Maybe you’re in a jam and could use some extra cash. Or you want to jumpstart your finances to start saving toward a big future goal. In either scenario, learning how to make $1000 fast — probably looks very appealing — and maybe even out of reach. But it’s not; earning an extra $1,000 is entirely doable if you get creative and put your mind to it.
With numerous side hustles and gig apps, there are plenty of ways to make $1000 fast, with no special degrees or certifications needed.
This article will cover some trusted and legitimate ways you can really earn extra cash. We’ll discuss the best apps and rewards programs that pay cash, and how the set-up works.
25 Best Ways to Make $1000 Fast
Here are 25 great ways how to make $1000 dollars fast:
- Deliver Groceries
- Deliver Food
- Drive for Uber or Lyft
- Advertise on Your Car
- Rent Out Your Car
- Take Online Surveys
- Sell Used Stuff
- Try Affiliate Marketing
- Become a Freelance Writer
- Graphic Design
- Photography
- IT Support
- Take Advantage of Bank Bonuses
- Clean Houses
- Take Care of Dogs
- Babysit
- Dog Walk
- Pick Up Odd Jobs
- Rent Your Home or Extra Space
- Teach Online Classes
- Become a Virtual Assistant
- Start a Dropshipping Business
- Home Improvement Gigs
- Bartending
- Be a Tour Guide
1. Deliver Groceries
Delivering groceries is a proven way to make extra money. Whether you want to do it as an occasional odd job or regular weekend hustle, delivering groceries offers plenty of hours and good pay.
With tips included, couriers can make $15 to $25 an hour. Spark, Instacart, and Shipt are three popular options to consider.
Chris in Minnesota is one of our readers who delivers for Instacart. He emailed us saying he’s making $25 per hour or more by working with Instacart. In one week, he made $2,190 with Instacart.
Here is a screenshot he sent us from his Instacart app to prove how much money he made:
Chris’ payment comes out to $37 per hour, although he says it can be even higher with the right order and quick pick up time. Even with a regular 9 to 5 job, it’s still possible to deliver groceries on the side and make $1000 fast.
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2. Deliver Food
Like delivering groceries, restaurant food delivery is another great way to earn extra cash. Delivery drivers pick up orders at the restaurant and bring them to hungry, at-home diners. Wages vary, but with tips most couriers can earn $18 to $25 an hour.
Three popular restaurant delivery apps to consider are DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats.
DoorDash
Drivers are called Dashers and they pick up and deliver orders from restaurants. As the largest food delivery service in the U.S. market, DoorDash is constantly testing new ways to attract drivers.
The app regularly offers promotions, and in some markets, drivers can opt for guaranteed hourly wages instead of getting paid a set rate per delivery based on the order total.
Two of our readers in different cities, Kelly and Joe, are each clocking $25 an hour with DoorDash. That means they will make $1,000 dollars in just 40 hours.
Uber Eats
Uber Eats, like the rideshare app Uber, is owned by Uber Technologies, Inc. Instead of delivering people from pick-up point to their destination, UberEats drivers pick up food orders at restaurants and deliver them to customers.
Couriers can deliver food by car, bicycle, or scooter — and in some markets, Uber Eats drivers are walkers who deliver food by foot.
If you are an Uber-approved driver, you are already eligible to deliver for Uber Eats. Many Uber drivers switch between both apps, depending on which one is busier at the time, so they can maximize their earnings.
Additionally, drivers who do not have a rideshare-eligible vehicle can still drive for Uber through UberEats as they’re driving customer orders and not customers themselves.
GrubHub
GrubHub is another restaurant delivery app. Some delivery drivers think GrubHub is better paying than DoorDash; however, GrubHub has less coverage area and fewer participating restaurants, which means that you may make more money with DoorDash overall.
Every driver experience is different; some gig for both GrubHub and DoorDash to maximize your total earnings overall.
3. Drive for Uber or Lyft
The popularity of rideshare on demand has only increased in recent years, with passengers wanting a budget-friendly way to quickly hail a ride. Options are increasing for customers, but Uber and Lyft still reign supreme in terms of popularity and reach. Driving for either app offers steady income and flexible hours, and both apps are available in all 50 states.
Pay can vary based on the local market, current demand, and any promotions, but most rideshare drivers can average $20 to $25 an hour with tips.
Initially, Uber and Lyft were known for requiring their drivers to have newer cars (i.e., 7 years or newer) but in recent years both apps have relaxed those requirements. Depending on the market and the make and model of the vehicle, cars 15 to 19 years old may be eligible.
Many rideshare drivers work for both Uber and Lyft, driving just enough hours with each app to meet weekly bonus requirements (i.e., earn an extra $100 for the first 20 trips this week).
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4. Advertise on Your Car
Advertising on your car is an easy, passive way to earn extra cash. Companies like Wrapify, Carvertise, and Nickelytics will pay you for agreeing to have your car wrapped in advertisements. The car wrap is professionally applied and won’t scratch or hurt your vehicle. After a given ad campaign is over, they will remove the ads coating your car.
Pay will vary based on the size of the ads (full wrap, decals, or car topper), the brand you are advertising, your location, vehicle type, and how much you drive. Typically, drivers can earn $50 to $400 per month.
This is a great hustle if you are already driving for a rideshare or food delivery service since you’re already putting in the miles. By agreeing to run ads on your car, you can effortlessly earn even more money on the road.
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5. Rent Out Your Car
Renting out your car when you’re not using it is a great way to make money fast. Another driver is putting miles on your car, yes, but this is true for Uber or Lyft. There, you’re the one putting miles on the car and having to cart around passengers too. With a peer-to-peer car (P2P) rental service, you don’t have to drive anyone around — you can just sit back and get paid.
HyreCar and Turo are two P2P reputable apps to check out. The apps connect you with pre-screened drivers who need a car and will handle all payment and liability issues.
Turo reports that the average car owner renting out their vehicle seven (7) days per month can earn an average of $10,516 per year. Many super hosts buy and rent out several vehicles on Turo to earn a six-figure income stream.
6. Take Online Surveys
Brands and market research agencies are always in need of customer feedback, and if you’re willing to supply your honest opinions you can get paid for it. Online surveys are a great side hustle to bring in an extra $50 to $250 every month. It’s not enough money to quit your day job, but it’s enough to fund your monthly gas bill and a few coffee runs.
Reputable survey sites to check out include:
With any of these apps, you can answer surveys while you’re watching TV or have a few minutes of spare time during the day.
7. Sell Used Stuff
Selling used goods online is a fantastic way to make extra income. If you live for the thrill of finding a bargain — at thrift stores, garage sales, or free goods set out on the curb — then this hustle is for you.
Furniture, toys, sporting goods, collectibles, and name-brand clothing all sell very well on the secondhand market.
You can sell these goods on many eCommerce apps and websites like:
- eBay
- Craigslist
- Etsy
- Mercari
- Facebook Marketplace
- Facebook resale groups
- Kidizen
- Poshmark
- OfferUp
- Vinted
- thredUP
- Depop
- Decluttr
- Chairish
Melissa who use to be on our team used OfferUp when she was moving to sell her gym equipment, bookcases, and even a sectional sofa and received hundreds of dollars for all of it.
I packed up a bunch of my old stuff like my trumpet, DVDs, video games, and so on, and sold them on Craigslist and to pawnshops to make $1000 fast without a job.
8. Try Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can help you make extra cash by recommending brands, products, and retailers you like to your friends and followers. Affiliate marketing is quite common, and three everyday examples are blog articles, influencer reels, or promo codes shared in a podcast.
Bloggers, as one example, may write about a product or service they like and then include custom links and promo codes within the article. When a reader clicks on the affiliate link or makes a purchase and uses the blogger’s promo code, the blogger can earn a commission.
If you want to make money with affiliate marketing, you’ll need to work on building up an audience that you can monetize, like an email mailing list, YouTube following, or newsletter subscribers. Then, you can reach out to different brands and ask them for partnership opportunities and join affiliate networks.
9. Become a Freelance Writer
Working as a freelance writer is a flexible way to earn great cash, getting paid per word, per page, per hour, or per project.
Rates vary based on experience and the complexity of the project, and hourly rates can range from less than minimum wage (i.e. Fiverr projects) up to $200 per hour. Common assignments include blog posts, news articles, feature stories, white papers, landing pages, website copy, eBooks, newsletters, one-sheeters, and case studies.
It can be challenging to get your foot in the door for this gig, but as you build up your experience and know-how it becomes easier to find additional clients and increase your rates.
Indeed, Upwork, LinkedIn, and Smart Blogger are four job boards to check out if you’re interested in pursuing freelance writing work.
10. Graphic Design
If you’ve got graphic design skills, that’s another excellent way to pick up freelance work at an attractive hourly wage. Beyond landing pages and brand logos, businesses can hire freelance graphic designers to create sales materials, signage, email templates, ad campaigns, and more.
FlexJobs, Fiverr, and 99designs are three platforms to check out if you’re looking for projects. In many instances, you don’t have to know fancy creative programs to pick up work. On Fiverr, for example, some freelancers make money designing Amazon store listings and simple infographics for customers using basic programs like Canva or Pixlr.
11. Photography
Whether you’re an experienced photographer or just an enthusiastic shutterbug, you can make some selling your photos.
For professional photographers, photo platforms like Shutterstock, iStockPhoto, and EyeEm may be a good choice. Or amateurs and newer photographers can check out apps like Scoopshot, Foap, and Snapwire. The latter three apps are often looking for more candid shots taken from a smartphone, and anyone can participate in contests or sell individual photo submissions.
Pay can range from a few dollars per photo to thousands of dollars per project. On Foap, for example, freelancers can get paid anywhere from $10 to $2,000 per entry.
12. IT Support
If you’re tech-savvy and patient at explaining things to other people, consider looking for a gig in IT support. You’ll need a phone, laptop, and the ability to walk people through their technical issues — remotely or on-site.
While it’s a bit more complicated than telling people to just press Ctrl+Alt+Del (although that often does the trick), you don’t necessarily need a degree to find work in IT support. You just need the ability to patiently research and troubleshoot different technology issues until you can find the solution.
If you’re interested in IT support, advertise your services on bulletin boards or job boards at local businesses and you can also post your services on social media and job sites.
You’ll find the gig pays quite decent; according to Salary.com, the average support specialist makes $28 an hour.
13. Take Advantage of Bank Bonuses
For those in the know, cashing in on new customer bank bonuses is an outstanding hack to make $1000 fast.
Many banks and fintech apps will pay you a generous sign-up bonus to incentivize you to open an account. Sign-up bonuses can range from $15 to $500 or more.
While it sounds sketchy, this is like the 1970s equivalent of giving away free coolers or toaster ovens to get consumers to open a savings account.
To earn the bonus, you generally need to complete a specific task like opening a bank account, activating your new debit card, or making a single deposit.
Here are some free bank bonuses you can claim right now*:
- Acorns: Sign up for the fintech app on Kashkick and get $45
- Plynk: Up to $85 bonus when you sign up through Kashkick
- Capital One Shopping: $15 bonus when you sign up through Kashkick
- Varo Bank: Up to $50 bonus
- Chime banking: Up to $245 bonus when you sign up through Swagbucks
- Wells Fargo Bank: Up to $300 bonus
- SoFi Bank: Up to $300 bonus
- Aspiration spend & save account: Up to $50 bonus
- Alliant Online Banking: Up to $75 bonus when you sign up through Swagbucks
- Discover checking account: Up to $100 bonus when you sign up through Swagbucks
- Fierce finance app: Up to $30 bonus when you sign up through Swagbucks
- Webull trading app: Up to $16 bonus when you sign up through Swagbucks
- Current Banking: Up to $60 bonus when you sign up through Swagbucks
Some bonuses are available through third-party rewards sites like Swagbucks and Kashkick. You would need to first sign up for the reward program (which takes 1-3 minutes) and then complete the offer through their link. Then, the bonus gets credited to your account and you can cash it out as PayPal cash or an Amazon gift card.
*Published promotions were current at the time of the article’s publication and are subject to change in availability.
14. Clean Houses
Cleaning houses isn’t glamorous work, but it pays incredibly well. It’s one of the chores Americans hate most, and they’ll pay big bucks to offload it. Cleaners can make up to $50 an hour, often more, and you can bring your own supplies or use your customers.
To get started, you can advertise your services on Nextdoor, Craigslist, Facebook, and TaskRabbit. If you do a good job, you’ll find that word of mouth quickly spreads.
15. Take Care of Dogs
If you enjoy spending time with pets, then making money by pet-sitting could be a great part-time job. There’s a range of services you can offer, including doggy daycare, drop-in visits while owners are out of town or at work, or boarding pets at your house overnight.
Wag! is a great pet-sitting app to consider. Pet sitters on this app can make $15 to $36 per hour depending on the services provided, market location, and their level of experience. And most can make up to $75 a night for boarding pets in their own home.
The Wag! app does keep a portion of your earnings as their cut, however, it’s worth it as the app connects you to customers, manages payments, and takes care of any insurance or liability issues.
Rover is another reputable pet sitting app. Melissa made over $1,000 just in one month by petsitting on Rover, on a part-time basis.
16. Babysit
Babysitting isn’t just a gig for tween girls to make a couple of bucks an hour. Babysitters make big bucks, earning hourly wages of $10 to $30 an hour depending on market location, experience, and how many kids you’re caring for.
Parents are always in need of childcare, whether it’s for an evening out on town or to fill in the gaps as a backup sitter when there’s no school.
If you’re a parent, let other parents know that you’re looking to pick up some work. You can also list your services on Nextdoor, Care.com, Facebook groups, and other online job boards and neighborhood forums.
17. Dog Walk
Another great option for pet lovers is dog walking for Rover, an app that connects owners of dogs and other pets with caregivers in their area. There is a one-time fee of $35 to create your pet care provider profile, and dog walkers can set the rate at whatever they’d like, based on experience and local market conditions.
Some Rover walkers can make a living at it like Charlie Lee of Garden Grove, Calif. A part-time walker now, he did Rover full-time for several months when he was in between office jobs.
Full-time, it was “a great early morning hustle” that he could start early at 6 a.m., and as an added health bonus, he got in over 20,000 steps a day. Lee charged $25 per 30-minute walk, among other services, and picked up enough clients to pay his mortgage, utilities, and other monthly expenses.
18. Pick Up Odd Jobs
If you’ve got some free time and are willing to complete a random assortment of tasks, then picking up odd jobs may be a great way to earn cash.
Busy customers will pay gig workers to complete any number of tasks like cleaning out a spare room, helping someone move, or hauling unsold items from the yard sale to a local thrift store.
Any home task someone doesn’t want to do can wind up as a paid job listing on a gig site. A few great options are:
- TaskRabbit
- Thumbtack
- Handy
Common odd jobs you’ll find listed include helping people move if you have a truck, painting, snow removal, lawn care, housecleaning, or furniture assembly.
19. Rent Out Your Home and Extra Space
Another path to reaching $1,000 quickly is to rent out extra space in your home or items that you aren’t using.
With Airbnb or Vrbo, you can rent out your entire home, a bedroom in your home, or a secondary residence such as a vacation home. Or with a peer-to-storage (P2P) app like Neighbor, you can rent out your extra storage space in the form of garage spots, boat slips, driveway parking, garden sheds, extra closet space, and more.
Neighbor users can generally earn an extra $50 to $400 a month.
You can even rent out your land to campers. Managing Editor Melissa Berry and her husband have used HipCamp as campers. With the app, you simply offer part of your land to campers. You don’t need to provide much beyond the space itself or even interact with the campers if you don’t want to.
You can rent out your land through HipCamp here. You’ll earn much more if you do offer something unique, like beautiful scenery or bathroom facilities, but it’s not required.
20. Teach Online Classes
Teaching English can be a great way to make money online — or to fund your travel adventures if you want to go abroad.
Doing it online from your home is the simplest and quickest way for you to make $1000 fast, and you can do it as a regular part-time or full-time job.
Many virtual classroom sites will hire native speakers of English to teach English to classrooms around the globe.
Cambly, VIPKid, and Preply are three solid eLearning platforms to consider. VIPKid teachers earn $14 to $22 an hour with lessons conversation-based and prepped for you in advance.
21. Become a Virtual Assistant
With much of the office workforce going remote, there is an uptick in demand for virtual assistants. If you have great organizational and communication skills, this may be the perfect gig for you.
Virtual assistants may handle any number of tasks from bookkeeping to customer service to proofreading and managing email communications. Other common job assignments include answering phones, coordinating appointments and interviews, data entry, and transcription work.
Some virtual assistants must work the same hours as their employer while others are able to set their own schedule. And many freelancers do virtual assistant work for two or more employers at a time.
If you’re interested in becoming a virtual assistant, Indeed, LinkedIn, Fiverr, or FlexJobs are a few job hubs where you can advertise your services and look for work.
22. Start a Dropshipping Business
A dropshipping business is a great way to make money online. You sell goods directly to consumers to make money, however, you don’t have to hold any stock. Instead, the customer order gets placed directly with the manufacturer’s website, and the manufacturer handles shipping the goods to the customer.
You can set up a dropshipping business using eCommerce sites like Amazon, Etsy, eBay, or Shopify. You bring the goods and create the listings; the eCommerce site connects you to their customers and handles payment processing.
There is no upfront inventory to invest in and no costs to manage a physical store, and on Amazon alone, 73% of sellers report at least $1,000 a month in sales.
23. Home Improvement Gigs
If you’re handy at home carpentry and repair, then you can make good money doing home improvement gigs. Beyond word of mouth, there are many apps where you can list your services and pick up odd jobs.
Handypro, Angi (formerly Angie’s List), and AllBetter are three trusted apps for contractors and handypersons. Customers will pay for any number of services, from roof repair to HVAC replacement — and far less complex tasks too. An experienced handyperson can earn $25 to $150 an hour, depending on the market, ratings, and any certifications.
24. Bartending
Bartending work is a great way to make quick cash/ Bar and restaurant workers are known for earning excellent tips, and there’s a major shortage of workers in the food and beverage industry.
While bartenders may earn a base pay at or less than minimum wage, a bartender can earn $150 to $300 per night in tips on a steady night. And on extremely busy nights, or at exclusive nightclubs, bartenders can earn much more. Earning $1,000 over a good weekend is not unheard of.
25. Be a Tour Guide
The best tour guides can earn $40 to $50 an hour in this fun line of work that can involve anything from organizing meals and transportation to being a museum expert and leading guided tours. If you enjoy talking to people, traveling, and trying new things, tour guide work could be right up your alley.
If you’re interested, consider the type of tours you’re interested in leading and research any training or licenses needed. TripAdvisor may also be a good spot to list your services if you’d like to make money by showing visitors local attractions.
Driver’s Take
Your personal finances may look grim, but there are plenty of ways for you to make good money. We’ve shared 25 solid options to help you make $1000 fast, with many beginner-friendly options.
If you put your mind to it, you can reach $1,000. And after you hit that mark, don’t stop there — shoot for $10,000, $100,000, and more — keep aiming higher.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the most common FAQs that our readers have about how to make money.
How can you passively make $1000 fast each month?
By passive income, most people are referring to ways that they can earn money with no effort or minimal effort. Ways to earn passively include:
- Claiming cash back for purchases you already make but with a rewards credit card or shopping app.
- Referral bonuses. Many side hustle programs have generous incentives for you to refer friends. You can earn $30 per referral on Rakuten or $25 per referral on the rewards site Upromise.
- Create content. This requires more effort upfront, but you just need to create the content once and then you can monetize the traffic (visitors or followers) through referral links and affiliate programs. This can include podcasts, blog articles, eBooks, YouTube channels, online courses, TikTok reels, or explainer videos.
- Create a CD ladder. This means investing in certificates of deposit (CDs) with different term lengths (i.e., 6 months, 12 months, 24 months) to ensure a regular inflow of cash from investments at a guaranteed rate of return. This also allows for continual reinvestment of funds.
How can you make $1000 fast without a job?
There are ways to make $1,000 without having to punch the clock or work another more formal job-type side hustle. Some of these activities include taking surveys or playing games on your phone, investing your money in micro-investment or real estate apps, or making money off gear you own when you’re not using it.
FriendWithA is one easy way to make $1,000 with minimal effort; you can rent out sports gear, camping equipment, bike trailers, musical instruments, or other items that you aren’t using.
What is the fastest and easiest way to double $1,000?
Quickly doubling your money will require investing it, which means exploring options like S&P 500 index funds, stock options, cryptocurrency, or real estate.
While you likely can’t buy investment property for $1,000, you can still invest $1,000 in property and make money by using real estate investment trusts (REITs) or micro-investment apps like Yieldstreet, Fundrise, or Crowdstreet.
Other overlooked ways to double $1,000 include getting a match on your 401(k) funds (if you have an employee-match plan, make sure you’re setting aside enough to get the full contribution match) and earning referral bonuses for products and services you love.
How do you get rich on an average salary?
It’s possible to build wealth on an average salary. In addition to increasing your income through work promotions or picking up a side hustle, make sure to live within your means and automate regular deposits to your savings account — even if it’s for very modest amounts. With compound interest, every extra dollar you set aside today can double in seven to nine years.
Additionally, make sure to trim expenses wherever you can and avoid lifestyle creep as your income increases.
This means following a smart social media diet. Glamorous lifestyle influencers nurture discontent and leave you constantly feeling like you have to spend more money to be stylish and happy. Instead, follow influencers who promote frugality, smart money hacks, and achieving financial freedom.
