online.
How Can I Make $100 in a Day?
Take advantage of the gig economy and the side hustle options that include delivering food, delivering groceries, completing surveys, walking dogs, renting your car out, renting your home, taking advantage of any and all sign-up bonuses, and exploring part-time jobs.
How Do You Make Quick Money
Anything that pays you on a moment's notice is considered quick money, including free PayPal money from things like surveys, websites, market research, donating plasma, and more.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
