How to Make $500 Fast – Ways to Get That Extra Money
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Finding $500 to put in your pocket fast isn’t easy. Unless you have an emergency fund, an unexpected expense such as a car repair or hospital visit can put you in debt. Or you might want some cash immediately to buy a plane ticket and join your friends on a weekend getaway.
Whatever the reason, earning $500 fast often takes a little forethought and work.
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How to make $500 fast
You could take out a loan, though if you have bad credit the interest rate you’re charged could be as high as 36%. Or maybe your parents, a nice uncle, or a good friend are willing to loan you $500.
But unless it’s an emergency and you expect to be able to repay the loan soon, then a loan isn’t the best way to get some fast cash.
Instead — and we know this may be difficult to hear — you can earn some extra money by working a side hustle or two. Even if you don’t need extra cash immediately, working a few side gigs in your spare time can help you start an emergency fund and have $500 or more when you need it.
We’ve come up with 15 legit ways to make $500 fast. Some don’t pay that amount in a month, so you may need to do a few of them to come up with the amount of money you need. But all are good ways to make money fast, and some can turn into a passive income that you don’t have to put much effort into once you get them started.
We’ll briefly describe each side hustle for extra income, and will list the costs, if any, you’ll incur as a worker. Setting up a website and blogging, for example, requires some upfront costs.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
15 ways to make $500 fast
1. Take surveys and do other online activities
Survey Junkie is one of the many survey sites that pay people to take online surveys or do other online activities that they may be doing anyway. Most don’t take much time and can be done when you have a few minutes to spare.
Swagbucks users earn points to redeem for gift cards or cash via PayPal. It isn’t a passive income stream, and you won’t get rich doing it, but average users make a few dollars per day.
Other sites to take online surveys are Swagbucks and InboxDollars. Some surveys may require providing personal information, such as the city where you live. Users can also make money by watching videos, playing games, and searching the web. Payment is in gift cards or PayPal cash.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
2. Sell gift cards
Chances are you have a gift card or two sitting around that you don’t plan on using. Maybe you don’t like the restaurant that your aunt gave you a $50 gift card for on your birthday. You can sell it online at sites such as CardCash for a little less than the balance. You can get paid by check, ACH, or PayPal.
3. Sell your services
We’ll get into specific services and online jobs where you can make money, but you can start by looking through websites such as Fiverr, Upwork, and TaskRabbit that match freelance workers with consumers who need work done.
Fiverr concentrates on white-collar work such as graphic design, social media, voiceovers, online tutoring, virtual assistant, and a freelance writer. TaskRabbit mainly offers physical work done locally, such as cleaning, moving, delivery, furniture assembly, and handyman. The top skills Upwork hires out are in software development and related fields.
Sellers at Fiverr earn 80% of the gig price. TaskRabbit charges a $25 registration fee for new workers, who set their own rates and keep 100% of what they charge. Upwork charges a 20% service fee for earnings from a client of up to $500, a 10% fee for earnings between $500 and $10,000, and a 5% fee for more than $10,000 in earnings from a client.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
4. Sell on Amazon
There are many places online to sell your services or wares. We’ll review a few of the best ones later, but the top place where many people sell things is Amazon. Here are some ways to sell or make money in other ways on Amazon:
- Private label sales through Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) network. Your brand and logos are put on a pre-existing item and sold.
- Publish books through Kindle Direct Publishing.
- Sell wholesale items through FBA that you buy in bulk.
- Delivery fleet driver for Amazon.
- Affiliate marketing by blogging about products for sale at Amazon, and earn a commission when a buyer clicks on your link. The program is called Amazon Associates.
- Fill out online surveys and do other tasks in the Amazon Mechanical Turk marketplace.
- Sell your handcrafted items through Amazon Handmade.
- Sell shirts, coffee mugs, and other items with your design on them through the print-on-demand service Merch by Amazon.
5. Airbnb
Converting your extra space into an Airbnb listing and renting it out can be a big source of passive income. You determine the nightly rate, which can be set with the help of AirBnB’s smart pricing tool. Hosts pay a commission of 3-5% from bookings. If you own real estate, such as a few houses, then AirBnB can be a good way to earn some extra cash.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
6. Babysitting
Babysitting is often one of the first jobs teenagers take on to earn extra money, and adults can do it too. A couple in my neighborhood has turned their home into a daycare center, essentially turning babysitting into a job all day. The national average hourly rate for a babysitter is $17.73 for one child, $20.30 for two, and $21.49 for three, according to Parents magazine.
7. Sell your used stuff
Look in your garage, attic, or closets and you’ll probably find some things you haven’t used in a year or more and could sell for some quick cash.
Garage sales are easy ways to sell stuff and make money fast. Other options include listing them on Craigslist, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
8. Deliver food
Food delivery may be one of the most labor-intensive side gigs we recommend. It’s a job that usually requires owning a car and paying for gas, and high demand can be at times that aren’t convenient for you. But if you have spare time throughout the day, then you may want to deliver groceries through Instacart or meals through DoorDash.
DoorDash is the largest food delivery company in the United States. Dashers nationally earn $25 per hour, including 100% of tips, according to the company.
Instacart pays to either shop and deliver groceries, or to only prepare orders at one store. In-store shoppers are Instacart employees who earn an hourly wage and work up to 29 hours each week. Full-service shoppers are independent contractors and set their work hours. On average, Instacart shoppers can make $200 to $500 per week, according to one blogger.
9. Pet sitting and walking
If you enjoy pets you can earn extra income through pet sitting and dog walking. It can almost feel like free money. Rover is one of the most popular websites to set up your pet sitting business.
Rover charges a 20% fee per booking. Sitters set their own rates, which can be for services such as walking pets, giving them baths, and having pets stay in their home overnight. The company says its workers can earn up to $1,000 per month.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
10. Drive your car
Uber and Lyft are legit ways to make money driving your car as basically a taxi driver. The hourly pay, however, may not be worth it. TheStreet reports that after drivers pay all of their expenses and the app takes its cut, they earn on average $8.55 to $11.77 per hour. Uber takes 30% of each fare and Lyft’s fee varies but is typically around 20%.
11. Negotiate bills
One way to make money is to save money. It won’t result in a deposit to your bank account, but saving money will mean you’re spending less.
One way to do this is to use a service called Trim to negotiate cable, phone, utility, and subscription services bills. You won’t have to change services, and Trim will try to get you promotional and discounted rates for services you’re already getting.
The company says its users save an average of $620. You’re only charged a fee if Trim saves you money. It charges a fee of 15% of your annual savings when negotiating your bills. It doesn’t charge anything to find and cancel unwanted subscriptions that you may have forgotten about.
Related: How to Make $5,000 Fast
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
12. Teach English online
The online service VIPKid pays $14 to $22 per hour to teach English from your home. That rate, however, is based on earning incentives. The base pay rate is $7 to $9 per class. Classes are 25 minutes long, so it’s equivalent to $14 to $18 per hour.
Teachers set their own hours, don’t have to work a minimum number of hours, and are given lesson plans. Classes are taught entirely in English, so teachers don’t have to speak another language.
We couldn’t find any fees that VIPKid charges teachers to work for it, but it does deduct from their pay if they don’t do certain things. These include providing late student feedback beyond a 12-hour window on its online forms, canceling a class, poor connectivity, or other technical issues on the teacher’s end.
13. Play games
Playing games on your phone won’t make you rich, but you can earn a few dollars every day or so by playing in your spare time.
Big wins are possible, though unlikely. The online game Lucktastic pays daily winners $10,000, for example. Games that have cash tournaments where many people play the same game together can pay the most. A 21 Blitz game called Solitaire pays 50 cents to $7,000 to winners.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
14. Go shopping
Rakuten is among the cash-back apps that pay you to be a shopper. It’s an affiliate marketing platform that rewards shoppers with cash-back deals and promo codes. If you buy something at a retailer Rakuten does business with, Rakuten earns a commission and shares a portion of it with you. Payment can be through a check or PayPal. A $10 sign-up bonus is given to new members.
One big problem, however, is that you have to spend money to make money. You only receive cash back for qualifying purchases. If you weren’t going to buy the item anyway, then you’re wasting money.
15. Tell the world your story online
Blogging and social media are two ways to tell your story online and possibly make money.
Bloggers who find a profitable niche can promote their blog on social media and make money through affiliate partnerships and other ways. Plenty of blogs have advertisements, offer paid subscriptions, and sell merchandise.
Social media experts can make money by selling digital products, joining affiliate programs, creating an online course, and selling coaching services, among other things.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Fees
We listed some of the costs of each side hustle in the list above. Basically, most companies that people use as side hustles charge a fee that’s usually a percentage of the money paid by the customer. This makes sense because the company is finding work for you.
We found a 20% fee to be common. A 20% cut is collected by Fiverr, Lyft, and Rover, for example. Others charge more, such as 30% of each fare at Uber. Some charge less, starting at 20% at Upwork, but falling to 10% or 5%, depending on how high earnings are. Airbnb charges homeowners a 3-5% commission on each rental.
Some charge a flat, one-time fee, such as TaskRabbit’s $25 registration fee. It doesn’t charge a percentage of each transaction.
Teachers on VIPKid don’t pay fees to teach English, but they can face pay deductions of 50% for not providing timely feedback, $2 for canceling a class between 2-24 hours before a class or $10 if within two hours, and 100% class pay forfeiture for IT issues.
Taxes
None of the side gigs we found withheld taxes from workers, who are often considered contract workers and must withhold their own taxes and submit a W-2 form. This is important to remember because everything you earn in these jobs is considered taxable income, so it’s your job to keep track of it.
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- Cashback rewards club that pays out real cash.
- Play games like Solitaire and Mahjong for a chance to win money.
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- Includes a first-class referral program
Pros & Cons
Pros
- A side hustle can be a great way to make some extra money. Earning $500 can take a month’s worth of work, and may be easier with two or more side gigs.
- You can quit side jobs at any time and can usually pick the hours and days you want to work.
- Passive income is possible with side jobs, such as publishing a book, but it can take a lot of work to set up some passive income streams.
Cons
- Some side jobs don’t pay much, such as playing games online or filling out online surveys, so don’t expect to earn $500 doing these tasks.
- Side gig workers are considered independent contractors. They don’t receive benefits and must withhold their taxes themselves.
- You may end up doing a lot more work than you thought you would to earn $500.
The bottom line
You don’t have to take out a loan to get $500 in quick cash for an emergency expense or to just pay a few bills or go on a long weekend vacation. Side hustles are meant for earning extra money, and you don’t have to be tied to the job for months or make it a career to earn $500. You can make the extra money in your spare time and be done with the job if you want.
Or it can turn into a full-time job where you set your own hours and can take time off whenever you want. Maybe delivering groceries or selling items on eBay will convince you that there’s a better way to do those tasks, and you’ll create a company to do it better and make money online.
If that happens, you can earn much more than $500.
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Writer
Aaron Crowe is a freelance journalist who specializes in personal finance writing and editing. He has worked at newspapers, where he won a Pulitzer Prize, and has written for numerous online publications. These include AOL, US News & World Report, WiseBread, Bankrate, AARP, and many websites focusing on housing, credit and insurance. He lives in California with his wife and daughter.
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