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There are times when you need money really fast – as in TODAY. If that’s the case you’ve come to the right place.
Things happen!! You might already be running short of cash, and you face an unexpected car repair. From speeding tickets to emergency doctor visits, sometimes unexpected expenses crop up at the worst time.
But you’re not alone, nearly everyone has faced a difficult situation due to unexpected expenses. And the only thought that comes to mind during this time is “I need money NOW!”
Fortunately, there are plenty of legitimate ways that will help you make money today, especially when it comes to making that money online. Some of these ways can help you make money today, while others may take a week or two.
Most of these ideas even have the potential to turn into a permanent side hustle.
We keep this post constantly updated with new ways to make money and also remove anything that doesn’t work anymore.
So, start bringing in some additional income.
I Need Money Now: 27 Legit Ways to Get Money Quick
1. Make Money with Online Surveys
Surveys are amazingly popular! After all, getting paid to answer questions about your habits, your lifestyle, a product or service is by far the easiest way to make money online. Market research is a huge business and there are dozens of sites which pay you to share your opinion.
And why not!
It’s a win-win for everyone, companies get valuable feedback and data to improve their products and in return, you get a small reward. Swagbucks, Survey Junkie and Vindale Research are some of the best survey sites.
Swagbucks is my personal favorite as it pays to do a lot of other things like watching movie trailers, playing games, etc (and a $10 bonus too). To learn more about all the ways to make money with Swagbucks, check out our official Swagbucks review.
2. Make Money with Your Car
If you have a car, then there are a ton of ways you can make money with it. The first and most obvious way is to drive with Uber or Lyft. If your car meets the criteria and you meet the requirements to become a driver, then driving with Uber or Lyft is the fastest way to make decent money.
The best part about becoming a rideshare driver is flexibility to do it whenever you want though we suggest driving during peak hours to make more money. I know it won’t be useful right now but it might be worth signing up now if you know you’ll need money in the future.
Btw, Lyft is offering $1000 in bonuses for new drivers at the time of this writing!
Pro Tip: Sign up for both Uber and Lyft, so as to compare your earnings with each platform and work with one which pays higher.
Want to drive with Uber and Lyft, but don’t have a car?
Don’t worry, you can still make money driving by hiring a car from HyreCar. HyreCar is a peer-to-peer car rental marketplace that helps local car owners rent their car to drivers to drive with Uber or Lyft.
The best thing about HyreCar is that there are no contracts and their rentals work on a day-to-day basis. So, if you haven’t worked with Uber or Lyft before, you can give it a chance and see if you like it or not.
Which means if you don’t like it, then you can just return the car but if you like it, then it’s a great way to start earning extra money.
Need money now but don’t have time to Drive?
Don’t worry, you can still make money by renting out your car with Getaround. If you have a car you are not using, Getaround helps you earn money on it. In fact, you can even rent out your current car when you are not using it.
The best part is you don’t have to do a thing apart from registering with Getaround. Plus, your car is covered by a $1 million insurance policy, so you don’t have to worry about your car getting damaged.
3. Make Money with your Bike (or Scooter)
Don’t own a car? Don’t worry, you can make money today by delivering food using your scooter or bike. Signup with UberEATS today and complete your application.
Just like Uber, you can work anytime you want day or night, for as long as you like. Just sign onto the app and start delivering wherever you are even if you don’t have a car.
DoorDash is another company which pays to deliver food using your bike, scooter or even a bicycle. On the working front, it works similar to UberEATS.
Pro-Tip: Sign-up for both and work with one which pays better or even both (if you can) as nothing stops you from working with both.
4. Run Errands or Complete Small Tasks
Not many people are good at things like repairing furniture or fixing a leaky faucet and are willing to pay someone to do it for them. If you are good at any type of handyman work, then join TaskRabbit to make money now. And it is not limited to handyman work.
From cleaning and moving, running an errand, and much more, there are a lot of tasks you can complete to earn money. After getting approved, you’ll get a notification when tasks pop up nearby. Once you decide on the job, just confirm the details with the client, do the job and get paid.
And like other gig economy jobs, you choose what to do and when to do with TaskRabbit too. And it is possible to build a full-time business using this platform like many Taskers who have already done it.
Sign up here to become a Tasker with TaskRabbit.
6. Complete Micro-Gigs Online
If running around the city or going to strangers’ homes isn’t your cup of tea, then take up small tasks on micro-gig platforms like Mechanical Turk and Clickworker. The tasks vary from taking surveys, moderating content, editing transcriptions, to other miscellaneous tasks.
And there are people who earn anywhere from $500 to $2000 every month by completing menial tasks on these platforms.
7. Get Gigs on Fiverr
If you’re skilled at things like creating graphics, editing videos or doing voiceovers, then you can make money now by charging for your services on Fiverr. Fiverr is a huge marketplace that allows you to make money from your skills. From making videos to writing a thank you note, there are a wide variety of jobs you can do on Fiverr in exchange for a fee.
Fiverr is one of my favorite ways to make money online and many people have built a full-time business using this platform.
The base price of most gigs on Fiverr is just $5 but you can make a lot more by offering extras and expedited service. As long as you have skills that are sought after, Fiverr is a smart way to make money fast.
7. Deliver Groceries
With busy lifestyles, a lot of people don’t have time to go for grocery shopping. So, they are willing to pay to have groceries delivered to their homes. And Instacart has made this possible. In fact, a lot of people who don’t like grocery shopping also outsource their task, thanks to Instacart.
It works similar to Uber Eats, just sign into the app and make yourself available. The only difference is with UberEATS, you just need to pick the food and deliver, but on Instacart you actually do the grocery shopping yourself.
Your earnings depend on many factors like the average size of the order and distance driven per trip. In addition to the pay from Instacart, you also make money from tips. With people reporting average earnings of $15 per hour, it’s a good option if you need money urgent!
8. Rent out A Room on Airbnb
If you have a spare room in your house, then rent it out on Airbnb to make quick cash. Airbnb is the world’s largest peer-to-peer rental website where people can rent out a room or apartment from ordinary folks.
You can make $100 or more per day just by renting out a room on Airbnb. That’s a lot of cash for just letting someone crash at your place.
Worried about damage to your property? Don’t worry, Airbnb covers all the possible risks with a $1 million insurance policy. Though you can also charge an additional security deposit on top of the cleaning fee. So, in case of any minor damage or loss, you can deduct the amount paid on repairs from the deposit.
9. Try Pet Sitting or Dog Walking
Do you love dogs or have experience caring for animals? Then, this is a perfect opportunity for you to make money today. From pet sitting, daycare to dog walking, Rover is an excellent app to find pet care jobs and get paid to hang out with cute pets.
With a presence in more than 14,000 cities across the U.S., Rover is not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it has become so popular that many people have turned this into a full-time job. And why not? When a job pays you $20+ per hour doing something you love, it a win-win.
So, if you love dogs (or pets) and need money now, then signing up with the Rover app is a good option.
10. Make Money Recycling
Recycling is an easy way to make money fast. From bottles to aluminum cans to electronics to scrap metals, almost anything can be recycled. So, instead of throwing those empty bottles and cans, take them to a recycling center and rake in the dough.
You can check search online or local yellow pages to find businesses in your area that pay for recycling. Don’t have anything to recycle? Well, check with your family members, friends, or recycling bins at your nearest apartment to see if you can gather something.
11. Become a Gigwalker
Gigwalk is an app that pays you to do random quick jobs (Gigs) in your area. Once approved, all you need to do is to complete the gig, send it and get paid. Usually, the gigs are pretty easy and can take anywhere from 5 mins to an hour to complete.
As a Gigwalker, you get tasks like taking a picture of the menu at a restaurant or just answering a few basic questions about the store. Depending on the task, you can make anywhere from $3 to $100 per gig with GigWalk.
Field Agent is another app that pays you to complete small tasks around your area just like Gigwalk. Both of them pay via Paypal.
If you need money today, then completing gigs is a decent way to make it happen. Just make sure to follow each step and double check completed tasks to receive credit for them.
12. Rent out Your Stuff
Your house might be full of stuff that you require but don’t use it often. Wouldn’t it be nice if those items can bring in some cash when you don’t use them? Yes, it’s possible to make money from stuff around your home without selling anything.
Whether it’s a hammock, a drone, a kayak or even a tux, you can rent out almost anything and bring in some much-needed cash. Check out sites like KitSplit, Loanables, and Fat Llama to get started.
13. Rent Out Your Recreational Vehicle
Most of the people who own recreational vehicles either use it rarely or don’t use it at all. If you have a recreational vehicle sitting around collecting dust, why not rent it out and earn income from that asset? Sites like RVShare make it easy for you to rent out your RV and make money from this asset.
People are making up to $40K extra every year just by putting their recreational vehicles to use by renting them out. Worried about damage to your property? Don’t worry, your RV’s are covered with insurance offering $500,000 in liability coverage as well as comprehensive and collision coverage for the value of your RV up to $200,000.
14. Share Your Knowledge
With so many online courses out there, it’s highly likely that you might have also taken some course to enhance your knowledge or learn something new. Why not share your knowledge and get paid to teach others?
With platforms like Udemy, you can literally create a course about anything from email marketing to parenting to organizing. The best part about Udemy is that you don’t need to worry about advertising or any backend technical stuff. All you need to do is to share your knowledge and Udemy takes care of the rest!
Remember we all are better at something that we can teach someone else. So, think about what you do pretty well or at least better than the average person?
Quick-Tip: If you are good at something but need to refine your skills, then take advantage of Linkedin Learning’s 30- Day free trial to refine and master that skill. You can access any course from Web Development to Data Science completely free for 30 days with this trial. Signup for the trial here.
15. Sell stuff online
The fastest and best way to make money now is to sell something you own. You might have stuff around the home you no longer use. Why not sell it? The best marketplaces to sell those items is Craigslist. All you need to do is just set-up a few free ads on Craigslist and done.
Another great way to sell faster is to post items for sale on Facebook resale groups (if you belong to one). Just make sure to price it right and also mention that item is for sale today only. With the right price and a bit of luck, it could sell quickly and you have cash in your hands no time.
16. Declutter with Decluttr
Decluttering your home can bring you decent cash today thanks to apps like Decluttr. There are high chances that you’ve got DVDs, CD’s, and books all around your home. If that’s the case, then cash them out by selling on Decluttr. In fact, you can even sell your old game consoles and cell phones too!
All you need to do is Signup and scan the barcode of any item you want to sell. Declutter will offer you a price for that item. Now, print the free shipping label, send off the item, and get paid. Easy!
Thanks to Decluttr, you can make money from most (if not all) of the “stuff” that’s like junk and useless to you.
17. Negotiate Your Bills
Negotiating your bills and cutting needless expenses is one of the best ways to get money today. Overspending is one of the main reasons you can’t save money and cutting results in instant money back into your budget. And you can use that money towards other needs without having to do much work.
If you have some leverage, you’d be surprised how often you can get lower prices just by calling your service provider. From cell phone bills to internet bills to car insurance bills, a 5-minute call to your provider can save you thousands of dollars a year.
Now, you might ask why would they reduce their rates? Well, It’s a competitive world and everyone is looking to steal each other’s customers. So, most companies try their best not to lose an existing customer (by giving a discount).
And negotiating is not hard, it’s a simple 4 step process:
- Gather Competitors offers.
- Call your provider.
- Tell them, “I am a loyal customer, I’d hate to switch to (cite the information you found)”
- Ask “What can they do to make you continue with them?”
Does calling and negotiating seems overwhelming? Use Trim to make things easy.
Trim is a free app that analyzes your spending, finds extra subscriptions you don’t need, negotiates your cable bill, and more. It’s worth trying as even if it frees up only a few bucks from your monthly budget – that’s a few bucks you didn’t have before.
18. Get $30 from Ebates and Ibotta
Whether you do shopping online or offline, you need to spend money to purchase groceries and other essentials. Why not make extra money by getting cash back? It’s 2019 and it’s highly likely that you might be using cash back apps to get some form of cash back on every purchase you make (online or offline). If you don’t, now is the time to start doing that.
Cash-back apps allow you to receive a small portion of your money back on every purchase, at no extra cost or hassle to you. If that was not enough, currently two of the big names in cash back arena are offering signup bonuses for new users:
Ebates: $10 signup bonus after making $25 in qualifying purchases within 90 days. Ebates (now Rakuten) works with almost all the online stores and a lot of offline stores as well.
Ibotta: $20 bonus after redeeming your first rebate. Ibotta is a brilliant app to save money on groceries.
Signup with both the cashback sites today and start making money from cash back on every purchase. Though Ebates is my personal favorite.
19. Sell your Unwanted Clothes
We all have clothes hanging in our closet that are either brand new or still look new but we hardly wear them. If that’s the case, then purging your closet can get you a decent amount of cash. There are various places where you can sell your clothes for money.
If you prefer selling online, then ThredUp and Tradesy are best options although it may take a little longer to sell your items on these platforms.
If you need money today and can’t wait, then stores like Plato’s Closet or Buffalo Exchange will give you cold, hard cash on the spot for your clothes. Since these stores buy clothes every day, you can take your nicest clothes any day and get paid.
20. Flip Freebies from Craigslist
Reselling craigslist freebies is a super easy way to make money. A lot of people give away all kinds of things for free on Craigslist. Yes, that’s right “totally FREE” and you can sell those items for a profit on facebook marketplace or on craigslist itself.
All you need to do is to find free stuff that has value and can resell on another website. You can find freebies on craigslist under “for sale” category. If used properly, craigslist can help you make a decent chunk of extra money today.
21. Data Entry
With so many opportunities to make money online, data entry is relatively the easiest way. From transcription to translation, a lot of data entry jobs require little to no skill. Transcribing is one of them.
If you have some spare time and are a speedy typist, then transcribing is a great way to start earning some good cash immediately. You can earn up to $20 or more by making a text file out of an audio or video file.
With average rates of $0.4 per minute, it’s easy to make $100+ typing on your computer at home on a weekend. With so many transcribing platforms today, only a few are good; and, from what I’ve heard Speechpad is by far the best.
22. Cash in your Reward Points
Nearly everyone uses credit cards these days. If you have been earning points from your credit card, you might have points worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. These points come in handy in situations like these.
Redeem your points for a statement credit to use the card for any immediate purchases you need. Depending on the card, you can redeem your points for check or statement credit so you can use your card to make an immediate purchase.
If you use a credit card but don’t use a rewards card, make sure to get one as a 2% reward might not seem much but it helps when you are broke.
Note: Usually, you get more value redeeming for travel, but in a pinch, cash rewards can be helpful.
23. Sell your Creations & Crafts
If you enjoy making crafts and other handmade goods, then you can make money from this hobby. You can sell your crafts to make some quick cash. From woodworking to making scented candles, handmade crafts have a big market.
You can sell your crafts at online marketplaces like Etsy and eBay. Etsy is a haven for people looking to buy handmade crafts. You can also post an advertisement on craigslist and sites like craigslist for free to reach more shoppers.
You can also consider starting a blog to fuel your passion for crafting and making handmade stuff. There are many craft bloggers making a decent income online. Blogging won’t make you money today but it’s a great side hustle for an additional stream of side income.
24. Sell Unused Gift Cards
If you have gift cards which you won’t use -maybe you’ve got $50 to Benihana, but you’re a vegan – then selling them is a smart way to get money quickly. If you need money now, then try to sell them to your friends or family first.
However, if that’s not an option, then sites like CardPool and Raise can help you to sell those cards online for cash. In fact, selling card online is easy and pretty straightforward. All you need to do is just list the card and once it sells, you send it to them, via their packing slip. Once they receive the gift card, you get paid.
The best thing is you can get up to 92% of the face value of the card. So, if you have any unused cards, then selling them is a good way to make money fast.
25. Sell your Luxury Goods
If you have luxury goods, like high-end watches, bags or other accessories which are collecting dust in your closet, then selling them is a good way to make extra cash.
Now, sites like eBay are great at selling anything but for luxury goods, it’s better to use high-end platforms exclusively for luxury goods. Poshmark and TheRealReal are two of the most popular high-end consignment stores to sell your luxury goods online.
Both make it dead simple to sell (and buy!) luxury items. With TheRealReal, you get paid 60% of the sale price (more if you sell a lot). With Poshmark, items with sale prices under $15 have a $2.95 flat fee and for everything else you pay 20%.
26. Test Websites and Apps
It’s hard to make a site successful if it is not user-friendly. If you encounter a site with bad fonts and colors or too many pop-ups, you just want to leave, right?
But, a website owner does not want that to happen so they pay people to test the usability of their website and provide feedback. And you can be the person who can get paid to test their websites.
There are many sites that pay for website testing and on an average, you can get $10 to test one website which takes no more than 20-minutes. All it takes is a computer, a microphone (you will give your feedback verbally), and an internet connection to make $30 in an hour.
27. Get A Short-term Loan
If you don’t have the time or aren’t in a position to work or engage in any of the above activities, you can consider taking a loan. This should be your last option as loans carry interest. And avoid Payday loans at all costs.
The best way to take a small personal loan is by using instant loan platforms like Prosper that cater to people who need money now. Prosper is a peer-to-peer lending network that can help you get a loan with a reasonable interest rate.
The great thing about P2P networks like Prosper is – everything from payment terms to accessibility. However, unless you need money for true emergencies, it’s better to not rack up debt.
Bonus: Get $5 from Acorns
Time To Take Action
If you need money fast, there are plenty of legit ways to make money fast. All you need is a little effort, some skill, and timely action.
And the best thing about most of the ways listed above is not only they are helpful now, but they can also benefit you in the future. So, get up and take some action today!
Have you ever tried any of the above ways to make money fast? What are your favorite ways to get quick cash when you need money now? Share in the comments below!
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