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Need some cash fast? These tips will have you covered in no time.
No one’s immune to needing some extra money here and there.
It happens.
An unexpected bill pops up and the next paycheck doesn’t come for a couple of days.
Or, you found out that you must pay your way for a work get together.
At least you’ll know what resources to tap when you need to!
Table of Contents
Taking surveys online is something some people love, and others hate.
There’s not an in-between.
But, the truth is that they can come in handy when you need some extra cash.
I’ve personally made $20 or more in a day taking surveys from some of the top survey panels.
And, let’s face it: surveys are easy.
You can take them on your computer or mobile device, depending on the panel, and answer a series of questions to make money.
Some survey panels even pay in straight cash, rather than points, which makes it easy to know what you’ve made so far.
Here are some of our favorites:
- Survey Junkie (best survey site on the web – make $5 – $18 per hour)
- LifePoints (not many surveys, but very high-paying)
- Swagbucks ($5 sign-up bonus – many ways to earn other than just surveys)
- Springboard America (possible to earn up to $50 per survey)
- Vindale Research ($1 sign-up bonus with wide abundance of surveys)
These panels have a popular following and good payment histories.
They’re also some of the highest-paying survey panels in the industry.
2. Deliver Food with DoorDash
DoorDash is quickly becoming of the fastest-growing food-delivery services in the US.
Instead of using them to order for them, you can just as easily sign-up and start delivering food for them.
Earn a decent hourly rate while scheduling your own hours on your own time.
The best part?
You can even earn excellent tips to further increase your earnings.
Register here to find out how to earn with DoorDash.
There’s been some controversy surrounding ride-share driving lately, like former drivers saying that they don’t get paid nearly as much as companies like Uber promise.
The truth is that your schedule and your location have a lot to do with your success.
No matter where you live, though, you can likely rack up a quick $50 from driving a few people around in a day.
Loan company Earnest found that the average Uber driver makes $364 per month and Lyft drivers slightly topped that amount at $377 per month.
An article on The Rideshare Guy reports that drivers for Uber make an average of $15.68 per hour before expenses.
Figuring gas and travel expenses and taxes, you might want to bring that number down to about $10 to $11 per hour.
It’s not a lot – and not something you’d want to quit your day job for – but just a few hours of rideshare driving could give you the quick $50 you need.
4. Resell Stuff
Tap into the things you have or find things at cheap prices at flea markets or yard sales.
Then, resell them for higher prices!
The internet gives you so many ways to earn money from things you already have.
Amazon and eBay are two leading sites where you can sell tons of different things.
Amazon even has a trade-in program that lets you get some money back for things like movies, video games, phones, and books.
If you have electronics to sell, Gazelle lets you enter some information from your items and receive an instant offer. You can even ship your stuff for free if it’s worth at least $1.
You can sell used textbooks through Bookscouter. The website helps you locate the best online buyers willing to pay the highest prices for that book, so you don’t have to waste hours finding the best place.
You can even sell gift cards online! Gather up the cards you don’t want or would rather have the cash value from and sell them on Raise or Cardpool.
5. Rent Stuff
The sharing economy has taken over traditional rental stores. People like you and me can now rent out just about anything to make some extra cash – including their parking spots.
Look at Zilok and you’ll see what I mean. This site lets you set up a listing to rent anything you’re not using, like power tools and electronics. You don’t have to pay anything to list your item, but Zilok will take a small commission out of your final rental fee.
Then there’s SpotHero, which lets you rent your parking space to someone who might need it more than you. You can even set up a monthly fee for the space!
You can also rent your car to rideshare drivers using HyreCar. If you have a couple of days each week that you don’t usually need your car, you might as well get some money out of it. Let it go for a few hours and you’ll likely have your $50.
Last but not least, you can make money by renting out your house on Airbnb.
How possible is it to make money as a host when you rent out a room in your house on Airbnb? One hundred percent possible.
The good thing about renting out a place is that you have someone depositing money into your account every month or after a specified number of days.
This money can go a long way in taking care of your bills, amenities or basic household stuff. If you agree on $200 as rent, for instance, the renter may opt to deposit $50 at the end of every week.
6. Set Up a Freelance Gig
Freelancing is one of the best ways to make cash fast because you’ll utilize skills you already have to do something for your clients. Almost half of all Millennial workers are currently freelancing, either full-time or in addition to their regular jobs!
Almost anyone has a skill that they can turn into a freelance gig. Good at writing? Write blogs or social media content for businesses. Have you designed your own WordPress themes? Start earning cash doing the same for new bloggers.
Do you love taking photos as a hobby? Start taking custom orders from people who need the perfect photos for blogs, white papers, and advertisements.
You can get started freelancing right away by selling your services in local Facebook groups or your website. You might also want to jump-start your freelance career by joining Fiverr or Upwork, both freelance marketplaces that let you set up a profile and find people who need your skills.
7. Open a Credit Card or Checking Account
I’m not advocating opening a new credit card if it’s going to tempt you to spend money that you can’t afford. However, if you wanted to open one anyway and can be responsible by paying off your balance every month, then this trick can work for you.
Several credit card companies have offers for bonuses when you sign up for a new account. That goes for checking and savings accounts too. You’ll usually have to spend a certain amount within a specific timeframe to get the bonus, so it might be two or three months before you see it.
Still, you’ll have that money waiting for you once you meet your goal and you didn’t have to do anything difficult to get it.
Some will pay you the bonus as soon as you meet your purchase requirements, some of which are as low as $200 to $300. You can check out current bonus offers for credit cards and checking or savings accounts on Nerdwallet and other comparison sites.
8. Sell Your Photos
Photographers can absolutely turn a hobby into a full-fledged business if they have enough talent. However, if you want to make money fast, you won’t necessarily have the time to build a photography business, which can often take some money to get started.
Instead, utilize the web to sell some of your photos fast. Several stock photo sites will pay for your exclusive photos, meaning that most of them have clauses that state that you can only sell a photo on that site, rather than several.
Some sites will allow you to sell on multiple sites but will just pay you a little less in royalties.
Either way, you can start making money fast. Check out the following stock photo sites that will pay you for high quality photos:
- Dreamstime – pays up to 60% of your sales and you can sell non-exclusive images
- Getty Images – pays up to 45% commission
- Shutterstock – pays up to 30% commission or up to 38 cents per photo downloaded through a subscription
9. Download Apps
If you have space for some extra apps on your phone, then download AppLike. This app makes it easy to make money just by downloading and playing new apps on your phone.
AppLike partners with app developers to work as an advertising platform for their apps. It advertises the apps to you, so when you download them, AppLike rewards you with points. Then, the more you play those apps, the more points you’ll earn. You can also earn more points for referring friends!
Turn in your points for gift cards or PayPal cash. Depending on how many apps you download and how much you play them, it’s possible to get $50 or more in a couple of weeks. You can read our full AppLike review here.
10. Use Apps to Find Side Work
If you have some spare time but don’t know how to make extra cash during it, then I suggest checking out apps like Gigwalk and Taskrabbit. These apps connect you with people near you who need some help with anything from repair work on a home to fixing a computer to helping their family move.
Round up your skills and apply as a ‘Gigwalker’ or ‘Tasker’ to make some money when you’re not working.
You can also sign up as a Pro on Thumbtack, which is like a website version of the apps. Connect with people who need everything from a personal trainer to a life coach. You might even get lucky enough to build up a strong client base and start a business.
11. Complete Quick Tasks
Microtasking is one of the most popular ways for stay-at-home parents to make some extra cash for their households. Some people even use it as a main source of income.
Microtasks, also called short tasks, can range from super-quick data entry, photo tagging, research, and other tasks that you can complete several of in a few minutes. They don’t pay much, but you can get them done quickly which can lead to a decent hourly wage.
Some tasks can be longer and pay more, like blog writing and transcription work. The tasks involve many of the same types of jobs you’d expect to be doing as a virtual assistant, but you can do them 100% on your desired schedule.
Amazon Mechanical Turk is, by far, the most popular spot to find this work.
12. Start a Local Side Hustle
You never know how much money is waiting for you in your own neighborhood unless you look for it. Think about anything your neighbors (or own family and friends) might need help with, like:
- Cleaning cars
- Cleaning houses
- Landscaping and gardening
- Shoveling snow or raking leaves
- House sitting
- Pet sitting
- Babysitting
- Moving furniture
- Painting rooms or homes
- Repair work
Your neighborhood is probably ripe with opportunities to make some extra cash, and you can certainly make $50 quickly picking up one of these jobs.
Post an ad in the newspaper that mentions your skills, or gain access to a local buying/selling Facebook group that allows you to promote your services.
13. Cut Your Cable Bill
Did you know that over 23% of people in North America pay up to $100 per month for cable television? If that’s not motivation enough to kick the cable bill for good, then I don’t know what is.
I got rid of my cable three years ago and haven’t looked back since. I was one of the people paying about $90 a month, mostly for channels I didn’t use. Now, I pay $40 – less than half of what I was paying – for streaming services and I have a lot more available to me that I actually watch.
You might want to call your cable company and figure out the terms of your contract if you have one to see when you can cut the bill for good. Once you do it, you can easily have an extra $50 in the bank every month.
14. Sign Up for Websites and Apps
A lot of apps and websites pay you just for signing up, so it’d be silly not to take advantage of that!
Most of the time, all you need to do is register a new account. Some apps and websites will have a couple of other quick things you need to do to claim the bonus, like take a survey or scan a receipt. After that, you get your free money in your account.
Swagbucks, for example, pays an easy $5 just for signing up. Ebates pays $10 to sign up and gives you the choice between a credit to your account or a Walmart gift card.
We also have a post dedicated to awesome sign-up bonus offers, so you should definitely read it and find out where to go for free cash: 20 Apps/Websites that Give a $5+ Sign-Up Bonus.
15. Fill Out a Survey About Healthcare
This one will only pay $25, but at least you’re halfway there. All you need to do is fill out a survey that takes about 10 minutes to complete!
JOANY is the creator of the survey. This company is a health insurance broker that can help you find a health plan that fits your family’s needs. It uses the information from the research survey to help shape its own mission and learn what consumers want and need most from their insurance company.
The questions don’t get very personal – basically, what do you like and not like about your current insurance. Or, if you don’t have insurance, what’s preventing you from having it?
Within 48 hours, if you completed the survey and entered all required information, you’ll get $25 via PayPal or an Amazon gift card. You pick which one you’d prefer.
You can fill out the survey here:
16. Get Crafty
There are so many ways to make money on crafts, so if you’re crafty and creative, you’re in luck! First, you might want to try selling crafts at local craft fairs.
You can usually get set up for $20 or less for a table and have access to all the customers that come through the door wanting to buy unique goodies for their homes.
You can also sell online. Etsy is one of the best places to sell crafts. Set up a shop and sell directly to Etsy customers.
Depending on your type of skills, there are a variety of other places that pay for art, graphics, and other creative work.
DeviantArt, for example, is a place where you can sell digital artwork and photography. On RedBubble, you can turn your digital designs into clothing, pillow covers, wall art, canvas prints, and more.
17. Be an Expert
Do you have expertise on a topic or within an industry? Utilize your current or past jobs and experiences to become an expert for JustAnswer, a community that helps regular people get the answers they need from experts.
The highest-paying topics on the site are ones a lot of people might seek quick answers for, such as medical or law questions. The site has a lot of categories, though, like mechanics, veterinary, homework, and business, so you can most likely find something that fits your areas of expertise.
18. Ask Your Boss
I’m saving this one for last because it’s probably the most uncomfortable way to get money for most people. Still, it can work, especially if you approach the subject with grace – and have an understanding and compassionate boss.
If you’ve been at your job for a while and feel confident in your performance, then there’s no harm in asking for a raise, some overtime hours, or even a small paycheck advance, to earn the money you need.
Be prepared to answer some questions. It’s likely that your boss will want you to explain a little about your situation and also why you think you’re worthy of more money.
Stay cool, calm, and collected, and you might just walk out of the office with a little more money in your hand – or, at least, waiting in your next paycheck.
19. Sign Up for Online Website Testing Jobs
If you’ve heard about website testing before but you’ve never really given it much thought, it’s time you paid closer attention to this online job venture.
Website testing is a straightforward concept that requires the tester to analyze a new website. He/she will then review it by giving their opinion about what aspects of the site they didn’t like and what can be done to make it better.
Today’s marketplace considers website testing an invaluable strategy to develop their brands. There are multiple ways to determine a site’s user-friendliness but nothing comes close to user testing’s raw and unfiltered nature.
They pay rates of every website you test will vary from one company to another. Occasionally, you stand to make fifteen to twenty-five bucks but most companies typically pay $10 for each tested website. Website testing sessions last for 15 – 30 minutes.
Website testing jobs are sent to users via the online platform or email. It may easier to gain access to tests on more sites than others, depending on the number of users that regularly compete for opportunities.
Getting at least five testing offers per day can be worth your while. You can make a reasonable $200 every month and approximately $10 each day.
If you love giving reviews and testing sites for your own benefit, sign up on any of the following testing sites and get paid for your hard work:
- UserTesting
- Userlytics
- WhatUsersDo
- StartUpLift
- TryMyUI
- Enroll
Website testing is a common way to make money online. As such, you need to know how to get sites for testing in your mailbox. Generally, make the most out of your experience in the website testing arena.
Final Thoughts
It takes just a bit of creativity and utilizing what you know to make a quick $50. Don’t be afraid to ask your friends, family, neighbors, and even local businesses if there’s anything you can do for them to earn some fast cash.
Hopefully, these ideas set your wheels turning to come up with a quick cash-maker that works for you. What ways do you make money fast? We want to hear about it in a comment!
