If you’re in a tricky financial situation, you might be wondering how to make quick money in one day.
But, the great news is that there are plenty of side hustle ideas out there you can turn to if you want to make a quick buck.
Thanks to the gig economy and power of the Internet, there are so many ways you can boost your daily income without needing a traditional job.
I’ve personally made money in short notice to pay rent or other expenses before, and there are definitely some creative hustles out there you can use if you’re in a pinch.
So, this post is covering some of the best ways to make quick money in a day.
Let’s get to it.
How To Make Quick Money In One Day
Some of these ideas to make quick and easy money rely on using different gig apps to start a new side hustle. On the flip side, other ideas involve online money-making ideas, which are perfect if you want to work from the comfort of your own home.
In either case, start by setting an income goal so you know how much you need to make.
Next, decide which method to get quick money in one day appeals to you the most and dive right in.
1. Use Paid Survey Sites
One of the easiest ways to make quick money in one day is to use survey sites that pay you cash. And I know this idea works since I’ve been using these types of sites ever since college, and have earned hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the years from them.
Now, it’s important to remember that gpt sites and survey sites will never make anyone rich.
But if you just want to make a bit of spare cash or earn some freebies in your spare time, you can try out a few to see if they’re for you.
Some leading paid survey sites include:
- Branded Surveys: Answer surveys to earn cash and get bonuses the more surveys you answer each month.
- Pinecone Research (U.S. Only): Earn $3 every time you answer a survey and cash out with gift cards or PayPal money.
- Survey Junkie: Cash out with PayPal or free gift cards once you earn $5.
- Swagbucks: Earn rewards for watching ads, shopping online, answering surveys, and playing games.
- Prolific: Another leading survey panel that lets you earn PayPal money.
If you answer surveys while watching TV, you can probably earn an extra $25 to $50 per month (or more, if you seriously grind.)
I’d start with a site like Branded Surveys if you just want to answer surveys and don’t care about other types of online gigs.
Sites like Prolific are also higher-paying survey sites you can try, and bouncing around several options is best since you can answer the highest-paying surveys.
2. Deliver For DoorDash
Another way to make quick cash in one day is to become a DoorDash courier.
DoorDash drivers get paid to deliver fast food and restaurant meals to people. In fact, it’s the most popular food delivery app in North America.
According to DoorDash, drivers earn $23 per hour on average, so this is also a great driving gig that pays.
And, as you can see from this YouTube video from DoorDash driver Nuggs, you can make great money in a day of DoorDashing if you get lucky with tips and high-paying orders:
Now, DoorDash normally pays drivers weekly through direct deposit, so it’s not normally a way to make easy money in one day. However, you can use DoorDash Fast Pay to cash out your daily earnings instantly for a small $1.99 fee.
Overall, you can make decent money with DoorDash each week, and the Fast Pay feature keeps things flexible.
Plus, if you drive at the best DoorDash times and use some popular driver tips to boost your earnings, this is one of the higher-paying side hustles around.
Start making money with DoorDash today!
3. Play Games For Money
If you’re an avid gamer, the thought of playing video games for money is probably pretty enticing.
And, the great news is that there are several ways to play games for PayPal cash or free gift cards if you know where to look.
I’ve personally tested out dozens of gaming reward apps over the years, so I know the ones that actually pay. And if you already spend time gaming anyways, you might as well get paid for it.
Some popular gaming reward apps include:
- Mistplay: Play new Android games and earn a variety of free gift cards.
- Rewarded Play: This app like Mistplay lets you earn free gift cards for playing new mobile games.
- GG2U: Answer surveys and play different online games to earn rewards.
- Buff Gaming: Earn passive income in the background while you play your favorite video games.
- JustPlay: Another leading gaming rewards app that lets you cash out with PayPal daily.
- Gamehag: Earn rewards like free gift cards and Steam codes for playing PC games.
Granted, these gaming reward apps aren’t going to pay you $1,000 a week or anything crazy like that.
But for a fun way to make easy money in one day, you can definitely give these gaming apps a try.
Start earning rewards with Mistplay and Rewarded Play today!
4. Freelance Online
Selling your freelance skills online is another way you can make money in one day, provided you have the right skills to sell.
And, I know this is true because I make a lot of my income from freelance writing and have been writing and blogging full-time for the last few years.
In fact, freelancing online is what let me quit my job a few years ago and travel the world, making money with my laptop while living the digital nomad lifestyle.
But writing is just one example of a freelancing field you can use to make money.
Other popular freelancing gigs include:
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Coding
- Email marketing
- HR help
- Graphic design
- SEO
- Social media management
- Website design
- Video editing
- Virtual assistant work
Hourly rates for plenty of freelance work can be $25 to $50+ or even more depending on your level of experience. And many gigs pay per project, so you can complete your work, send an invoice, and get paid pretty quickly.
Personally, I used my blog as a portfolio piece to find freelance writing gigs. Turning to my own network was also very helpful.
I suggest doing something similar, but you can also find jobs on Upwork, Fiverr, and plenty of remote job websites.
5. Deliver Groceries With Instacart
If you like jobs like DoorDash to make extra money, working as an Instacart Shopper is another excellent fit.
Unlike delivery gigs like DoorDash or Uber Eats, Instacart Shoppers shop for and deliver groceries to people’s doors.
So, each Instacart order can easily take 30 minutes to an hour or more, although you usually get paid much more per delivery than other food delivery gigs.
You need a car to deliver for Instacart, but in busy markets, you can easily make $15 to $20+ per hour if you get enough Instacart batches.
Plus, by following some Instacart Shopper hacks like driving during peak times and working on customer service, you can boost how much you make per hour.
A lot of gig economy drivers also alternate between making money with Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Instacart, so you can definitely test which apps pay the most in your area.
Start making money as an Instacart Shopper!
Extra Reading – How Much Money Do Instacart Shoppers Make A Week?
6. Sell Stuff You Own
While selling stuff is a simple way to make quick money in one day, it had to make this list because it works.
I’ve personally sold things like apparel, electronics, furniture, and even old guitars back in college when I needed some fast cash. So, if you have a lot of stuff laying around that you don’t use anymore, you can always sell it online or in-person to do the exact same thing.
Examples of popular things to sell for quick cash include:
For an easy way to start selling, you can try selling on the Facebook Marketplace to find local buyers for in-person cash sales. Throwing a garage sale or selling stuff to pawn shops can also work if you need money ASAP.
If you have a bit more time, apps like Poshmark and Depop are useful if you’re selling clothing or accessories. You can also sell stuff on Mercari or eBay for quick and snappy sales if you have a variety of stuff to sell.
I also made a video on some of the best websites to sell stuff on if you need ideas for where you can start.
It might take a bit of time to find buyers and to negotiate on prices, but this is definitely one of the fastest ways to make money in one day, especially if you have a lot of goods to sell.
7. Develop Passive Income Streams
Creating passive income streams is one of the best ways to diversify your income and to scale your income. And, what’s nice is that there are so many ways you can create small or large passive income streams for yourself.
For example, some other passive income ideas include:
- Renting out things you own for money like a spare room with Airbnb or your car with Turo
- Creating an online business that generates passive income
- Making money with a YouTube channel
- Renting out spare storage space to people with Neighbor
- Licensing videos to other people
- Using passive income apps
This is just a few ideas to get started, and the potential is honestly immense.
For example, This Online World makde $92,000+ in 2021, and this is all semi-passive income these days.
Much of this income comes from affiliate marketing and running Mediavine advertisements. It took four years to build, but it becomes more passive every year.
Granted, this isn’t the most lucrative way to make quick money in one day. But, you can at least use today to plant a passive income seed that grows and serves you well in the future.
8. Use Micro Task Websites
One of the simplest ways to make quick money in a single day is to try out different micro task apps and websites.
Micro task sites pay you for completing a variety of simple online tasks like:
- Data entry tasks
- Image matching
- Social media content management
- Transcription
- Virtual assistant work
To try out micro tasks, you can check out apps like Premise Data that pay you with free PayPal cash or Bitcoin for taking photos of things in your city.
You don’t earn a lot of money for this sort of work, but some micro task sites like the Premise app do provide steadier work.
For example, with sites like Appen, you can often find online gigs that pay $6 to $15 per hour and let you work from home.
If Appen doesn’t work, you can also try more popular sites like Amazon MTurk and complete a variety of online tasks for extra cash.
9. Become A Rideshare Driver
Food delivery jobs like Instacart are a popular way to make money with your vehicle.
However, you can also try rideshare driving with companies like Uber and Lyft. According to Indeed, these rideshare drivers earn about $18 per hour, and you can cash out the same day with instant pay features.
The main difference is you’re transporting people, not food. Uber and Lyft also have slightly stricter driver and vehicle requirements than food delivery apps for this reason.
But in busy markets, it’s realistic to earn $15 to $20+ per hour before expenses, and it’s also a very straightforward side hustle.
10. Use Reward Apps
Another way to make easy money in one day is to use popular reward apps that pay you small amounts of cash or gift cards for completing offers.
I’ve used these sorts of apps for years, and they’re an easy way to get paid to shop for products you normally buy anyways.
There are lots of options here as well:
- Fetch Rewards: Upload grocery receipts and earn free gift cards.
- Bumped: Earn fractional shares of your favorite companies just for shopping with the Bumped app.
- Receipt Hog: Upload different shopping receipts and earn PayPal money and Amazon gift cards.
- Pogo: Earn small amounts of PayPal money for every purchase you make.
- Upside: Save up to $0.25 per gallon at thousands of gas stations with the Upside app.
Like some of the other reward app ideas in this post, you’re not going to make hundreds of dollars per month with these methods.
But in aggregate, it all adds up. Plus, reward apps are a fun and simple method to make quick and easy money.
Extra Reading – 10 Best Apps Like Fetch Rewards.
11. Pet Sitting
Do you like working with animals? If so, figuring out how to make quick money in one day is probably easier than you think.
People are willing to pay for other people to look after their pets when they go on vacation or even during the work day. And, companies like Rover let you start your own pet sitting and walking business so you can find pet owners in your area who need help.
Rover lets you set your own availability, rates, and the types of services you offer.
According to Rover, the top sitters and walkers earn over $1,000 per week, although even a few steady clients can make a few hundred dollars in extra income per month.
Of course, you need to know how to handle dogs and enjoy working with pets. But if you live in a busy city, there’s definitely a lot of opportunity out there to make money with pet sitting or walking.
You can read our guide on the best Rover headlines for tips on setting up your profile and getting your first clients.
12. Do Odd Jobs For Cash
If you don’t mind working with your hands, there are lots of odd jobs apps and websites you can use to make quick money in a day.
Companies like TaskRabbit are a perfect example.
As a Tasker, you can offer different services to people in your city like:
- Errand running
- Babysitting
- Cleaning help
- Furniture assembly
- Handyman help
- Landscaping
- Painting
- Tech support
Taskers also set their own hourly rates and which days of the week they’re willing to work. And TaskRabbit is just one example of ways to find quick cash gigs near you.
Companies like Thumbtack cater to more serious service professionals. Similarly, you can become a Handy Pro to find handyman and cleaning gigs.
If none of these options work, you can also search for cash gigs on local websites like Craigslist to make some quick cash.
13. Make Money With Reddit
While it might surprise you, there are actually so many ways to make money on Reddit if you know which subreddits to look in.
Reddit actually has lots of subreddits that focus on freelancing or ways to make money online like:
- r/Beermoney: All about reward apps, survey sites, and cool ways to make some extra beermoney.
- r/ForHire: This is basically Reddit’s freelance job board.
- r/HireAWriter: A cool community where you can find content writing gigs and creative writing jobs.
There are also lots of industry-specific subs to find work if you’re a programmer, blogger, or graphic designer.
I also have a YouTube video that covers 7 ideas to make money on Reddit you can checkout for more info.
It might take a bit of time to find the right subreddit for you, but I’ve found writing gigs and awesome contacts on Reddit before so the effort is worth it.
14. Borrow The Money
Sometimes, turning to your own network or borrowing money is what you need to do to get out of a financial pinch.
Now, turning to your family or friends for cash really depends on how comfortable you are with talking about money. For small amounts of cash, I’d say more people are comfortable, but larger sums of money get tricky questions.
Of course, you can also turn to your bank or credit card, but this should usually be a last resort.
Similarly, companies like ZippyLoan let you borrow sums from $100 to $15,000, and you get the money as soon as the next business day.
If this option doesn’t work, you can also use various cash advance apps to get up to $500 by tomorrow if you really need quick money.
You should still try other side hustle ideas and think about this route carefully, but it’s always an option on the table.
15. Return Cans And Bottles
One very simple trick to make quick money in a day is to return cans and bottles to the store.
If you’re looking for a college side hustle, this is an obvious one since you probably have a small mountain of bottles and cans under your stairs or in your garage right now.
My friend Grant did this back in college. After two semesters of collecting cans, he made over $100 by returning them to our local beer store.
However, this is also a realistic way to make some quick change if you’re willing to walk around parks and neighborhoods to collect cans.
16. Leverage Sign-Up Bonuses
If you want to score some free money, you can always leverage different sign up bonuses to make some quick cash in one day.
Plenty of apps and websites pay users for signing up and trying out their platforms.
Some of my favorite freebies include:
- Rakuten (Free $30!): Get $30 for free when you sign up for Rakuten and shop online through it’s cash-back rewards portal and spend at least $30.
- Drop: Use our Drop invite code to score $5 to $15 in free Drop points which are redeemable for free gift cards.
- MyPoints (Free $10): Get a $10 Amazon gift card or prepaid Visa card when you sign up and shop with MyPoints.
- Fetch Rewards: Get $3 worth of free points when you sign up for Fetch Rewards, a leading grocery rewards app.
These sign-up bonuses won’t make you rich of course, but it’s a very low-effort way to make some easy and quick money today.
17. Invest In Real Estate
You might think you need hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in real estate.
Traditionally, this has been the case. After all, buying a rental home can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, you can still create real estate income for yourself by investing in REITs or through real estate crowdfunding companies.
For example, companies like Fundrise let you invest in real estate properties starting with just $10.
These are also income-generating properties like multi-family homes or commercial real estate developments.
Once you invest, Fundrise pays you through quarterly dividends, and your shares can also appreciate in value. You pay 1% annually in fees, and Fundrise has returned around 8% annually over the last several years.
Again, like creating passive income sources, this isn’t going to make you rich over night.
But you can realistically create new income sources for yourself with just a day of work and research, which is pretty cool if you ask me!
Learn more about investing with Fundrise!
18. Sell On Etsy
Etsy is one of the most popular marketplaces for selling anything artsy, handmade, or vintage. And, it’s also a viable strategy to start an online business and to get sales quickly even if you’re new to ecommerce.
For example, I tried making money with memes back in college by selling print on demand mugs on Etsy.
I had no idea what I was doing, but I could still get traffic to my shop and someone even bought one of my horrendous meme mugs.
The point is that Etsy is very beginner friendly and the marketplace has a ton of existing traffic, so it’s easier to sell on than starting your own ecommerce store.
And, the best part is that you don’t have to make your own merchandise either.
For example, Etsy print on demand integrations like Printify let you upload your designs to hundreds of different products to then sell on Etsy.
When you make a sale, Printify handles all of the manufacturing and shipping too, so you can focus on growing your store and creating new designs.
This is a similar concept to using websites like Redbubble that also let you make money with print on demand products.
The bottom line is Etsy has so much potential, and you can start your own store for free by yourself or as a fun couples side hustle if you want to do it with your partner.
19. Test Websites And Apps
There are lots of companies out there that are looking for website testers who can test new websites and apps to give their feedback.
Companies like UserTesting are a perfect example. Once you sign up for UserTesting, you can earn $10 for completing short testing sessions for various websites and apps.
This is basically quality assurance work, and you’re using new websites and apps that are in development, noting problems you find, and giving your honest feedback.
Typically, people use several user testing websites since it’s hard to find consistent work on just one platform.
Some other popular testing gig websites you can checkout include:
You can’t replace your day job with testing gigs, but it’s a simple way to make $10 fast for the occasional short test. So, if you’re wondering how to make quick money in one day online, I definitely suggest looking into user testing gigs.
Extra Reading – How To Make $10,000 Dollars Fast.
20. Flip Stuff For Money
Flipping money is one of the oldest side hustles in the book, and it basically involves buying stuff and flipping it for a quick profit.
This is also known as retail arbitrage, and it involves buying popular products and reselling them online for a profit.
Usually, retail arbitrage sellers buy clearance products from stores like Walmart and then sell through Amazon FBA, eBay, or other popular online marketplaces.
Examples of common things to flip include:
- Clothing
- Collectibles like sports cards, coins, watches, and even random things like Pokemon and Yugioh cards
- Electronics
- Jewelry
- Toys
- Video games and consoles
The downside to this method to get quick money in one day is that you have to spend money to buy inventory, which is also a risk if inventory doesn’t sell.
But I’ve interviewed retail arbitrage sellers before, and even though it’s a hard business, there is a lot of potential. I mean, the couple I interviewed makes over $1 million in revenue from their business, so it’s clearly a scalable business model.
Of course, making quick money in one day with retail arbitrage takes some luck, but you can at least start this business in a day by doing your research and sourcing some inventory.
Extra Reading – 15 Ways To Make $100 A Day.
21. Online Tutoring
One final idea to make quick money in one day is to become an online tutor.
If you have a degree or are working on completing one, there are so many companies out there that hire online tutors. And, many tutoring gigs pay $15 to $22+ per hour.
For example, BookNook hires U.S. tutors to teach subjects like English and Math to younger students. And, you can create a pretty flexible schedule and earn up to $22 per hour with this company.
There are also lots of ESL tutoring jobs with companies like Qkids, VIPKid, and Magic Ears.
You have to interview with these companies to become a tutor. But once you’re in, they’re a viable way to start making money online, and the hourly pay is quite competitive.
Tips For Making Quick Money In One Day
Now that we’ve covered how to make quick cash in one day, here are a few tips to remember as you get your hustle on.
- Set Income Goals: Setting trackable income goals is an important part of tracking side hustle success, so make sure you set some realistic expectations. It could be an extra $50 a day, $200, or more; you know what your number is.
- Try Several Ideas: Testing a few side hustle ideas is the best way to find what pays the most in your market and which gigs you actually enjoy. It doesn’t matter if that means delivering for DoorDash and Instacart, starting a pet sitting business, or investing with Fundrise; don’t be afraid to mix and match!
- Track Expenses: Some expenses like mileage or business inventory costs can be tax deductible, so always keep your receipts and track your spending.
Extra Reading – The Best Jobs That Pay $3,000 Per Month.
Final Thoughts
I hope this guide on how to make fast money in one day lets you reach your income goal as quickly as possible.
There are really so many ideas to test out there, so pick a few that play to your strengths and jump right in!
And remember: many of these ideas can also be excellent long-term side hustles as well. So, consider sticking with a few of them to build up a cushion of savings so you’re always prepared.
Looking for even more ideas to make money fast? Checkout:
DoorDash Disclaimer: Actual earnings may differ and depend on factors like number of deliveries completed, time of day, location, and expenses. Hourly pay is calculated using average Dasher payouts while on a delivery (from the time you accept an order until the time you drop it off) over a 90 day period and includes compensation from peak pay, tips, and other incentives.
Tom is a full-time blogger and freelance writer with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and the gig economy. His work has appeared on dozens of personal finance websites like Money Crashers, The College Investor, Investor Junkie, and more. This Online World is all about providing people with honest ways to make and save more money by using technology. To learn more about Tom, read his About Page!
If you’re interested in freelance writing services or want to partner with This Online World, please use our contact page to get in touch!