Make $1000 Fast: 18 Realistic and Actionable Ways You Can Do Right Now

Is $1000 a lot? It depends on who you’re asking. If you’re a gazillionaire who uses hundred dollar bills to fan yourself on a hot day, this article isn’t for you. But most people – myself included – would jump at the opportunity to make $1000 fast, as long as it doesn’t involve:

·         Getting money from a loan shark then running away from them;

·         Selling your kidney; or

·         A big-time investment

Then this article is for you! I’ll teach you how to make $1000 fast using methods that are already accessible to you.  And here’s my promise to you. After reading the article, you’ll be able to:

·         Select a few ways to make money that works for you. You don’t need to do everything on this list because even with just one, you can already make extra cash.

·         Get started with at least one of those methods right away. No need to do something special before you get paid.

·         Make $1000 fast. This is the ultimate promise. You’d be surprised how easily you can earn extra money that you’d kick yourself for not starting earlier.

Popular but wrong ways to make $1000 fast

Don’t believe everything you read. I’ve seen a lot of popular yet garbage ways of making money online peddled by even worse websites.

Guess what? They’re only in it for the commission and the site views.

So if you see someone recommending any of these, you know they don’t really have your best interests at heart:

• Surveys that pay almost nothing. I’ve seen one that pays $0.14/survey that they say would only take you 5 minutes to finish. At this rate, you’ll need nearly 298 hours working non-stop just to get to $1000.
• Blogging. Some people make lots of money with this, but it takes a lot of time and effort just to break even. Heck, I’ve been doing it for 2 years and have been featured in Forbes. And I’m still running this site on a deficit.
• Flipping items. Unless what you’re flipping ends up on the Antiques Roadshow, it will take forever to make a $1000 profit.
• Building an online following via YouTube or Twitch. Almost no one earns good money from this. And it takes forever to build a solid following.

Your first $1000 is all about laying out the foundations for you to earn more money in the future. So you’ll make money fast. And you can get started with these non-typical (but effective!) ways to make $1000 fast:

Try frugal living

If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know how much I think budgeting sucks. It’s so focused on making all your needs fit into whatever you’re earning. And you deserve better!

BUT! I don’t object to it if you’re not making it a lifestyle. It makes sense to change a few things a bit so you can consistently make $1000 fast.

Read more posts about saving money.

Remember how we talked about commitment? Big money requires big commitment. So be ready to make a few drastic changes like…

1 – Trade in your car for a more sensible model

Did you know how much you’re paying for the status that comes with a cool car? A lot more than just the price difference to a trusty and more sensible model? Because a pricey car also has:

·         Over the top repair costs. That car isn’t made of Legos. So be ready to shell out a high amount of cash to buy parts.

·         More expensive insurance even if you’re the best driver in the world.

·         Pricey maintenance costs. And you’ll have to spend on this if you don’t want to prolong having to repair anything.

And chances are, you’re no car repairman or insurance agent. So be ready to pay full price on everything. Depending on what needs to be done, it can also mean having to spend your savings.

That’s why I strongly recommend trading it in for a cheaper car. You can easily get $1000 from the trade, PLUS enjoy cheaper insurance, maintenance costs, and repair costs.

But if you’re willing to go the extra mile to get more money, then you can try this second alternative.

2 – Start carpooling or taking the bus

One of the best ways to make $1000 fast? Start carpooling or taking the bus.

I guarantee you’ll get $1000 (and more) unless your car already breaks down every five miles or you get ripped off by some smooth-talking salesman.

Many people wouldn’t be willing to make this big a change. But if you’re one of the few brave souls who are, then congratulations!

By making this big step, you’re finally free from:

• ALL car-related expenses like insurance, gas, maintenance, repair, and parking.
• Having to take your car home when you’ve had a few… which I don’t recommend. At all.

If you’re afraid you’ll end up hating yourself by getting rid of your car that you lovingly call Melissa, maybe you should stop naming your stuff. 95% not judging, but it’s harder to get rid of something after you name it. That’s why I don’t name my steak before I eat it.

But try not using Melissa for a few weeks. See how it goes.

Pay attention to interest payments

Particularly, look at the interest rates. Do you think you could do better?

If you’ve successfully improved your credit for the past year, don’t wait for your creditor to offer you better rates. Like you, they also like money so that’s not likely to happen.

To reap the benefits of having a great credit score, then you can’t wait for someone to just hand it to you. You can try to:

3 – Refinance your mortgage loan

There are a lot of reasons to refinance your mortgage loan. But my favorite one will always be to get a lower rate.

Especially for long-term loans, savings on interest payments can easily save you thousands of dollars. I personally saved $31,500 on a 20-year loan by getting a better rate and it only took 15-min to get started.

If that’s not enough to convince you to revisit your current loan terms, you must really hate money.

4 – Consolidate your debts

In many ways, it works like refinancing your mortgage loan, except with other loans.

But here’s how it’s a little different: you roll off multiple debts into one. It also assigns a singular interest rate for all the debts you want to consolidate.

I highly recommend this if:

• You feel that your debt situation is out of control, but you don’t know how to manage it.
• You want to pay less in interest.
• You can’t keep track of your debt payment dates that you sometimes forget to pay.

The best thing about this is you don’t have to do any of the negotiating. A debt consolidation agency will do all the work for you, so all you have to do is keep up with the payments.

Sell stuff

Nothing better than selling off stuff you don’t use anymore as a way to make extra money. It’s like getting paid for things you would’ve gladly thrown away.

And to make $1000 fast, I suggest that you:

5 – Get rid of everything you don’t need

And I mean everything.

Have a 40” smart TV you only use 2 hours per week? Boom! Get rid of it. You can watch stuff on your laptop anyway.

Do you have a home gym? If the only exercise you’ve done in months is dashing to the kitchen for a late-night snack, sell all the equipment UNLESS you’re ready to commit to working out.

Have a huge sofa set but hate having people come over? Sell it.

It doesn’t have to be any specific thing, but try to ask these questions in deciding what you should get rid of:

• When was the last time I used it? If it’s over a month ago, you probably don’t need it.
• Can I live without this thing? Maybe you’re used to eating off expensive china, but you can live without it.
• Does this thing have special meaning to me? You don’t have to sell your great-great-great grandmother’s ring if you don’t want to.

The great thing about getting rid of useless stuff is it also saves you money down the line. For example, if you don’t have a TV anymore, you probably won’t need cable.

And if you manage to sell your load of crap, you don’t need to keep stuff in a room that you can rent out instead for extra cash.

6 – Sell your body… or at least, parts of it

Just so we’re clear, I’m not talking about selling your kidney to the black market for cash. But you can definitely make money selling your:

• Plasma. If you’re not afraid of needles, this donation center promises you up to $1050/month.
• Sperm. Transfer the liquid manna of life from your body to a cup. And if you’re extra motivated, you can be done more quickly.
• Poop. Donate your poop for science! Of all the people who want to donate their butt babies, only 2% qualifies. But if you make the cut, you stand to earn as much as $13,000/year!

And you’ll never run out of these! So you can rely on selling any of the three for quick cash whenever you need it.

Get more work hours

This doesn’t need much explaining. It’s as easy as this: more hours worked = more money.

By dedicating a few more of your sweet, sweet freedom to do more work, you can make $1000 fast and even more.

7 – Convince your boss to give you some serious overtime

I hope you’ve been doing great at work because this will come useful when you ask for that overtime.

If you haven’t, then move along. Seriously. Bosses are going to want to grant those extra hours to workers who have been doing well, not to someone who constantly makes the same mistakes.

Let’s say you’re earning an extra $50 for your overtime. You’ll only need to work an extra 20 hours to get to $1000.

But listen, this isn’t going to work when there’s not much to do. So look for opportunities. Like when everyone’s starting to become overworked or someone needs to take some time off.

8 – Get a part-time job

If one of your coworkers read this article first and got approved for overtime ahead of you, then it would be harder to convince your boss with the same script.

But don’t worry. There are other ways to make more money. Why not apply for a part-time job?

The upside to this is you’d be in a new environment. If you’re in your job just for the money, you’ll have an opportunity to do what you love.

Rent stuff out

If you don’t have stuff to give, make money with stuff you have. Pretty easy, right? You can try to:

9 – Rent out your car

Fine, maybe the selling the car thing won’t work for all people.

But are you using it every day, though? Unless you’re your family’s unofficial and unpaid driver, you probably aren’t. So rent out your car during the days you’re not using it.

Turo lets you list your car for free and takes care of insurance so all you have to do is wait for people to book your car. According to their site, the average car earns $545/month.

It doesn’t look like much, but all you have to do is hand over the keys. And that makes it pretty much worth it.

10 – Rent out your house

Most rental contracts will have the security deposit plus the last month’s rent paid upfront, so that’s a lot of money for you right away.

If you’re renting your place for $2000, you get at least $4000. Check with the other landlords in the area how much their security deposit is.

But if you just have an extra room in your house, this can work too. If you charge $500 for the room, you get at least $1000 before you even give them the keys.

Especially if you’re in a city, getting someone to live there won’t be hard at all.

Step up your personal marketing

Here’s the sole point of marketing: making it easy for the people who matter to find you.

If your income relies on how many clients you can close, I recommend that you:

11 – Create a kick-ass profile

Instead of hunting clients, why not let them come to you?

Regardless of the job/networking site, the rules are pretty much the same. Let people know what you do and why you’d be the best at it.

If you already have one, maybe it’s time to revamp it so it doesn’t look like something from the last decade.

Active on LinkedIn? I bet there are tons of things you’ve overlooked when it comes to having a kick-ass profile. I know a lot of people who haven’t looked for a gig in years because clients are coming to them directly. That’s what a great profile can do for you!

12 – Reach out to more clients/businesses

While waiting for the effects of having an improved profile to kick in, you can reach out to more clients and businesses.

After all, this is a numbers game.

Let’s say you sell a service worth $200, and 5% of everyone you message become paying customers. Reaching out to 100 more people per week or roughly 15 per day gets you an additional $1000/week.

And with your fancy profile, it would be easier to have clients work with you so I’m sure you’ll get even more.

Resell stuff

Yes, I know that not everyone likes to interact with potential buyers all day. But you should know that there’s money to be made from reselling stuff.

I’m serious. Why do you think there are a lot of pawnshops? I’m not suggesting you hand in your resignation letter and be a local “pawnstar”, but there are two ways you can make cash through reselling:

13 – Look for your diamond in the rough

People sell high-value stuff for cheap all the time. Maybe they need fast cash or they’re getting rid of all the memories of a cheating partner.

Who knows? The important thing is you can benefit from the transaction.

Remember that guy who practically bought a house with a paperclip? That could be you! Only with a lot of cash that you can reinvest in any way you like… and without having to cross state lines.

Actually, in my case, I’ve made quite a bit of extra cash by selling furniture, bikes, and TVs… that I’ve picked up off the curb before garbage day. 

Don’t look too hard, though. You don’t want to waste all your time looking for something with no assurance of getting anything. Just know that this is always an option.

14 – Use TexTrader

Amazon changes the price of stuff ALL the time. And I’m thinking that the only way you thought you could make money online out of this is by waiting for a sale.

But you can make the system work for you by earning from it through TexTrader: a Chrome extension that I can only describe as a stock market for books.

It scans Amazon’s textbook listing to search for the ones that you can buy for cheap and trade back to Amazon for gift cards.

The only job you’ll have is putting the books in your cart and sending them to your place. So essentially, you’re going to buy low and sell high… not Snoop Dogg high, though.

Use your talent

If you’re an artist trapped in a corporate employee’s body, you’d be happy to know that there are more ways to express your artistic spirit apart from getting a fun tie. You can:

15 – Go busking

If you secretly loved your parents showing you off to guests by making you sing, you’ll love busking!

This Boston busker duo made an average of $42.55 per hour. And according to them, you can’t expect to make the same amount per session unless you’re smart about it.

The trick here is being smart about how and when you do it. One, choose a busy place where people who are passing look like they have a job. And bringing a trusty case so your equipment doesn’t get wet.

Plus, do it when many slightly inebriated, more generous people are on the streets, not when they’re on their lunch break.

16 – Sell photos

If you have photography as your hobby, maybe it’s time to make money online from your shots. There are a lot of sites where you can sell stock photos.

And they’re usually generous with the royalties too. But given that there are literally millions of stock photos out there, how do you make yours stand out? Three things:

• Post in as many places as possible.
• Identify where there’s a demand but little supply.
• Take awesome shots!

This is great if you’re just starting to make money online because they don’t have to know who you are to buy your stuff. And once it’s out there, you can earn from them for life.

But if you don’t want to share the profit, you can always just set up your own website for your photos.

Share what you know

Think about your college life. How much of what you learned did you actually use? Perhaps it’s not too late to get more out of your education.

Or if there’s something you’re great at but never had the experience of

17 – Create an online course

I love digital products. You only need to make them once and earn from them forever. And I’ve purchased a few because it’s better than digging the internet for answers.

And anyone who knows the value of time and money will think the same. From my experience, these people have money to buy your courses.

So if you have a skill that you think people will find valuable, earn money from it. And you only have to create it once and earn from it forever.

They’ll want more if you do your work right. And this is where the last method comes in.

18 – Offer consulting/coaching services

If you’re always asked about how to do stuff or how to fix stuff, it’s time to branch out. Because all that time you’ve been advising people for free, you could’ve gotten paid.

But even though you missed out on serious money, you can still use this as an opportunity to ask those people out for reviews. Trust me, people will trust reviews more than they will trust your pitch.

And the best thing about this is you don’t have to do any of the actual work. You’re just there to share your insights and support them.

The pay rate is insane too. Even if you’re not some big name in your industry, you can easily charge $100/hour. And as you build your reputation, you can start charging more.

The downside is the hours won’t be consistent. You’ll have to constantly market yourself to get your name out there.

But for $100/hour, who wouldn’t?

Congrats! You’re on your way to financial freedom!

Even if you weren’t born into a family that can afford food with gold flakes in it, you don’t have to work all your life to move up financially.

Once you can make $1000 fast, you’ve set the foundations for your financial freedom and retiring early. It will be slightly easier from here.

The next step after you make $1000 fast? Moving forward with smart investments from that cash. Cheers to living your life while you can still enjoy it!