We’ve all been there. You need money fast, and maybe it’s not even a lot of cash. Probably $50 will do, even $20 won’t be bad.
Maybe with $20, you would be able to make this month’s car payment. Or with an extra $20, you’ll be able to pay down your credit card balance so you don’t get charged extra fees. The list is endless.
But if you’re looking for ways to make $20 fast and easy, then look no further, because here are 39 ways that I can show you on how you can make $20 in easy cash as fast as you can.
Top 39 Ways To Make $20 Fast and Easy
1. Freelance on Upwork
Upwork is a freelance marketplace where businesses come to look for freelancers in several niches including coding, design, writing, sales & marketing, and customer support.
Because Upwork has several hundreds of thousands of business owners and executives looking for freelancers, you can make quick money fast, by visiting upwork.com and browsing through the several categories of jobs that they have.
Can you write? Do you have some experience with coding? Can you do customer support? If you can complete a task for a business, chances are there are several businesses on Upwork looking for someone like you.
To get jobs on Upwork, you’ll need to register and then browse through the newly posted opportunities on Upwork. Once you find a job that interests you, use your free Connects to create and send a proposal for that job.
The more you submit proposals and stay active on the site, the higher your chances of getting several jobs that pay well so you can earn even much more than $20.
2. Get a new Credit Card
If you check your mails at all, then you know credit card companies won’t stop sending you credit card offers to get you to sign up.
If you need $20 fast, you can sign up for one of these offers. Because the truth is, these credit card companies want you to sign up for a new credit card and use the card. The more people sign up, the better for the companies.
But it doesn’t have to be a win only for the credit card companies. You can sign up for a credit card, and often you’ll get 0% APR for 18 months, sometimes even 24 months.
Which means for a credit card with a $3,000 credit limit, you can spend all $3,000 without paying any interest at all.
So it’s basically a free loan for you to spend and not have to worry about paying any interest for the next 18 months, or longer.
So, by getting a new credit card, you’ll be getting way more than $20 fast and easy. What’s even cool about this is that in 18 months, you’ll most likely have bounced back and paid any outstanding balances on your card, without ever accruing any interest.
A quick note here: Once you get the credit card, only use it to buy things that you actually need. That way, you won’t have to start wondering what you spent the money on when it comes time to pay off the card.
3. Rent out your car
You need your car to get around, and chances are you still need to keep paying car insurance and other miscellaneous fees to keep your car on the road.
But if your car even spends a few hours sitting still, then you can rent out your car to earn quick cash.
Don’t let your car sit around and collect dust when it could be making quick money for you.
With apps like Turo, Zipcar, or Getaround, you can list your car online, so that people can book your car on the app, and then pay you for the privilege of using your car.
Car renters on Turo, for example, earn an average of $10,518 per car, all without doing any work or spending any money. And you’ll definitely make more than the $20 that you need right now.
4. Babysit
A lot of parents struggle to keep it all together – work their day jobs, plan meals, take care of the house, and then make sure the kids are well cared for. By the end of the week, most parents are just so glad to be done with the week and just sleep in.
But there’s just one problem – the daycare centers are closed and the kids still need to be catered to.
You can help parents around you fix this problem by helping to babysit their kids. Some parents will even want you to drive their kids to doctor appointments or after-school programs.
To connect with parents who need your babysitting help, look around you. Check with your friends or family, in your neighborhood, in your local church, on neighborhood sites like Nextdoor or Facebook Marketplace.
You can also use online platforms like Care.com, Babysits.com, UrbanSitter.com, or Sittercity.com.
On any of these websites, you can reach out to parents around you and introduce yourself as someone who loves working with kids and is interested in babysitting their kids.
You don’t need any special qualifications to get started as a babysitter, you simply need to show up on time and be reliable.
At a bare minimum, you can earn $10 per hour as a babysitter. At a $10 per hour rate, you can definitely make $20 fast and easy just by babysitting for 2 hours for a single client.
5. Get Paid to Watch YouTube Videos
To make money on YouTube, you don’t need to be a content creator who has to spend several hours a week planning out videos, recording, editing, and uploading videos.
No, you can simply get paid to watch (yes, watch!) YouTube videos from the comfort of your home.
Simply use a website like AddMeFast.com – where people go to grow their social media presence. The way it works is you watch a YouTube video – maybe a 30-second video, or 60 or eve 75 seconds.
Once you’re done watching the video, you earn points just for watching the video. You can then exchange the points with real dollars on a website like playerup.com. On PlayerUp, you can sell your points for as much as $20, $50 or even $100.
6. Drive for Uber or Lyft
People will always need to get around in a more convenient and comfortable way. If you have a car, you can help people get around and earn money by driving for ride-sharing companies like Uber or Lyft.
You only need to drive if it works with your schedule and whenever you feel like it.
If you live near a major city, then you can work with even more passengers who don’t have their own cars, and you can get better access to drive people going to various destinations like the airport, work, or appointments.
7. Sell Items You Don’t Need
If you’re in your home right now, look around you and see if you can find anything to sell.
It always seems like you need everything that you have, and that there’s nothing you can sell. But you’d be surprised to find out that others are willing to buy that old iPad mini or the tons of stuff you have sitting in your garage or storage.
If you’ve not used an item in your home the past 6 months, chances are you won’t be using it the next 6 months either.
You can sell those items so you can get quick, fast cash that you need right now. Plus those items are collecting dust and taking up space anyways. And the earlier you get rid of them, the more you can have the money in your pocket – and the more space you can have in your home.
8. Tutor Online
The need for online tutoring will continue to grow as long as people still need to learn new skills.
Take out a pen and piece of paper and write out a few things that you know more than the average person. Then go through your list and Google search for online tutors teaching those skills. For example, if you can tutor the SAT, Google: “SAT online tutors.”
You’ll find out that there are other people making several thousands of dollars online teaching other people what you already know. What’s stopping you from becoming an online tutor too? Nothing.
All you need to do to make quick money is click on the websites you found from your Google search, and submit applications to be an online tutor on those websites.
9. Become a Local Tutor
If you’re an online tutor, the opportunities are endless. You get to teach anyone anywhere in the world, so far you both have a smartphone and an internet connection.
But one drawback with online tutoring is also that you’re competing with several thousands of other online tutors who have access to the same smartphone and internet connection you need to get started.
So, a better way to get money fast will be to search locally. That way, you reduce your competition a great deal, and you can literally drive to a local tutoring center in 15 minutes or less, so you can start tutoring and making money.
This was how I was able to get some quick cash when I needed it. It was school season, and I was able to find a local tutoring center offering after-school programs to students. I didn’t have to worry about a ton of competition and the tutoring center was not too far from where I lived.
10. Get a Customer Service Job
For all the talk about AI taking our jobs and making humans useless, companies are still finding it very tough to simply farm out customer service jobs.
For one, people want to talk to other people, not robots, on the phone. And two, humans are more likely to be empathetic and understanding in addressing customers’ concerns.
Because every company is literally in business to delight their customers, you have access to a ton of jobs in customer service.
Simply Google: “industry customer service job”, and you’ll discover a bunch of jobs (some even work-from-home) where you can start working with customers and start earning quick cash right away.
11. Write for Podcasts
We all want to listen to engaging and captivating podcast content. But it’s tough to be a podcast host that just comes into the studio and starts recording.
Often, lots of time and effort go into writing the script for each podcast episode, and making sure everything goes smoothly.
As a podcast writer, you could work on the intro section of the podcast, write copy for the ad segment, or even write the entire length of the actual content of the podcast.
With over 3 million podcasts currently available, you have several options to choose from so you can start making quick money easily.
12. Become a Waiter
There’s just a different experience to going out to a restaurant and ordering foods prepared by experienced staff.
You get to try out different foods that you may not be able to make yourself, while also hanging out with others and potentially meeting someone new in the process.
To fulfill this need that people have to go out and dine at restaurants, you can work as a waiter or server in restaurants where you take orders, deliver foods and drinks, and process payments.
You don’t need a formal education to get started, and restaurants are usually in need of people to work different shifts depending on your availability and schedule.
The real secret to making LOTS of money as a waiter is to understand that you’re not just serving foods and drinks but that you’re a customer service rep.
The tips from customers can make the nights very profitable and successful for you, especially if you do things like making sure that the food is the right order and prepared to the specifications of the customer, that the food comes out on time, the silverware is clean, and you maintain positive interaction with the customer.
13. Rent out your Living Space
If you have an empty room or space in your home, you can rent it out to earn quick money.
If you have a friend or someone you know, you can make an arrangement where they pay you less than what they’ll typically pay to a landlord, and you can make quick cash that way.
Or you can rent out your space on Airbnb, and charge based on your location and the amenities in your space.
14. Deliver for DoorDash
We live in times where people are prioritizing convenience over a few extra dollars.
You can sign up to be a Dasher with DoorDash and get paid very quickly to deliver food to customers.
All you need to do is go to dasher.doordash.com and sign up. With DoorDash, you get paid daily quickly and you don’t need experience or any skill to get started.
15. Get Paid to Answer Surveys
Answering surveys from online survey sites is a quick and easy way to earn money.
These survey sites typically use the surveys to help market researchers get public opinion and feedback on certain topics or products, and help companies make better products.
Some of the best survey sites like SwagBucks, InboxDollars, SurveyJunkie, MyPoints, KashKick, LifePoints, Pinecone Research, and more will pay you easy money to take quick surveys.
16. Do Pet Care
People love their pets and will do almost anything to make their pets feel loved and cared for. If you need quick cash, one of the best things you can do is signing up to take care of pets.
You can use apps like Rover and Wag to sign up and get matched to pet owners who are looking for pet services like walking, boarding, feeding, day care, and more.
17. Get Paid to Listen to Music
Artists spend a lot of time and money to get their songs out there – so if their tracks are likely to bomb, they want to know beforehand.
You can listen to music and give feedback to artists as they refine and remix their songs to get the best reception when the songs are released.
With apps like RadioEarn, HitPredictor, SlicethePie, and Current Rewards, you can make quick cash just by listening to music and sharing your opinion.
18. Help Someone Who’s Lonely
Loneliness is a huge problem. Many people feel lonely in their lives, and often struggle to have someone to talk to or confide in.
In fact, other than family or work, many people don’t have any other meaningful interaction with another person. This often leads to depression and a breakdown in mental health and quality of life for so many people.
You can make money by helping to fix this problem.
Using apps like RentAFriend or RentACyberFriend, you can charge $20 or even $50 per hour connecting with people and becoming their virtual friends, even for a few hours.
19. Give Opinions
Companies care about the opinions of their customers, and because you are a potential customer, companies want to hear from you.
You can use apps like Google Opinion Rewards and OneOpinion to share your opinions about products and get paid easy cash doing it.
20. Write YouTube Video Scripts
Ask any top-tier YouTuber and they’ll tell you that you don’t make successful videos by just turning on your camera and speaking. No, you need to get video ideas, plan, and write the scripts.
In fact, several YouTubers spend several tens of hours writing their scripts, so they can produce videos that keep viewers engaged and interested.
With more than 55 million YouTube channels currently available, you have lots of choices on who to reach out to so you can write video scripts for them and get paid easily.
21. Complete Simple Tasks
You can get paid fairly quickly to complete simple tasks like playing games, taking part in free contests, or completing surveys.
All you need to do is to download the Freecash app and sign up.
Before you even start earning money from completing the tasks, you can even win up to $250 in free earnings and coins just by signing up.
22. Test Websites and Apps
It’s an expensive project to develop an app or a website. Companies often need app users to test their new app so they can fix any errors and address any bugs.
You can get paid to test websites and apps so that you can give your feedback to the app developers and help them in making better apps.
Use sites like Userlytics and UserTesting to start earning quick cash by testing websites and apps today.
23. Convert your Credit Card Rewards to Cash
Go through your credit card accounts and see if you have any account with cash sitting in there.
Often, credit card companies like Capital One or Chase will give you free cash in the form of cash back to reward you for spending.
You may not even notice the free cash, but you can typically turn that cash into quick money by simply depositing it into your bank account or asking for a check.
24. Write Freelance Articles
These days, you don’t have to be an employee to write articles for businesses.
You can work as a freelancer and still get clients paying you $50 minimum to write articles for them, depending on the title and the niche of the article and how much the company can pay.
Use Fiverr, Freelancer.com, or Upwork to post your writer profile, search for jobs, and find freelance writing clients.
25. Design Youtube Thumbnails
Beside the titles of videos on YouTube, the most important piece of any successful videos is the thumbnail.
More video content creators are starting to realize this, and so they’re putting more time and money behind producing attractive and compelling thumbnails for their YouTube videos.
To start making fast money by designing YouTube thumbnails, all you need to do is to use Fiverr.com and search for youtube thumbnails.
With this, you’ll be able to see how freelancers are explaining their services and how much they’re charging.
Then you can go ahead and write your own Fiverr profile asking people to contact you so that you can deliver engaging YouTube thumbnails for them.
26. Edit Videos
One of the biggest roadblocks to maintaining a consistent schedule and earning more money as a YouTuber is editing videos.
Video editing is one of the most intensive and complex tasks in running a YouTube channel.
You can make quick cash by working with video producers and YouTube channels who want to post videos on a consistent schedule.
Because most YouTubers want to produce steady content, you even get way more than the quick cash. You can get paid consistent income once you start and understand the editing style of the YouTubers that you’re working with.
27. Write Product Descriptions
Several business owners and brands are now selling their products using online stores on platforms like Shopify and Etsy.
But online store owners commonly struggle with getting customers to click and buy their products. You can help them solve this problem and also make quick cash by writing captivating product descriptions for them.
On a site like Fiverr, writers are charging $70 minimum to write product descriptions for ecommerce store owners.
You can even prompt AI tools like ChatGPT for several ideas on how to write a winning product description, which you can then tweak and send to the client for fast cash.
28. Get Paid to Shop
Companies need people like you who can help them go inside their stores, shop at the stores, report back on their experience, and get paid for shopping this way.
If you can help companies test-run their shopping experience, then you can get paid fast, easy cash by being what’s called a “secret shopper.”
Most secret shopping websites will tell you not to disclose to the stores that you are a secret shopper, because the point of the whole exercise is to observe the store in a natural atmosphere.
To get started with secret shopping, you can use apps like SecretShopper.com or SecondtoNone.com.
29. Transcribe Audio
You can get paid quick cash by listening to audio content and typing out what you hear – using a website like Rev.
The goal is to be able to produce the audio recordings in written form.
Some of the documents you will be working with include: podcast episodes (to be converted into written blog posts, for example), YouTube audio and video files, financial earning calls, and other business recordings.
30. Become a Virtual Assistant
As a virtual assistant, you work with business owners, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and even CEOs and celebrities who need to schedule their day and want things taken off their plate.
Your tasks might include answering their calls or emails, planning their trips, booking their travel tickets, making arrangements for their trips, and making sure your clients only focus on the most essential and important tasks.
31. Do Data Entry Work
A lot of businesses will hire you to do quick data entry work, like typing documents that have long been produced in physical form, and converting those into electronic versions.
To start getting data entry jobs, start with the websites of companies like Conduent and RobertHalf.
32. Work as a Local Tour Guide
If you’re based in a busy metro area with lots of tourist attractions, then you can get paid working as a local tour guide, while meeting new people and building new connections.
Even if you’re not in a busy city like New York, Orlando, Los Angeles, or Chicago, you can still serve as a local tour guide for the top tourist attractions in your area and make money that way.
You can also position yourself as a local guide by partnering with a local tour agency or starting your own local tour business.
33. Flip Second-Hand Items
Although it might seem as if you’re the only one struggling with money, you’re not the only one.
Lots of people are also struggling, and you can help them by selling them second-hand items, since they are likely saving cash and opting not to buy new.
For example, you can sell second-hand video games, watches, phones, cars, furniture, couch, tables, appliances, TV sets, electronics, and so on.
With websites like BackMarket (for electronics), Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Mercari, ThredUp, or eBay, you can find underpriced items that you can buy and resell for more money.
For example, you can find very good deals on refurbished cameras, phones, airpods, and other tech gadgets on BackMarket. You can then turn around and quickly sell these items at a profit to others who need the items.
Another example is combing through your garage or storage and selling your electronics and other long-forgotten tech gadgets to Decluttr. Decluttr pays for tech items that you’re no longer using, so that way you get paid and also have more space in your home.
34. Deliver Groceries for People
You can make quick cash by helping people get groceries with Instacart.
Once the customer places their grocery orders online, Instacart notifies you as a shopper.
The next step is for you to go to the store, pick up the items and pay for the grocery order. Then, you’ll deliver the groceries to the customer’s door.
For your efforts, you’ll get paid and you might even get paid higher tips with many customers if they sense that you took the time and effort to pick the right groceries and that you were intentional about delivering a great customer experience to them.
35. Test New Products
Companies need people like you who can review their new products that are not yet on the market.
By letting these companies know what you think, you’ll be saving them tons of time and money right before they roll out the product to the general market. In return, these brands will pay you with cash, gift cards, merch, and through other ways.
You can review things like electronics, appliances, tech gadgets, clothes, household products, food products, toys, beauty products, and more.
The more time you spend on testing new products, the more money you can make. You can get paid as much as $300 reviewing different products.
To get started, all you need to do is sign up with a market research firm like I-Say by Ipsos Panel, Daily Goodie Box, or Toluna Influencers.
Then, you’ll get emails to complete where you’ll be assessed to see if you qualify to review the products. For example, if you want to review the latest laptops, then the company will want to know if you even use a laptop.
Once you’re confirmed to test, the products will be shipped to you for your testing, you give your feedback, and then you get paid. No skill or experience required.
36. Complete Tasks in Your Neighborhood
There’s always work to be done in pretty much every neighborhood – you just need to know where to look.
Thankfully, you can use the TaskRabbit app to get the best gigs all around your neighborhood.
From painting walls and mowing lawns, to cleaning, decorating and gutter cleaning, you can sign up on TaskRabbit and get paid quick cash by connecting with clients who need helping hands.
37. Get Paid to Play Games
Yes, you can play games for fun, but you can also play games to make money.
With an app like MistPlay or KashKick, you can get paid to play several games, including King of Avalon, Pokemon Go, Fruit Ninja, Scrabble GO, chess, and more.
38. Work as a Sales Rep
Getting more customers and sales is the lifeblood of any business.
If you’re running low on cash, you can make quick money by working as a sales rep and making cold calls for companies.
Companies in real estate, B2B sales, and industrial products are some examples of businesses that will hire you to make cold calls for them, so they can get high-quality leads and convert those leads into customers.
39. Get a Loan
If you’ve explored several options and you’re still coming up short, then you might need to look into taking a loan. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if you really need the money, you can take out a loan.
For example, if you need to make your car payment or get groceries, but you have no money to spend, then it might be a good idea to take out a personal loan as you try to bounce back from the challenges you currently face.
Just make sure to note the terms of the loan and take out as little as you can, so you don’t get tempted to spend more money than you can comfortably pay back.