I Need Money: 20 Legitimate Ways to Make Quick Cash Today

Last Updated February 15, 2017

If you suddenly find yourself asking “I need money right now, what can I do?”, I would recommend the following methods.

Sure, there are lots of other ways to earn even more. but most won’t fetch you the cash needed as fast as you need it.

If you need money today, building a blog and monetizing it isn’t going to do you any good.

Though with the following methods you may not make a lot of money, they don’t take much time either, and in most cases, you can get the cash needed faster than many other methods.

1. Sell your blood or plasma through Biolife Plasma

What runs inside of your blood vessels is a convenient source of income, assuming you are healthy.

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The rate varies across many for-profit blood centers, but in general, you can expect about $50 in return for your blood or plasma.

Biolife Plasma is just one such places so maybe you want to check if one is in your neighborhood.

As a safety precaution, wait at least 56 days between consecutive blood donations and 28 days for plasma donations, as recommended by the Red Cross.

2. Use TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit is an app that individuals and companies use to hire people for small gigs in their local area.

I have seen gigs offering $100 for a two-hour social media focus group, $20 for someone to take a load of laundry to the laundromat and bringing it back clean and folded etc…

The longer a gig takes the more it pays.

Another similar service is OddJobNation.

3. Sell your clothes to Plato’s Closet

Take a look at your closet and take out anything you do not use or need anymore.

Put them in a bag and take them down to your local Plato’s Closet.

They pay cash right then and there for any kind of brand name clothes from jeans and T-shirts to scarves, hats and even shoes.

And when I say “brand names”, I don’t mean just the high-end stuff, they buy any recognizable brand, Gap, Lee, OldNavy…

4. Pawn shops

A lot of people seem to overlook this.

Sure, in normal circumstances I wouldn’t set foot in there (at least as a seller), but when you need cash and you need it now, it’s one of the best chances you have got of getting it fast.

You can take anything from tools or old jewelry and anything in between.

5. Rent out a room with AirBnB

Through websites like AirBnB, you can advertise a spare room for rent and you can probably cut a deal in minutes if you are reasonable on rates.

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If you are willing to explore other websites, you will find loads of other items that can go on leasing arrangements, including your car, parking spot or even gardening tools.

If you live in a rental, do check with property management before you confirm on anything so as not to run afoul on any rules or restrictions.

6. Do odd jobs

You can also offer yourself doing things like cleaning out gutters, raking leaves, pulling weeds, etc…

Granted, these are not glam jobs but they offer quick and easy cash.

The things that people put off because of reluctance in carrying them out can usually command good money.

7. Use Fiverr. com

Fiverr. com is a good website to go to if you think you can settle on a $5 assignment.

Providers decide what service to offer, but a little bit of promotion about yourself won’t hurt due to the amount of competition there.

You can propose to help website owners to create donation buttons, do some elementary accounting stuff or whatever you can imagine.

I suggest you check out the site for ideas.

8. Mow someone’s lawn

If you have a lawn mower, you can use it to earn cash mowing other people’s lawns.

Subject to negotiation, most homeowners are happy to pay you $10 – $60.

As winter comes, snow shoveling work sounds like a fantastic idea as well.

9. Use Craigslist to sell your junk

If there unused items sitting around the house, sell them!

You can list them on Craigslist or eBay, advertise on your community bulletin board, or have a garage sale.

Some other folks may just have some need of your stuff, like old cell phones, ink cartridges, and whatever. To find potential buyers, Google for keywords “we buy [fill in what you want to sell here ].”

10. Sell baked goods

Your baking skills could bring in good money with the right exposure.

But be sure that your home based food business complies with local rules and regulations.

If there is some regulatory restriction that prevents you from selling at home, do it at a market instead.

Depending on your luck and skill, this could be a few hundred dollars business, or maybe even thousands of dollars.

11. Street performance

If you enjoy entertaining people with your magic tricks or other talents, you can make money (where laws permit it).

Try to do it in an area with good crowd traffic.

The more entertaining you are, the more money you will make!

12. Sell bone marrow or white blood cells

This is yet another moneymaking option from the health industry.

In some states, hospitals and large-scale medical research institutions have no qualms about paying you for your bone marrow and/or white blood cells provided you are a healthy individual.

Donation of bone marrow or white blood cells can easily earn you a few hundred dollars.

If you have no clue on how to find interested buyers, Google “sell bone marrow (your location)” in your internet browser.

13. Sell your sperm via SpermBankDirectory. com

Granted, sperm banks do extensive screening before they agree to pay for your valued donation.

But assuming you make the cut — there could be, easily, $50 to $250 on offer.

If you must ask, it should not take more than a few minutes of work.

Go to SpermBankDirectory. com to find sperm bank centers near you.

14. Sell your eggs via TheWorldEggBank. com

Comparatively, the screening process involved for donated eggs is even lengthier than sperm. But the amount of money on offer more than compensates the comprehensive testing.

Seriously, we are looking at thousands to tens of thousands here.

If this is beginning to sound interesting to you, then Google “paid egg donation” without delay.

You can use TheWorldEggBank. com to find centers where you can donate your eggs for cash.

15. Walk dogs

If you enjoy the company of canines, this is the perfect opportunity.

You can make anywhere between $8 to $30 per walk, per dog.

The easiest way is to get your first few clients is to let your friends, family and neighbors know about your service. You can also advertise for free on Craigslist, local bulletin boards, at your vet’s office, etc…

16. Sell your long hair on BuyandSellHair. com

If you have untreated hair of acceptable length, you can sell it for thousands of dollars.

Of course, only healthy hair is preferred.

Just imagine, 12 inches of untreated hair can fetch payment in the region of a few hundred bucks.

The internet is full of websites trying to link up hair sellers with hair buyers: try BuyandSellHair. com and HairWork. com.

17. Make money driving with Uber

Not so long ago, only those full-time licensees could be employed by cab companies as taxi drivers.

But today we see services like Uber happily employ just about anybody who has a valid driver’s license plus a clean driving record.

Cab drivers have an edge over the 9 to 5 office workers, as you choose the time you want to ferry people around.

Two other companies offering similar service are Lyft and Sidecar.

18. Freelance through Freelancer. com

You can make some quick cash by either offering to write content for clients on sites like Freelancer. com, or better yet hit up a few webmaster related forums and put an ad on their Classified section.

Offer a lower price than what you see there so you can get a few clients quickly.

If you can write the content the same day, you can get paid the same day via PayPal.

19. Participate in clinical trials using ClinicalTrials. gov

The medical field offers a quick route for cash.

In addition to blood donation, you can make yourself available for clinical trials.

Usually, large universities and research institutions would entice participants with cash so that they can partake in their research, which ranges from a sleep study to testing out a new drug.

For your participation, you will get paid in the region of hundreds, or even up to thousands of dollars if you are lucky.

20. Babysit

Babysitting offers extra income, but it would vary depending on your skills and experience in this area.

Generally, rates fluctuate from $10 to $20 an hour.

Another factor in the rate is the number of children you are in charge of.

Bonus

If you have a little more time and don’t need the money that fast, here are a few ideas to try:

21. Find local focus groups to participate in using This List

Businesses conduct focus groups to solicit input on their new products.

By sitting on a mock trial jury, the payoff is definitely decent at $50 to $300 an hour.

Since the objective is to gather frank and honest opinions, they tend to be pretty diligent on the qualification criteria of the individual focus group.

22. Sell to stock photo websites like Shutterstock

Established websites such as Shutterstock and iStockphoto do not mind paying photographers for decent snapshots, they can range from an empty teacup to a wonderful portrait of a kid in the playground.

The good thing here is that they don’t expect you to be a genius artist with the camera. They gladly take in ordinary photos of everyday objects.

23. Take paid surveys with Opinion Outpost

If you have serious opinions about things, you can share your thoughts through paid surveys.

Research companies such as Opinion Outpost, SurveySpot, and SurveySavvy would gladly pay for your contributions.

This represents one of the easiest ways to make money online as there are plenty of them out there. But this also presents the problem of scamming as well.

Thankfully, there are regulatory sort of websites like SurveyPolice and my own paid surveys review site, SurveySatrap. to tell you which ones are legit or not.

Bottom Line

I personally find that the fastest way to make money is to provide some kind of service, be it online or offline, winter or summer.

For example, shoveling snow in winter is a great way to earn a few dollars, while in summer raking leaves and cutting grass is what you can do.

So, next time you find yourself saying “I need money”, think of a product or service you can sell fast.

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