Need to learn how to make $1,000 fast? I’m guessing you just had a major “Oh, crap!” moment.
Maybe your car’s transmission just went out and you also have to make rent. Or you suddenly need to replace your laptop but know that extra expense means it will be hard to cover the rest of this month’s bills.
Things like this come up for everyone. But before the panic sets in, realize that you have a lot of options for making money fast:
How to Make $1000 Fast – 11 Legit Ways to Make Money Fast
1. Sell your stuff
This is hands down the easiest way to make money fast. You know you have stuff sitting around your house that you’re not using – sell that stuff for cash!
Maybe there’s a sander you bought for a home renovation project you’re done with. Are you holding onto a couple of old cell phones? What about clothes or shoes? Instruments? Books?
Even if you don’t think there’s anything to sell, I’m willing to bet you $5 that if you start looking, you’ll find something. Please don’t hold me to that $5 thing.
Some of the more traditional ways to sell stuff, like having a yard sale, still apply in 2020. It can take a little more time to organize everything and let people know about your sale, but it’s possible to make $1,000 in one day.
Facebook Marketplace has become a really popular option, and the same goes for local buy/sell/swap groups. You can list practically anything that doesn’t violate Facebook’s Terms of Use (illegal drugs, weapons, animals, medicine, etc.).
Some options are item-specific:
- You can use Poshmark, ThredUp, and DePop for clothes, shoes, and accessories. There are also consignment stores, like Plato’s Closet, that buy gently used, on-trend clothing.
- Play It Again Sports buys used sporting equipment and workout gear, including soccer cleats, treadmills, tennis rackets, basketballs, hockey sticks, weights, and much more.
- Decluttr is specifically for used electronics – phones, tablets, laptops, cameras, video games, video game consoles, and more. Decluttr even buys used LEGO sets.
- You can sell furniture and home decor items on the Chairish app.
Don’t forget about places like Craigslist and eBay.
When you’re looking for places to sell your stuff, make sure you check out the fees associated with each platform and how quickly they pay out.
Also, make sure you give an honest description of everything you’re selling. If there are dents, rips, or discoloration, make sure the buyer is aware of that beforehand. Those things aren’t a dealbreaker for every buyer, but you’ll need to be honest and price accordingly.
Learn more at 21 Apps to Sell Your Stuff Online (and How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off!)
2. Try flea market flipping
Flea market flipping is buying things you find for cheap at a flea market, garage sale, thrift store, etc., and then turning around and selling them for a profit.
You’ll need a good eye for spotting profitable flips, but there’s potential in all kinds of things. To give you an idea of what you can flip, here’s what Melissa and Doug of Flea Market Flipper recently sold:
- A hiking backpack purchased for $10 and sold for $135
- Collectible ornaments purchased for $8 and flipped for $127
- Frigidaire stove they picked up on OfferUp for $200 and then sold for $2,800 (!!!)
- Cement grinder bought for $200 and flipped for $1,700
You can learn how to make $1,000 fast flipping things in their free Flea Market Flipper webinar.
3. Deliver food
On-demand food delivery services are one of the best side hustles of 2020. There’s an increased demand on the customer side, and you can make $15-$20/hour delivering food.
Most food delivery companies pay their drivers weekly, or you can pay a small fee and cash out your earnings immediately. Grubhub lets drivers who have a Chase bank account do instant cashout for free.
Services like Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash deliver takeout food from local and chain restaurants. Instacart and Shipt deliver groceries only. And Postmates is the “anything, anywhere, anytime” delivery services.
You can increase your chances of making money fast by driving for more than one company at a time. It reduces your dead time (the time spent waiting for orders to come in).
Check out the top delivery services and find the best one for you in 13 Best Delivery Apps to Work for in 2020.
4. Pet sitting
Pet sitters can earn anywhere from $35-$70 per night depending on where you live, and dog walkers can make $15-$25 per walk.
I could see this being a really fun way to make money fast… if you like pets, which is a must.
My wife and I found our pet sitter through Rover – it’s free to sign up, you set your rates, and list what kind of services you’re willing to offer. We use the same person every time we go out of town because they were so great with our weird dog, Strider.
Besides listing your services on Rover, you can put the word out to family and friends and ask them to share your contact info. Nextdoor is a good way to advertise your pet sitting services to people in your neighborhood.
5. Rent out your car
Instead of letting your car sit in the driveway all day, why not make some extra cash from it?
I can see this being a good option if you’re working from home these days and not using your car as much or if you want to offset your car payment.
There are a few different platforms you can rent your car on – Turo and HyreCar are two companies I highly recommend. On Turo, anyone can rent your car, but HyreCar is specifically for renting to people who make money driving for rideshare or food delivery companies.
Both companies offer up to $1,000,000 in coverage if something happens to your car, and you can make anywhere from $30-$60/day.
What’s sweet about renting out your car is that it’s fairly passive. So, while your car is being rented, you could, for example, also be going through your house and finding things to sell or tutoring for extra cash.
6. Find small jobs
Whenever we (me and a lot of others in the personal finance blogosphere) talk about finding ways to make extra money, doing small one-off jobs or gigs is something that gets overlooked. It’s not a long-term solution, like starting a Facebook digital marketing side hustle (for example), but you can make $1,000 fast doing small side jobs.
For example, go on Craigslist to the “Gigs” section. My local Craigslist has listings for unloading a truck for $50, installing drywall for $20/hour, someone who wants drone footage taken, and more.
TaskRabbit is another place to find small jobs. You can make money helping people assemble IKEA furniture, installing a wall-mounted TV, running errands, etc.
Ideally, you could line up several of these gigs and spend the weekend working through a couple of them. That would be a few hundred dollars in your pocket in just a few days.
7. Start tutoring
When I was looking at my local Craigslist, I saw a couple of postings for people who were looking for online foreign language tutors – one for German and the other for Russian.
This got me thinking about other kinds of tutoring gigs available. ACT and SAT prep tutors can make $45-$100/hour. Offering subject-specific tutoring (math, chemistry, foreign languages, etc.) can pay $30-$60/hour.
You might be able to find tutoring jobs on Craigslist, but if you want to make money fast, I recommend signing up for Wyzant and creating a listing.
Wyzant is an online tutoring platform – it’s free to sign up – and it’s well-known in the tutoring world. When I was a high band director, several of my band kids had Wyzant tutors.
8. Rent out unused space
Do you have a nearly empty garage? Is there space in your basement or attic? Neighbor is a platform where you can list your empty space and rent it out to people in your community. It’s an alternative to traditional storage spaces.
It’s also kind of like Airbnb, except you don’t have to share your space with actual people, just their stuff.
You can even rent your driveway on Neighbor to someone who needs to park their car, boat, or RV. The going rate for rental space depends on where you’re located, but you do get to set your rates. For example, renting part of your attic might go for $20/month or your driveway for $100/month.
You’d still have a ways to go if you want to learn how to make $1,000 fast, but remember you can combine multiple ideas to get to $1,000 even quicker.
9. Find a part-time job
Now that there are so many good-paying and flexible side hustles, part-time jobs don’t get mentioned nearly as much as they used to. But the reality is that finding a part-time job is still a really good way to make extra money.
One of my readers recently shared in my Millennial Money Man Facebook Community that he took a job delivering pizzas part-time. It wasn’t his dream job, but it was helping him make extra money fast, especially because he got to bring cash tips home each night.
For part-time jobs that go above and beyond, check out 21 Companies That Offer Part Time Jobs with Benefits and 8 of the Best High Paying Part Time Jobs.
10. Negotiate for a raise
Asking for a raise can be a terrifying thing for a lot of people. What if my boss says no? And that means very few people ever take the chance and ask for a raise.
According to a Marketplace-Edison Research Poll, 37% of men and 36% of women have asked for a raise. Men received the raise they asked for 82% of the time, while women got their raise 74% of the time.
Wage gap aside, that’s telling – you probably have a better chance at that raise than you might expect.
Here are some tips to help you negotiate a raise and get it:
- Do your research. Find out what others in your field are earning to get a sense of what’s a realistic ask.
- Find the right time. Make sure your company is doing well financially, where’s your current standing with them, have you recently received a raise, etc. Some of the best times to ask for a raise are after you’ve completed a big project, a few months before an annual review, or after new responsibility has been added to your plate.
- Practice your pitch. Write down what you’re asking for and why you deserve it, then practice saying it out loud before you go to your boss.
The worst thing that can happen is that your boss says “no.” That doesn’t mean you’re fired. Take that as an opportunity to look at your job performance or even start job hunting elsewhere.
11. Lower your bills
If you want to learn how to make money fast, don’t forget that finding ways to save money puts more money back in your pocket. It’s just that simple.
One of the fastest options is canceling some of your subscription services. Do you really need Netflix, Hulu, ESPN+, and HBO Max all at the same time? Are there apps you’ve subscribed to but have forgotten about? Meal kits? Beauty boxes? Wine-of-the-month club?
You can find a less expensive cell phone carrier like Mint, Ting, or Republic Wireless and lower your cell bill to $40/month or less.
Call your car insurance company and see if there are new programs or discounts you qualify for. The last time I did this I was able to lower my bill by $40/month.
Here’s a big one: get rid of your car payment for a less expensive car. Between your car payment, more expensive insurance, and taxes, think about how much extra cash you would have in your pocket each month. That doesn’t even account for the profit you’d make if you bought something less expensive.
How to avoid this situation in the future
If you’re Googling “how can I make $1000 fast?” you’re probably facing some sudden financial emergency. Right now you’re in survival mode – gotta make quick cash, now!
But keep what I’m about to say in mind so you can be better prepared for financial emergencies in the future.
First, create a realistic budget that works for you. A budget will show you where your financial pain points are and how to create a solid plan for the future.
Then, find long-term ways to make extra money. The majority of the ideas on this list are short-term solutions, but there are plenty of flexible side hustles that make it possible for you to make extra money in your spare time.
For example, you can legitimately spend 2-3 hours a week running Facebook ads for local businesses and bring in an extra $1,000/month or more.
The article 40 Best Side Hustle Ideas for 2020 has tons of options to check out.
Use that extra monthly income to start paying down your debt. You can also take some of that money and automate your savings. An automated savings app like Qapital makes it easy to set aside a little bit of money from each paycheck. That will help you build up your emergency fund so you’re better prepared for future emergencies.
How to make $1,000 fast – the final word
You just learned about 11 different ways to make money fast, and combining more than one is the fastest path to $1,000.
Consider combining passive ideas, like renting your car or space in your attic, with active ones like tutoring on Wyzant and selling some of your stuff.
And take what I said in the last section seriously – there are ways to prepare yourself for the future. As someone who was broke and had nearly $40,000 worth of student debt, I understand how hard it can be. It is a struggle, no joke, but setting yourself up for a good financial future is possible.
About Millennial Money Man
Bobby Hoyt is a former band director who paid off $40,000 of student loan debt in 18 months on his teaching salary and then left his job to run Millennial Money Man full-time. He helps other Millennials earn more through side hustles, save more through budgeting tools and apps, and pay off debt. He is a personal finance expert who has been seen on Forbes, Reuters, MarketWatch, CNBC, International Business Times, Business Insider, US News, Yahoo Finance, and many other personal finance and entrepreneurship media outlets.
