The number #1 rule of personal finance is to spend less than you earn (live within your means). What if you are not a fan of changing your lifestyle — how about just making more money? If you were able to make an extra $500 a week, that's another $1,200 a month, and another $24,000 added to your salary.
Personally, that is a good amount of money and can pay for a year's worth of rent in most parts of the United States. If you want to get your rent paid for this month — check out our list of ways to make $500 fast (or more).
How to Boost Your Income and Make $500 Fast?
1. Earn $500 fast with Survey Junkie
Taking online surveys to make extra money is a no-brainer!
You definitely won’t get rich with surveys alone, but you won’t waste much time, and you can make some money the easy way. Here is my favorite (and highest paying) survey site:
Survey Junkie:This is a free survey app for your phone that pays you to take online surveys, participate in focus groups, and try new products.
And, I really mean free all around – free to join and they don’t charge anything to be a member (they will actually pay you in cash via PayPal).
You can get a free registration bonus for free when you join through this link. Survey Junkie pays up to $5 per survey, and many of them take less than 5 minutes to complete.
It is one of the highest paying survey sites that actually works!
2. Make $500 fast with Swagbucks
Swagbucks is another great survey site to make some extra money in your free time. As a new member, you can earn up to $10 per survey!
They are known for giving out fun, top-paying surveys. And you can also get paid to play games and watch TV!
It’s similar to Survey Junkie, but there are also a few other ways you can earn money as a member (including a $10 bonus just for signing up).
Other ways you can make money with Swagbucks outside of surveys:
- Cash back program for online shopping (Includes $10 bonus).
- Get paid for searching the web (Includes $10 bonus)
- Watching videos (Includes $10 bonus)
Swagbucks is conveniently offering a $10 bonus just for signing up through this link, so act fast.
3. Work up to $500 fast with Nielsen
By using the internet as you do every day, Nielsen invites you to make a difference – and you can make money too.
This company will pay you $60 a year to keep their app on your favorite internet browsing device and they also give away $10,000 each month.
Nielsen has been around for decades, has over 40K employees, and has one thing on its mind… collecting data. Every app on your phone already does this — wouldn’t it make sense to get paid for it?
Just know that it’s a super unique program that pays for your data.
It’s so simple: just sign up, install the app, and start earning today. You don’t have to take boring surveys, just let them know about your interest usage by having it’s app installed. Easy.
You don’t have to do anything other than initially register your computer or phone.
4. Make $500 fast with 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. Fundrise allows you to now invest in large-scale real estate for as little as $10.
Through their real estate investment products, investors earned an average of 8 – 11 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 200,000+ users, this app really pays you!
If you’re interested, I recommend you sign up for more information from Fundrise by clicking here.
5. Make $500 fast with Blackout Bingo
Blackout Bingo is a fun new gaming app that brings a social aspect to online gaming and allows you to compete for a variety of real rewards as well as real money in some cases (areas where this is available).
Make money playing bingo for free with this brand-new bingo-style game. With over 61K positive reviews in the App Store, it's a legit way to make money.
6. Make $500 fast with InboxDollars
The next thing you can do is sign up for InboxDollars which pays you, in cash, to watch fun videos & take surveys and they'll also give you a $5 free bonus just to give it a try.
By spending just 5-10 minutes per day on this (either on your lunch break or during TV commercial breaks) you can earn and save an extra $50/month. This is a great way to make money when you're retired and want to earn from home.
More people should be doing this to make 500 dollars fast.
7. Earn $500 fast with Acorns
Acorns lets you start investing without risking big bucks. 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.
With the app, you’ll start small and stack up change over time with the Acorns “round-up” feature.
That means if you spend $15.25 on your connected debit or credit card, for example, 75 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account and gets invested.
CNBC calls Acorns “the new millennial investing strategy.” Sign up to try it risk-free with a $20 sign up bonus. You've got nothing to lose. I told you this was easy!
8. Bring home $500 fast with DoorDash
DoorDash, a food-delivery service, is looking for people who want to start delivering food to earn extra $500 fast and work on their own schedule.
You choose the hours you work and get paid cash per order (once you have access to fast pay). Rates will vary by location.
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.
9. Get $500 fast today with Zippyloan
If you actually need $500 right now because you got laid off or lost hours, 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 $100 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.
10. Supplement some rent by getting paid to try new games
Earning rent money by playing games sounds crazy. But a free Android app called Mistplay lets users play new games to earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards like VISA, Amazon, Target, Walmart and more.
If you download the free app you will get a list of all the available free games to play for money. The longer you play (the app tracks the time), the more you earn! Plus, they even offer some big in-game rewards — up to $20.
It takes minutes to sign up and it's totally worth it if you want to get paid to play games.
Make $500 Fast with Survey Sites
I sat down and studied all of the best survey sites to find out for myself which ones are legit (and high paying), and which ones are not. Here's the list:
11. Make $500 fast with Swagbucks
Who doesn’t love Swagbucks? This survey site lets you earn money in so many ways like taking surveys, shopping online or playing games, but many of my readers love racking up SB (Swagbucks) watching videos in their 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 survey sites to help you make money online fast.
12. Make $500 fast with 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. 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. You can make $500 in around two to three months of use.
13. Make $500 fast with InboxDollars
Earn cash, not points. InboxDollars pays members to read emails, take surveys online, play 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 your window, which is exhilarating! Right now they are offering a $5 cash bonus just for joining.
What Should You Do With an Extra $500?
If you’re short on money and need the $500 to get the bills paid, then that money is already spoken for.
But if you have some flexibility in your budget, here are smart ways to use that extra cash:
- Start an Emergency Fund: It's important to start an emergency fund because you never know when you'll face an unexpected bill or expense. An emergency fund can help you avoid going into debt or using high-interest credit cards to pay for unexpected costs. Having an emergency fund is a key part of financial planning and can give you peace of mind in knowing that you have a cushion to cover unexpected costs.
- Open a Robo-Advisor Account: Acorns is a leader in this space. Acorns is one of the most popular microsavings platforms. It literally lets you turn your spare change into investments. Join through here (must complete application) and get a $20 welcome bonus.
- Easily Invest in Rental Homes: Arrived is a very easy-to-use site that allows individuals to easily invest in rental homes. This option is best for users who want to make money consistently and let their money make them money. Start Investing Now.
Stay Consistent on Your Journey To Earning $500 Fast
Now that you know my top 24 ways to make $500 fast, it’s time to get cracking!
But remember:
If you want to make three hundred dollars, you need to be consistent. Most people give up on the first hurdle.
…So please don’t do that!
Instead, stick with your side hustle, be persistent and never give up! It might take a day for one person or a while to earn that 500 bucks, but it’s 100% worth it.
Need some more tips on getting started? You can view more ways to get a $500 loan in case you really need it or drop a comment below and let us know your questions.