If you had to come up with $1,000 in a few hours, could you? If the mere thought of this situation sends you into a panic and you know you unequivocally could not come up with even a few hundred much less $1,000 in the matter of hours, you aren’t alone. That’s right, because according to recent surveys, more than half of all American adults have less than $1,000 in a easily accessible savings account. What’s even more surprising is an astounding 38% of them have no savings at all, not even a few hundred dollars. They would have no way of coming up with money quickly.
If you can relate, your situation is more common that you might have imagined. Thankfully, there are some quick ways to make $1,000 if you find yourself in a mess and in dire need of cash. Even if you aren’t in a financial bind, perhaps, you would appreciate some tips on how to build your savings.
16 Ways to Make $1,000 Fast
1.) Give Advice/ Answer Questions
Back in the day of Dear Abby, it wasn’t unheard of to see a dilemma solved in written form via a question and answer format in the newspaper. Did you know you can do that too? You can serve as a modern, online version of “Dear Abby” by getting paid to give advice, although a different type of advice to be sure. Sites like JustAnswer have experts in more than 700 categories, including finance, tax, law, veterinary issues, computers, medicine and more. These qualified, professional experts answer user-submitted questions. Therefore, if you have any professional knowledge garnered through life and have a degree or certification to back it up, you can share what you know with the world and get paid to do it. For example, if you have trained as a HVAC installer, you can answer questions pertaining to HVAC units or issues. An architect can answer questions about buildings, a teacher about how to get a kid to do better on their homework, a nurse on whether a condition merits a doctor visit, etc. To do this:
- Sign up to be an expert in the category of your choosing.
- Go through the submitted questions within that category. Users post questions and what the answer to said question is worth to them in monetary form. So, in other words, you will see the question and then the amount it would pay you to answer it.
- Then, submit your answer. If it is deemed sufficient, you will be paid the predetermined amount.
The amount you can feasibly earn is dependent on how much a person will pay to have their questions answered. Some representatives from the site claim that qualified experts can make thousands monthly simply answering questions using knowledge they already have. If you don’t have qualified knowledge to pass on or a degree but simply life experience, you can instead opt to share your opinion on sites like InboxDollars, Survey Junkie, LifePoints or Swagbucks. These sites all feature surveys that you can complete for compensation. Be aware, some of these sites pay in gift cards, so make sure you know what you can expect to make before beginning any survey.
2.) Make Money Off Your Purchases
One easy, nearly effortless way to making some extra money is to sign up for rebates to earn money every time you make a purchase. Admittedly, this only helps you if you are using the incentives on items you would be purchasing anyway. In other words, don’t go out and spend money to get a rebate on said item, that doesn’t make much financial sense as even a great deal is more expensive than not spending the money in the first place. However, if it is an item you would buy anyway, you can use the following tools to get some of what you spend back in the form of rebates and incentives:
- Rakuten: This is a cash-back app/site that gives you$10 once you spend $25.
- Dosh: This app gives you $5 back for each card that you link. This means every time you use that card; you will earn rewards.
- Ibotta: This shopping app, grocery rebate tool will give you rewards based on your purchases. You get a user sign up bonus of $20 when you redeem your first rebate offer.
3.) Sell Your Stuff
We likely all have more unused and unwanted stuff laying around our house than we care to admit. If your neighborhood allows such things, and you live in a location that will get adequate drive by traffic, you can host a garage or yard sale to get rid of everything in bulk. However, to sell any unsold items or just avoid dealing with the early morning bargain hunters that frequent such sales, you can sell you items online. Facebook Marketplace is a great tool to use to sell locally as is Craigslist or even a local pawn shop. If you want to open your items up to the entire country, though, you can sell through eBay or Decluttr. This useful site allows you to post old tech, books and CDs. Just enter each item’s barcode to see how much you could get. If you like the price, send your items out via the free mailing label Decluttr provides. While you might not think you can make any substantial money this way, you would be surprised what people will pay for your old stuff and how even a few dollars here and there add up to several hundred quickly, so getting rid of clutter by selling your stuff is a great way to earn money fast.
4.) Deliver Food
Now more than ever before due to health concerns and closures, you can make some serious coin delivering food. Don’t worry, this isn’t relegated to pizza delivery alone, although that is an option. However, this is delivering all kinds of food from every restaurant that participates in the following food delivery services, which includes most all of today’s restaurants:
If you can commit to delivering during peak business hours, like the lunch and dinner rush and you have a fuel efficient car, many social media sites estimate you could earn as much as $1,000 in a week’s time by being a food delivery driver. It’s an easy way to put your car to good use if you have the free time.
5.) Rent Out Your Car
Speaking of cars, if you aren’t into delivering, you can instead opt to let your car do the work for you. After all, why let it sit ideally in the parking lot or driveway not being used? With Getaround, which is a car-sharing app, you can rent out your car to other people when you are not using said vehicle. This app works much like Uber in that it covers you with a premium insurance policy and oversees the logistics of renting the car out, meaning it’s not up to you to find someone who wants to rent your car or even to schedule handing over the keys. Obviously, how much you make with this will depend on the demand for such a service in your geographical location along with how many hours a week you can manage to part with your car. Here’s how to do this, first go to the Getaround site, then you will do the following:
- Sign up to join the Getaround network.
- List your car, meaning your car is now available for rent.
- Start earning as your car is rented and returned. No micromanaging is needed on your part.
6.) Redeem Loose Change For Cash
Another fast way to make some money is scouring your home for spare change. We all have a bowl, jar or piggy bank somewhere in our homes, which becomes the landing spot for all loose change. Oh, and don’t forget to check the couch cushions, under the recliners, in pockets of seldom worn clothing, etc. to gather up every last dime. Once you have all your change gathered, you can either roll it and cash it in at the bank or credit union or you can convert them to cash using a Coinstar near you. Keep in mind, the bank/credit union shouldn’t charge you to convert coins into cash but Coinstar does have a fee of 11.9%. Of course, they will give you the option of redeeming your cash in the form of an Amazon gift card for no fee, so there’s that to consider as well. Bottom line, either way you do it, taking the spare change you have lying around your house and exchanging it for cash is an easy way to scavenge up a few bucks will minimal effort.
7.) Get Paid to Tutor
If you have flexible hours or are out of work entirely right now and you enjoy working with kids, you can get paid to tutor as a way to make some extra money. VIPKID is just one company that partners adult tutors with Chinese kids who are trying to master English as their second language. You won’t make a ton of money doing this, usually between $7 and $9 per 30-minute session. Work hours will also vary because you must work with the kid’s schedule. With the kids being in China, hours can vary somewhat.
8.) Teach Anything to Anyone
On the same topic of teaching, even if you don’t hold a teacher’s certification, you can work for platforms like Teachable and Outschool to create on-demand live video courses on various topics ranging from how to play the piano to how to cook or knit and anything and everything in between. If you can do it, you can teach it. This also pays much better, averaging around $40 hourly profit. Of course, you have to market yourself, so if you aren’t great at that you will likely make less. If you have a well establish social media following, though, you will have an advantage and could make more money faster.
9.) Host House Guests Through Airbnb
If you have the room to spare in your home, you can rent out some of your living space to a guest through Airbnb to make some extra money. All you have to do is open an account on the site and create your listing. You can layout all expectations for guests, such as preferred curfews, house rules or whatever else you want a potential guest to know in the description. Obviously, the more space you have to offer and the nicer your home, the more you can charge to rent it out. Also, if you live near a popular tourist location, you can likely get away with charging a bit more as well. Any time there is a big concert, festival, sporting event, etc. in your area, you can adjust your rates and ask more. Think like a hotel or condo owner would and price your space for peak and off season. With the right set up, you can easily pull in $1,000 just renting out your spare bed and bath.
10.) Pet Sitting
If you love dogs and have the free time available to pet sit, it can be a good way to make some extra money and you have the added benefit of spending some time with a new furry friend. Rover allows you to build up a client base for this service. You can choose to offer a daily drop-in where you go check on a pet once or twice throughout the day, or you can stay with them in-home all day or over the course of a few days for vacation sitting. You can also offer a doggy daycare type of service. All you must do to start is fill out the application on Rover. You set your rates, how many clients you want and can even specify specific breed preferences. If you want to earn even more, you can offer to watch and/or care for other pets as well, like a cat or bird in the same home for an extra fee.
11.) Recycle Bottles and Cans
Separate your bottles from the rest of your trash and take them to your local recycling redemption center for some money. You can expect to earn between five and ten cents per bottle. Admittedly, this won’t be a way to get rich quick, but if you have a lot of bottles around the house, they can add up fast. You can also recycle metal for more of a profit. Metals like steel, copper, and aluminum (like aluminum cans) are non-ferrous metals, which means you will make more from each piece as they are worth more overall. However, even ferrous metals will earn you some money. Just do a quick search of scrap yards near me to find the closest place to take your metals.
12.) Create Room in Your Existing Budget by Reducing Overspending
Trim is a free, user friendly app that sifts through your personal spending habits to identify potential ways of saving money. For example, it will flag subscriptions, insurance policies, etc. and encourage you to get a cheaper price on cable, car insurance or other necessary expenses. It will identify overspending and suggest ways for you to save on regular bills. In essence, it acts a personal financial manager, all for free! Of course, this app won’t actually make you any money, but it will help you save some money overtime that you can then funnel into a savings account.
13.) Offer to Help Out Family and Friends
Although it isn’t always easy to admit to those closest to you that you are in need of money, many times they will provide support in difficult times. While you will not expect them to simply give you the money you need, they can pay you to complete some tasks they have been putting off around the house. You can mow their lawn, weed a flowerbed, clean their house, take their dogs for a walk or anything else that you can think of to earn some money.
14.) Redeem Credit Card Points or Rewards
If you use a cash back credit card regularly to make purchases, chances are good that you have some built-up rewards available. Now’s a great time to check in and see how many points you have earned and redeem them. Keep in mind, you might only be able to redeem them on a gift card or have some money removed from what you owe on your credit card, but any little bit helps.
15.) Go on a Spending Freeze
Another way to free up some extra money in your budget is to go on a spending freeze. This doesn’t mean you opt out of paying utilities or other bills you owe, but that you stop extra spending for a set amount of time. For example, don’t’ go out to eat or buy more groceries, until you have gone through the backstock of groceries you have already purchased. You would also resist purchasing décor items or making any home improvements. Cut out manicures, trips to the movies and the Starbucks run each morning. In short, cut out anything that isn’t necessary for a predetermined amount of time and just see how much money you free up.
16.) Sell Plasma
If you aren’t too squeamish when it comes to blood and needles, you can actually make some money selling your plasma. It’s difficult to say exactly how much you can expect to earn for your donation, because each donation center has their own fee or payout structure. In addition, how much you earn is based on how much plasma you can donate, which in turn is dependent on your weight. In most cases, you can earn between $20 and $50 per donation or visit. You might be able to earn a bit more on your first trip in as some centers offer first time donor incentives to encourage participation.
What You Absolutely Should Not do to Earn Money Quick
While the 16 tips listed above are great, safe ways for you to earn a quick $1,000, there are some things you should avoid at all costs. For example, never do the following trying to earn fast cash:
- Payday Lenders or Loans: This can seem like a quick way to get some cash, but it’s not free money. You have to pay back anything your advanced but with an astounding amount of interest, upwards of 400% in a very short period of time. This can send you into a cycle of borrowing more money to pay pack what you owe the payday lenders.
- Borrowing From Your Own Retirement Account: Having money just sitting there in a retirement account you could access seems tempting. However, it’s not a good idea to withdraw this money or to borrow against your retirement account. This eliminates the effectiveness of the compound interest. You can also face tax repercussions as well, so it’s just not a good idea.
- Borrowing Against Your Home: It’s also not a good idea to borrow more money against your home by getting a second mortgage. Though they aren’t terribly uncommon or the worst thing in the world, it means you lose the valuable equity you have in your home.
- Opening up a New Account: Yes, opening up a credit card will give you instant access to cash, but much like the payday loan, it’s not free money. You have to pay it back and with interest. If you do opt for this as a way to consolidate your debt onto a credit card with a lower interest, it can be a wise move. However, don’t open an account simply to borrow money you don’t already owe.
How to Prevent The Situation From Happening Again
Now that you know how to make some quick cash and what to absolutely not do to make some extra money, it’s time to make sure you don’t end up in the situation again. To do that, consider the following tips:
- Open a Savings Account & Automate It: Obviously, the first step towards building your savings and ensuring you are never completely depleted of funds again is to open a savings account. In addition to opening the account, determine how much you want to contribute to the account and then set it up to make automatic transfers from your checking account to your savings or from your paycheck to your savings. This will ensure you actually save and don’t forget to move money.
- Create a Budget & Live Within Your Means: While living large is glorified, there is nothing wrong with living within your means. Create a practical budget that makes sense to you and your family and then stick with it. It’s not exciting and it’s not glamourous but having a well thought out budget will ensure all your bases are covered and give you a peace of mind.
We hope the 16 tips on how to make some extra money quick, what to avoid and how to prevent the problem from happening again was helpful. While there are no guarantees in life, and money isn’t everything, being wise with your finances is one way to create a sense of peace and well-being that will hopefully follow you from now on as you journey through the rest of your life.
