25 Realistic Ways to Make $500 Fast (In a Week or Less)

Many of the ideas on this list can help you earn that $500 in a week (or less), especially if you’re willing to hustle and work hard.

If you are stuck wondering how to make 500 in a day then you’ll benefit from this article. I’ll teach you how to make $500 fast right now.

You’ll see my legitimate list of free money making apps and sites I use to make five hundred bucks fast on the regular. I’m always scouring the net, forums and Reddit for real ways to make money online. In fact, I can support myself with my arsenal of money-making sites to make 500 big fast.

The best part? A lot of these require no effort at all to make your $500 rather quickly. I get it. Life happens. Sometimes you need to make money fast to pay a bill or you’re trying to save up for something you want.

I’m sure you’re ready to see how you can earn your $500 now, so I’ll quit preaching and just get to the list so you can earn a quick $500 as soon as today.

Realistic ways to make $500 fast (in a week or less)

Side hustle your way to make $500 fast. Enough said.

Pick up a side hustle

1. Become a delivery driver for Postmates

It pretty easy to become a delivery driver for Postmates. It’s free to sign up and fast to get started. There are no fees or time commitments, so you take home 500% of what you earn every time you complete a delivery.

As a driver, you’ll get paid to deliver things like take out, groceries, and even alcohol.

Here’s how to get started:

✔️ Create your account  Enter your name, email, phone number and provide a profile photo and proof of identity.

✔️ Receive welcome kit – Once Postmates verifies you are who you say you are, they will send you a delivery welcome bag in the mail.

✔️ Download the app, go online – Open up the app and start accepting delivery offers and get paid whenever it’s convenient for you!

Many reviews online state that you can make up to $25 per hour. You can also see how much you earned after each delivery and exactly how your earnings were calculated. Get free weekly deposits or cash out instantly anytime you want. If you’re interested, you can learn more here.

2. Deliver food with DoorDash

DoorDash is looking for people who want to start delivering food to earn extra money and work on their own schedule.

This is a great way to earn money whenever you have free time.

Instead of Netflix and chill one night, why not earn some extra cash?

To qualify, you must:

✔️ You must be 18 years or older.

✔️ Have access to a car or bicycle.

✔️ Own an iPhone or Android smartphone.

✔️ Driver’s license with at least two years of driving experience.

✔️ Valid insurance — name on the policy.

You choose the hours you work and get paid cash per order (once you have access to fast pay).

Once you sign up to become a dasher, DoorDash will reach out about an orientation. Complete the orientation, and you’re on your way towards getting paid for every completed delivery plus 100% of tips received.

This is such an easy way to make money by delivering on your free time while making extra cash and funding your personal goals.

3. Walk dogs and pet sit with Rover

rover

If you love animals then becoming a pet sitter is probably an enjoyable way of making $500 fast.

Finding pet setting gigs with easy with apps like Rover, which is the largest pet sitting marketplace.

If you are interested in treating Rover like a part-time job and take two or three dogs for two weeks out of the month, you can earn an average of $1,000 per month.

This is more than double your goal of earning $500, and if you wanted to charge a higher hourly rate, you stand to earn even more.

You can literally earn $500 in a couple of days by becoming a Rover sitter.

4. Get paid to lose weight with HealthyWage

HealthyWage offers you the opportunity to earn cash for losing weight.

Earn cash for losing weight?

Sounds too good to be true, but you read it right. The company was founded in 5009 in NYC, and part of its mission is to provide ways to have a measurable impact on the growing obesity epidemic in the US.

They do this by legitimately offering cash prizes to make weight loss and fitness more fun and effective. Since HealthyWage was founded they have been featured in literally hundreds of newspapers, magazines, TV shows, blogs, and website.

One of my friends made their own bet and learned that they could make up to $656.13 for only losing 15 pounds! That’s about $35 a pound, and about a cent per calorie cut.

You essentially bet on yourself and how much weight you can lose. Since they are promoting ways to be healthy, your winnings depend on how much weight you lose and how much you bet. It’s a great way to make $500 fast and be healthy at the same time.

Start your HealthyWager today and get paid to lose weight.

Sell your stuff

You can consider selling your stuff to help you make 500 dollars fast. Take a look at some ways you can get the best bang for your unwanted items.

5. Sell tech, CDS, DVDs, games, and books with Decluttr

decluttr

Decluttr is a website that will give you an instant price for your used phones, tablets, consoles, and much more!

You can literally round up all your unwanted items and then download the Decluttr app or use the instant price quote here to see how much you an get.

If you accept how much they are offering, they’ll send you a free label to ship your stuff to them.

Once they get your items, you’ll get paid the next day via PayPal, direct deposit or you can get a check in the mail.

This is a great way to work your way to making $500 fast as you probably have a lot of old tech lying around (don’t we all?).

6. Sell clothes on Poshmark

If you have a bunch of old clothes lying around you can round them up and list them on apps like Poshmark. If you sell 10 items that are worth $50 or 20 items that are worth $25 then you can have about $500 pretty quickly.

Poshmark is the leading marketplace to buy and sell your unwanted clothes. I will be honest, Poshmark does take a big chunk of every sale you make on its app, but the high fees are justified if your listings are selling well.

Plus you’ll get paid money for clothes you might not even consider wearing anymore and are taking up space in your closet.

One good thing is that there aren’t any listing fees and you can work your way to making $500 with this selling app/website.

7. Sell on Craigslist

I made well over $500 by selling stuff on Craigslist. I would list whatever I could get my hands on that had no value to me. At times I had 30 listings on the marketing place, however, my phone was constantly blowing up.

While you may not want to be bothered with that many listings, you can still stand to make money selling your services or unwanted junk on Craigslist.

Some people try to find appliances for cheap and flip them for even higher for a quick buck. I made my hundreds on Craigslist by buying cheap iPhones and flipping them for a profit. Take a look at the free section on the site and see if you can any good furniture that you can pick up and then sell to make a quick $500.

8. Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is arguably better than Craigslist now. The interface is clean and easy to use to sell your items. Plus, you can also do the same techniques on Craigslist on this platform.

Take a look to see if you want to sell your items on Facebook Marketplace and start hustling!

Use apps to make money

While you won’t make $500 fast with just one app, you can use many different signup bonuses to work your way to earning quick money.

9. Nielsen

By using the internet as you do every day, Nielsen invites you to make a difference – and you can make money just for installing an app.

This company will pay you $50 a year to keep their app on your favorite internet browsing device and they also give away $10,000 each month. So you can possibly make more than $500. You don’t have to do anything other than initially registering your computer or phone.

10. Rakuten

You’d be silly not to get cash-back for items you would have bought anyway. You can do this by shopping online with Rakuten.

Every time I shop online, I start at Rakuten and then I get cash back deposited into my PayPal account. I’ve earned $496.48 since joining so making $10 is simple with everyday purchases. You can save money with over 2,000 stores. The bottom line is that Rakuten is my favorite way to make money when I shop online and right now they are offering a $10 sign up bonus through this link. When you use the free site to shop, you get cash back.

11. Trim

I’m surprised more people don’t use Trim. Trim users saved over $1,000,000 in the last month! All I did was effortlessly link my cable and phone accounts and Trim went to work and I saved over $50 in a few days of signing up. It found ways to lower my bills by haggling with my cable/phone providers. Pretty freakin’ legitimate if you ask me.

No risk in trying it since it’s free and you can potentially stop paying more for cable and internet than you need too — here’s how it works:

✔️ Sign up for Trim here.

✔️ Provide your account details.

✔️ Let Trim save you money. Remember, it’s 500% free.

Works with Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, and any other provider.

Bottom line: It was able to save me some money. If you are at all interested in saving money, you should be using Trim.

12. Dosh

Looking for easy money? The Dosh app is the free cash back app that finds you money for shopping, dining out, and booking hotels and travel activities with more than 500,000 merchants and brands nationwide. No points, no BS… just straight up cash ?. Dosh not only allows you to get cash back on everyday purchases, but no receipt scanning required!

Click here to get started with Dosh and get a $5 sign up bonus. Remember it’s 100% free.

13. Ibotta

The app you should know about is Ibotta. This money making app actually gives you cash back on things you buy every day, even booze! You heard me right, you can make money for the booze you buy at groceries.

Ibotta is a fun rebate app that lets you get cash back on your purchases from major stores like Walmart, Target and almost every grocery store all over the country.

They are conveniently offering a $10 sign-up bonus after uploading your first receipt. So act fast.

How it works:

✔️Download the app and start a free account to browse deals in your area.

✔️Got friends? Invite 3 friends and they’ll credit you with $500.00. After that, get $10 for every person you refer.

✔️Get paid and cash out cash via PayPal.

14. Fundrise

Wouldn’t it be great if you could invest in commercial real estate and apartments without dealing with all the hassle of buying, improving, and re-selling real estate?

You don’t have to be a millionaire to invest in these types of properties. You can now invest in large-scale real estate for as little as $500 with Fundrise.

I’ve been using it for months now and I’m really happy with the returns ?. Through their real estate investment products, investors earned an average of 8.7 – 12.4 percent on their money last year, and all without painting a wall or dealing with unruly tenants.

There is a reason why they currently have over 500,000+ users, this app really pays you!

If you’re interested, I recommend you sign up for more information from Fundrise by clicking here.

15. MyPoints

Have you heard of MyPoints? It’s a cash-back site that pays you to shop online. I love it because it lets you earn cash for the shopping you would do anyway.

And right now, you can earn a $10 Amazon gift card with your first purchase at any retailer through MyPoints!

Here’s how it works…

✔️Sign up for MyPoints here (you just need to give them a name and email address).

✔️MyPoints will instantly send you an email to confirm your email address. You’ll need to click that to get the free gift card.

✔️You’ll also need to purchase $20 worth of products at any of the more than 1,900+ top retailers like Walmart, eBay, & Amazon. MyPoints will reward you with 1,750 bonus points that you can redeem for a $10 Amazon gift card.

That’s all! It’s basically $10 off anything you buy.

16. ZippyLoan

If you actually need money now, then you can opt for a personal loan. When you need money in a hurry ZippyLoan is where to go.

You apply for a loan through the Zippy Loan site, if approved they send your loan application to one of many loan providers.

You review the loan details and e-sign if you like what you see. No risk in checking what offers you’ll get. You can borrow between $500 and $15,000 as soon as tomorrow.

Loans service for up to 60 months.

ZippyLoan connects borrowers to lenders through their network of lenders. They’ll find you the lowest interest rate and is one of the best no credit check loan. You can visit ZippyLoan here.

17. Fetch Rewards

Fetch Rewards is a mobile rewards app that pays you for shopping (from any store).

This is a great way to make money, the easy way, and can add up to a large wad of cash with time.

Here are the steps:

✔️Click here to download Fetch and use referral code C1JAV to get your $2 referral bonus!

✔️Scan any receipt from any stores that you use daily.

✔️Get cash (via PayPal).

Enjoy your free money!

And there is no minimum amount you need to withdraw to your PayPal account either.

18. Acorns

Did you know some companies give you free money to invest? Yup, it’s true!  There are several companies out there that will give you free money to invest in stocks.

The best one right now is Acorns.

CNBC calls it “the new millennial investing strategy.”

Once you connect the app to a debit or credit card, it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and funnels your digital change into an investment account.

Once you get the process automated, Acorns investments make your digital change work for you. I downloaded it and within a year I had $1394.25 in my account.

Interested in investing your own spare change? Check out Acorns for the details.

Remember, you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up and make your first investment!

The sooner you start investing, the sooner your money can start to grow toward your goals. This is one of the best ways to make well over $10 and can help you earn real passive income over time.

Already have an Acorns account? Whether you’re a beginner or Wall Street veteran, we’ve compiled a list of the best online stock brokerages around.

BrokerageFees
robinhood$0$0

OPEN ACCOUNT

sofi money$0$0

OPEN ACCOUNT

public$0$0

OPEN ACCOUNT

unifimoney$0$0

OPEN ACCOUNT

titan$100$5/mo

OPEN ACCOUNT

19. GetUpside

GetUpside is one of the best money-saving gas apps right now.

First, it gives you 25 cents back on every gas station receipt you submit.

To score the best gas prices, grocery prices, and restaurant offers with GetUpside, all you need is your phone and your receipt.

It also shows you the best gas station deals and the cheapest gas, which is useful.

This free app is saving users an average of $124 in a year.

How does it work?

✔️Click here to download for free.

✔️Claim your offer for the best gas price, restaurant or grocery offer

✔️Snap a photo of your receipt or receipts

Profit! Earn cash back, and cash out whenever you want via PayPal, gift card or check. A true way to earn $10 dollars fast, if you ever needed one.

Best market research sites to make $500 fast

Pretty sure you have made well over $500 dollars by now but if you wanted to earn more check out the highest paying market research sites that actually work and pay via PayPal.

Yep, I sat down and studied all of the best survey apps to find out for myself which ones are legitimate (and high paying), and which ones are not.

If you wanted to compare some more, here is the list of the best money making surveys:

20. Swagbucks

Swagbucks lets you earn money in so many ways like taking surveys, shopping online or playing games, but I love racking up SB (Swagbucks) watching videos in my spare time. You can cash out your SB as gift cards to hundreds of merchants or get your cash by PayPal.

Many claim this to be one of the easiest ways to make money online and they’re not wrong. They’re offering a $10 sign up bonus right now, so act fast. Plus, if you’re an avid shopper you can get major discounts to popular stores, just yesterday I was about to get 60% off Kohls coupons just for being a member. Becoming a member to earn money and even save is a no brainer. Most avid users make over $1,000 each year simply by joining the platform.

21. Survey Voices

Who doesn’t want to make $500 a month? Survey Voices is looking for people to tell major brands what you think about their products and services. And they pay well. Once you’re signed in you can take surveys and get paid at Survey Voices. This is how I am able to make $100-500/week by completing surveys on Survey Voices.

All you need to do is instantly qualify, then view exclusive offers in exchange for your opinions and get access to paid surveys, clinical trial opportunities, and part-time work offers.

22. Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie’s interface is super smooth and intuitive (unlike the majority of survey company websites that look like they were built in 1997), and members are paid in cash via Paypal. If you’re going to be taking surveys from your mobile phone, then Survey Junkie is your best bet.

Oh, and Survey Junkie also has an 8.9/10 rating on TrustPilot — the highest of any online survey company. This is one is the more reputable survey companies out there and I use it often.

23. InboxDollars

Earn cash, not points. InboxDollars pays members to read emails, take surveys online, playing games, and search the web! Overall, Inbox Dollars is super easy to navigate. I’ve tried other paid survey sites and just end up overwhelmed.

It also does a nice job of breaking down the offers into categories. And you’ll always see the amount of money you’ve earned at the top of your window, which is exhilarating! Right now they are offering a $5 cash bonus just for joining.

24. Vindale Research

Get paid to take online paid surveys with Vindale Research. Here, you’ll take surveys for money about products created by some of the world’s most famous companies – including Disney, Volkswagon, Amazon, Nike, Samsung, and more.

For each survey you complete, you’ll earn money. They pay you straight cash. You don’t have to convert your points into cash, you can see your earnings on the dashboard. Payout is through Paypal or check. To get started, simply create your free account. It only takes a couple of minutes, and you’ll receive a nifty $1 signup bonus when you do.

25. MyPoints

MyPoints rewards its members for online activities such as reading emails, playing games, online surveys, printing out coupons and more. They pay their members using their own currency known as “Points”.

These points can be redeemed for online gift cards, cash via Paypal, and travel miles, etc. The minimum payout amount for most rewards is $10; however, PayPal payments start at $25. Redemption times for your awards vary. When you redeem your points for cash via Paypal, the request is usually processed within 4-5 days. For other prizes, the wait time varies.

Need more ideas to score $500 fast?

A ton of people are searching online for how to make money quickly.

Well, look no further, because if you wanted more ways to make money online besides these free ideas above, there are more apps that pay you real money.

If you didn’t claim your $5-10 bonuses already, don’t forget to check out the best sign up bonuses below:

That’s all she wrote folks. Hope you learned a thing or two on how I make money fast online. Good luck on your journey to learning how to make 500 dollars fast!
Brian Meiggs
Brian Meiggs
Brian is the chief editor of SavingWiki and is a personal finance expert who has spent the last few years writing about how Millennials can make smarter money moves. He has been fortunate enough to have appeared in several online publications, including Yahoo! Finance, NASDAQ, MSN Money, AOL, Discover Bank, GOBankingRates, and more. He is also diversifying his portfolio by adding a little bit of real estate. But not rental homes, because he doesn't want a second job, it's diversified small investments in hands off real estate investing via an app called Fundrise.

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