50+ Ways to Make $500 Fast Without a Job (2024 Guide!)

So, you need $500 dollars by tomorrow?

How to Make 500 Dollars Fast

Perhaps you are short on cash, your account is overdrawn or you need extra cash fast to pay the rent or bills. Or maybe you need some extra money fast to cover unexpected expenses and you’re asking yourself:

“How to make 500 dollars today?”

“How can I get $500 right now?”

“I need 500 dollars by tomorrow.”

“How to make 500 dollars in a day?”

“How to make 500 in a week?”

“How to make 500 dollars fast without a job?”

“How to make 500 dollars fast online?”

“How to make 500 dollars fast legally?”

Whatever the reason, if you need money fast, there are many ways to make $500 quickly.

Let’s be honest, the safest way to get $500 in an hour is to pawn something. Here’s the full list of items you can pawn for $500. 

Selling your unwanted stuff, renting out a spare room, driving for a rideshare company, running errands for others in your locality, work from home jobs, and online jobs are other legitimate ways to make extra money fast.

All of these money-making options can help you make 500 dollars in a day, month, or week, depending on your skills and how much work you are willing to put in.

Take Paid Online Surveys

You will probably not make $500 quickly doing paid surveys, but it is definitely possible to make some quick money fast by taking surveys online.

The good thing about surveys is that you do not need any special skills to do them.

You can complete surveys wherever you have some spare time. Plus, most reputable survey sites have a mobile app, which means you can do surveys while on-the-go.

Below are some high paying legitimate survey sites that will pay you to complete paid surveys online:

Survey Junkie

One of my top favorites is Survey Junkie. I started a few months ago and do surveys in my downtime, breaks at work, watching tv at home…etc.

Yeah, I don’t always qualify for the surveys, but for me, it has added up quickly. I have made just over $100 in about 6 weeks. So, you won’t get rich, but I’m not gonna turn down an extra $100.

Join Survey Junkie for free and make money right away.

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the most popular GPT (Get-Paid-To) sites when it comes to making money online in your spare time.

I’ve been using it since college to get free gift cards or PayPal money for a night out. On Swagbucks, you can earn money by watching videos, taking surveys, browsing the web, playing games, and more.

Join Swagbucks right now for free and get $10 as a welcome bonus. (Don’t forget to verify your email address with them to claim those $10)

OTHER SURVEY SITES TO CHECK

• Branded Surveys
• MyPoints
• KashKick (check out our in-depth KashKick review)
• Vindale Research
• i-say
• GlobalTestMarket
• Zap Surveys (an easy to use survey site)
• Pinecone Research
• Toluna
• YouGov
• Valued Opinions
• PrizeRebel
• Survey Rewardz

You can earn anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars per survey, depending on the particular survey. Survey Junkie pays up to $70 per survey.

If you can do a lot of surveys on a daily basis, you may be able to make $100-$150 a month easily by taking surveys regularly.

Get Paid to Lose Weight

Yeah, that’s right. Losing weight can help you reach your financial goals. HealthyWage app will actually pay you to lose weight.

Apply for a New Credit Card

Yes, you have heard that correctly. Some credit card companies give new members a cash bonus, ranging from $150 to $750 or more of cash value.

By getting credit card sign-up bonuses from one of these credit card companies, you can make $500 fast. Choose to apply for a credit card that does not charge an annual fee and foreign transaction fees.

However, to get the best credit cash bonus, you need to have a good credit history and spend a certain amount within a defined time period.

If you shop with a credit card to buy things that you would buy anyway, spending the minimum amount required in order to get the signup bonus should not be a problem, especially when it comes to traveling abroad, making a big ticket purchase, etc. 

Get Paid to Do Short Tasks Online

You can earn some extra money fast by doing short tasks online. There are many companies that will pay you just to use the internet.

These tasks can include transcribing short audio files, completing short online surveys, information gathering, performing online searches, data entry tasks, data processing, scheduling appointments, reading books for cash, completing offers, testing websites, watching ads for money, playing games, watching tv for cash, etc. 

It is possible for almost anyone to make money online by completing these short tasks online from the comfort of their computer.

Here are several microtask websites that will pay you to do short tasks online:

• Amazon Mechanical Turk
• Clickworker
• Appen
• OneSpace
• EasyShift
• Earnably
• Fancy Hands
• ClixSense
• The Smart Crowd
• Field Agent
• Figure Eight
• Gigwalk

Most of these tasks will only pay a few cents while others will pay up to a few dollars, depending on the particular task.

But since they are easy and quick to complete and do them any time, your earnings can add up quickly. When you combine this with other money-making methods, you can make $500 fast.

Make sure to check these other other sites like Appen to find online jobs.

Get a Refund

Have you ever thought if a store owes you money? If you shop online frequently, a store might owe you a refund for late deliveries or price drops in items you purchased from them within the past year.

But how do you know if a company owes you a refund? That is where Earny comes in. Earny is a website that will automatically scan your inbox for receipts to help you get refunds for late deliveries or price drops. You could get up to $10 in Amazon credit if they deliver a package late.

You could make anywhere from $20 to $200 in refunds through Earny. It is 100% free to use. Depending on your purchasing history in the past year, you may take back an extra $500 quickly.

Cancel Unused Subscriptions

Perhaps you pay regularly for subscriptions you rarely use or have long forgotten about. Trim is an app that will let you know if you have any forgotten subscriptions and how much you are paying each month for them.

You can ask Trim to cancel these subscriptions you no longer want to pay for again to reduce your payments each month. 

Trim can also negotiate down the price of your monthly cable, Internet, and other subscriptions for you.

Overall, cutting out unused subscriptions can help you make money fast when you combine this with other money-saving or money-making options.

Do Some Freelance Work

Freelancing online is the best way to make money fast. If you have any marketable skills that you can utilize online, consider picking up some freelance work.

There are loads of sites that will let you apply for freelance jobs on their sites posted by clients across the world.

If you have any marketable skills, like writing, editing, proofreading, social media marketing, graphic design, web design, animation, etc., you can become a freelancer to pick some extra cash quickly thanks to many freelance platforms or sites out there that connect freelancers with clients.

Here are some of the top sites to find freelance jobs online:

• Upwork
• PeoplePerHour
• Freelancer
• Outsourcely
• Fiverr

If you specialize in a particular field, you could make $500 fast.

• Read: Best Online Proofreading Jobs for Beginners

Make Money with Online Writing Jobs

If you have a knack for writing, you could write articles, blog posts, web pages, sales copy, and other content for companies and individuals to make $500 fast.

There are many niche blogs or sites, large content sites, online publications, e-magazines, and more outlets online that will pay you a flat fee for each article that you will write for them providing your article is approved by them. 

To get started, you can join freelance sites like Upwork where you can bid for writing jobs. If a client hires you then you complete and submit the work. If the client approves the work, you get paid immediately. 

Article writing jobs sites like Textbroker and iWriter can be another option to make money fast. These sites allow you to pick up jobs that interest you directly from their live job board.

It is possible to write several articles per day through these sites. You will get paid for each approved article. This is one of the fastest ways to make money online.

You can apply for a writer position to a variety of websites such as LoveToKnow, Wise Bread, and more. There are many sites that accept submissions from freelance writers and bloggers via an email or online submission form.

These sites usually pay a pre-determined amount of money for each article that you write for them providing your article is approved by them. You can also contact blog or website owners to see if they are interested in your writing services.

Here are some of the top sites to find writing jobs online to make money fast:

• Upwork
• PeoplePerHour
• Fiverr
• Textbroker
• iWriter
• ProBlogger Jobs
• Wise Bread
• LoveToKnow
• HowStuffWorks
• Ranker
• Cracked
• The Penny Hoarder
• The Write Life
• IncomeDiary

You can earn anywhere from $5 to $500 or more for an article, blog post, web page, etc, piece of content, depending on the site or client and your experience.

Don’t miss: I Worked As A Fiverr Freelancer For A Week And Here’s How Much I Have Made

Sell Things You Do Not Use

Perhaps the best way to make $500 fast is to sell things lying around your house that you do not use or need.

You can sell all those used clothes, shoes, books, CDs, DVDs, board games, video game consoles, broken TVs, smartphones, toys, unused gift cards, bikes, and just about anything lying around your house to make some quick money fast.

Here are some of the best sites and apps that will help you sell your used and unwanted items to make money quickly:

• eBay – eBay is great for selling items such as clothing, CDs, DVDs, collectibles, video game consoles, etc. Once you list your items on eBay, you can reach out to millions of potential buyers. 
• Amazon – You can sell just about anything, such as clothing, CDs, DVDs, collectibles, video game consoles, etc. 
• Facebook Marketplace – Facebook Marketplace is a great way to sell large items, like TVs, bikes, etc items locally. You can also sell clothing. Simply post a photo of your item and meet up with your buyer to collect cash. If you are interested here is the list of the best items you can flip On Facebook Marketplace.
• Craigslist – Craigslist is like Facebook marketplace. A great platform to sell large items, like furniture, old TVs, etc. locally. 
• Gazelle – You can sell your broken tablets, used cell phones and electronics easily fast on Gazelle. 
• Decluttr – You can make some extra money fast by selling your used Apple watch, tablets, CDs, DVDs, Star Wars collectibles, video game consoles, etc. to Decluttr.
• thredUP – Sell gently-used designer clothes, handbags and accessories that you do not want any more on ThredUp, Poshmark and LePrix to make some extra cash fast.
• OfferUp – You can use the OfferUp app to sell clothing locally. Simply post a photo of your item and meet up with your buyer to collect cash.
• Raise – Maybe you have got some gift cards from friends and family but you do not intend to use them. Why not sell your unwanted gift cards on gift card websites like Raise and Cardpool to earn some quick cash? You can also sell them on eBay, Craigslist and other online sites. Plus, your family and friends may be willing to buy your unwanted gift cards too. 

Become a Virtual Assistant

Need to earn 500 dollars fast? Then consider becoming a virtual assistant, or VA for short.

There are tons of services you can offer as a virtual assistant such as content creation, bookkeeping, graphic design, social media and more, depending on your skills, and clients’ requirements.

Typically, virtual assistants earn between $35 and $50 an hour, depending on their skills, experience, and areas of expertise. However, there are others, especially beginner VAs who charge as little as $16 per hour or even less. 

Here are some of the best places online to find virtual assistant jobs:

• Boldly
• Zirtual
• Fancy Hands
• Upwork
• Freelancer
• PeoplePerHour
• Fiverr

Virtual assistants are in high demand so if you have any skills that you can utilize online, then consider becoming a virtual assistant to make $500 fast.

Sell Photos Online

If you need 500 dollars fast, you may be making that money by selling photos online. How much you can make by selling photos online depends on the type, quantity and quality of your photos.

All you have to do is join some stock photo sites to upload your photos. Once a photo is approved by one of these sites, you can make money every single time someone downloads it.

To get started selling photos online, I highly recommend checking out these best apps to sell photos:

• Alamy
• Adobe Stock
• Bigstock
• iStock
• Shutterstock
• Dreamstime
• Deposit Photos

Pay per download of a stock photo varies from site to site based on the type and quality of the photo

If you can take photos that are in high demand and get approved by any of the reputable stock photo sites, you will be able to make a lot of money selling photos online.

Many websites always need good photos for their content. Sometimes, they get them from stock image sites. If you have a passion for photography, selling photos online is one of the easiest ways to make money without working.

Rent Out Your Spare Room or Apartment

If you have a spare bedroom in your house, you can make money from it by renting it out on websites like Airbnb and Vrbo.

You can even rent out your entire apartment or house for the short term while you are away on vacation to make extra money quickly. 

Depending on your location, you can make an extra $500 or even thousands of dollars per month by turning your spare room, or entire house when you will not be in there for a while into a hotel. 

With Airbnb, you can set prices, availability of your room(s) or apartment/house, and house rules.

Drive for a Ridesharing Service

If you have a car, you can drive for a ridesharing app company like Uber and Lyft to make $500 fast.

You can drive as much as you want or as little as you want, depending on your schedule. You do not have to make a time commitment to join ridesharing apps like Uber, Lyft and more.

When you become a rideshare driver, the ridesharing app allows you to accept or decline ride requests from passengers. If you accept a ride request, you pick up the passenger and drop them off at their destination. 

You can drive in your free time to pick up some extra cash quickly. Perhaps you can drive on weekends, during the evening hours and holidays if you have a traditional day job. 

Check out: 10 Best Apps Like DoorDash to Make Money

Deliver Fast Food or Groceries

If you do not like picking up strangers in your car and driving them around, then you may enjoy making people happy by delivering food or groceries to them and getting paid for it. 

Here are some of the top food delivery driver apps that allow you to make money as food or grocery delivery driver:

• Instacart
• DoorDash
• Grubhub
• Uber Eats

Working as a delivery driver is an excellent way to set your own schedule and make some extra money every month, with ease.

Here’s how you can make $500 a week with DoorDash and $1000 a week with Uber Eats.

Be a Dog Sitter or Walker

If you like dogs and want to watch or walk a few, consider becoming a dog sitter or dog walker. You can get paid to watch or walk dogs while their owners are out of town. Dog sitting can be an ongoing gig to make money fast. 

You can sign up with pet sitting sites or apps to find pet sitting or dog walking jobs. I recommend checking out the following sites to find jobs for dog sitters or dog walkers:

• Rover
• Wag
• PetSitter.com
• Sittercity

You can make around $20-$30 per dog walk and make up to $100 pet sitting per day and overnight. 

Final Thoughts

Some of these money-making ideas can help you make $500 fast on their own in a month or even less than a week, depending on your skills and if you are willing to put in the work.

Most of these are flexible and you can fit them around your work and family time. 

More From Dollar Sanity:

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