We could all use an extra $400 a week or month, right? Especially if you can earn that 400 dollars fast!
Whether your car’s broken down, you’re running out of groceries or well, you just have bills to pay, there are many times when you’ll need cash fast.
Thankfully, because of the gig economy and the plethora of online gigs available, there are plenty of ways to make an extra $100, $400 or more quickly.
So don’t worry!
In this post, I’ll cover easy and realistic ways to make four hundred dollars quickly.
Table of Contents
How to Make $400 Quickly
Here are quick ways to make an extra $400 now.
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1. Teach your way to $400 with Cambly
Make money teaching kids how to speak English with Cambly. It’s an app that pays you to tutor students online. You earn $10.20 an hour. So you could easily reach $400 in no time. I have seen a tutor on Reddit claiming to make $700 quickly wiith it.
The best thing about the site is that no degree or experience is necessary.
- Sign up for Cambly here.
Here’s where you can get the app:
2. Start freelance writing to make $400 in a week!
If you need to make money fast, I would give freelance writing a try. You will need to know how to write well, of course, but pretty much anyone can get started with this.
Freelancer writers create things like:
- Blog posts
- Articles
- Press releases
- Product descriptions
- Resumes
- Social media posts
- Meta descriptions
Pay can be per word, hourly, or per article. It just depends on the client or website you’re working with.
You can write for private clients, which you can find on sites like UpWork.
Or you can write for a writing website, like:
- Textbroker – Pay ranges from 0.7 cents to 5 cents per word.
- Verblio – Pay starts at $10.50 for a 300 to 400 word post. How much you earn after that varies based on word length. You can write articles ranging from 300 to 3000 words.
- BKA Content – $8 to $18 an hour.
Like I said above, pay for freelance writers varies with some places paying you hourly or per article or per word, like some of the examples I gave above.
On average, freelancers make around $24 an hour.
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A lot of writing sites pay you right to your PayPal account. So payment is pretty fast. Depending on the website or client you work with, I’d say you could make $400 in two weeks, or even less than that if you’re a quicker writer.
3. Give people lifts in your spare time and make $100s in one weekend with Uber and Lyft
If you have a car, then consider giving people lifts. You use your car to provide a taxi service to customers who book rides in an app. You browse customer requests in the app, accept the rides you want, and the app pays you.
Two of the most popular platforms are Uber and Lyft.
You can make money pretty fast with both of these companies. One Uber driver from Houston, TX says that they can make about $200 to $300 weekly!
Lyft drivers can make anywhere from $3 to $43 an hour, with the average income being $16 an hour.
4. Deliver packages for Amazon and make $100s!
Another way to make money fast is driving for Amazon Flex.
Amazon needs drivers to deliver packages to customers’ homes. All you need to do is search the app for available delivery blocks near you and accept the ones you want.
For each job, you can view your estimated earnings and how long the block is likely to take you to complete.
You get paid twice per week by direct deposit.
- Sign up for Amazon Flex here.
5. Make $400 fast delivering food with DoorDash
Get paid to deliver food from restaurants to people’s homes with DoorDash.
You get to choose how much or how little work you do, so fitting it into your schedule is easy.
Pay varies. You get a base pay of $2 to $10 for each delivery you complete. The pay depends on the how long the delivery is expected to take, and the distance and desirability of the order. Orders that are expected to take longer, require you to travel a greater distance and aren’t as popular with other delivery drivers will have a higher base pay.
You get the opportunity to earn more with promotions and you get tips too.
- Sign up for DoorDash here.
6. Earn $100s delivering people’s groceries with Instacart and Shipt
Are you wondering, “how can I make cash quick?”
Well, then give Instacart or Shipt a try. These apps pay you to deliver groceries to people. So this means that you can make money delivering stuff from the grocery store!
Shipt pays you up to $22 an hour.
We have a review of Shipt, which you can read here.
Instacart pays $14 an hour on average, with pay ranging from $5 to $25 an hour.
What’s great about Instacart is that you get cash out every day if you want to or get paid weekly.
Here’s where you can get the apps:
7. Be a guest blogger and make $400 in less than a month
If you enjoy writing, then you may want to give guest blogging a try. It can pay pretty highly, so within just a few articles, you could easily make $400.
Guest bloggers write articles for other people’s blogs.
There are tons of blogs out there that accept guest posts.
Here are a few examples:
- ListVerse – Pays $100 for a list-style article.
- Cracked – Earn $150 for your first four articles, and then $250 for each one after that.
- Photoshop Tutorials – Earn from $150 to $300 for a full Photoshop tutorial. And make $50 for a quick-tip, and $25 to $50 for articles and roundups.
A quick search online for the keyword, “guest blogger wanted” will also yield plenty of results.
8. Make $400 in a week as a transcriptionist
You could make money as a transcriptionist, if you’re a good typist. All you need to do is listen to audio and then type what you hear.
There are tons of places where you can find transcriptionist work, like:
Transcriptionists earn about $16 an hour.
So if you can put some hours into this gig, you could easily make that $400 in one to two weeks.
9. Earn $400 fast as a PetSitter with Rover
Rover is a website where you can find pet sitting jobs. You get paid to take care of dogs. You can earn up to $1,000 a month with this one, so it’s really worth looking at if you love pets and are looking to make some extra cash.
- Sign up for Rover.com here.
10. Earn $100s taking surveys
You can easily make $100s from surveys. Sure, it’s not as fast as some of the other methods on this list, but anyone can get started with paid surveys.
Here are a few survey sites that pay:
- Survey Junkie – $1 to $3 per survey.
- Ipsos i-Say – $0.10 to $1 per survey.
- Opinion Outpost – $0.05 to $5 per survey
- Pinecone Research – $3 per survey
- Darwin’s Data – $25 per survey
Because you won’t qualify for every single survey on the site, I’d recommend that you sign up to multiple survey sites. The more sites you’re signed up to, the more surveys there will be that you qualify for, and therefore more opportunities to make money.
11. Get paid $100s to visit local stores
Mystery shoppers are paid to visit local stores, restaurants and other businesses and provide their feedback on their experience.
So you may be asked to visit a store and then report on how clean it was and how the employees treated you.
You can pick up work whenever you want to.
Mystery shoppers make from $8 to $25 an hour. So you could easily make $400 with this one.
Here are a few places you can make money as a mystery shopper:
12. Do some babysitting work and earn $400 in less than a month
For anyone who loves children, babysitting can be a great job. You can pick up work when you want to and finding work online is pretty easy.
Here are a few places where you can find babysitting work:
Some of these sites pay you right to your bank account, which is awesome.
Pay for babysitters varies from $7 to $16 an hour.
13. Make $400 in a few days with Handyman
You can earn up to $45 an hour as a handyman with Handy. It’s an app that gives you access to hundreds of jobs in your city.
So if you like handyman work, then I’d definitely give the app a try.
Here’s where you can get the app:
14. Make $400 fast playing free scratch cards with Lucktastic
Play free scratch cards and win cash with Lucktastic. What’s great about this app is that you can earn tokens as you play and redeem these tokens for gift cards for more than 30 retailers, like:
- Amazon
- Dunkin Donuts
- Walmart
- Domino’s
- Bed, Bath & Beyond
So it’s really good for making some extra cash.
- Sign up for Lucktastic here.
15. Help people to move with Bellhops for quick cash
Bellhops is an app where you can make money helping people to move. It’s a pretty flexible gig for making extra money. You earn up to $21 an hour, including tips and bonuses. And you get paid weekly.
- Sign up for Bellhops here.
Here’s where you can get the Bellhops app:
16. Make $400 fast as a data entry clerk
As a data entry clerk, you make money entering data into spreadsheets, documents, and other data management systems.
There are lots of places where you can find data entry work.
You can make $13 an hour with this gig and pay can range from $9 to $17 an hour.
17. Earn $10 in 20 minutes with UserTesting
With UserTesting, you are paid to test out websites. You earn $10 for every 20 minute test you complete. This is an easy way to make some money in your spare time.
- Sign up for UserTesting here.
18. Make $100s with reward sites (make money the same day)
One of the easiest ways to make money online is with reward sites. It is one of the top ways in our other post where we share a list of ways to make $200 month.
These websites pay you for doing super simple tasks, like:
- Playing games
- Shopping online
- Watching videos
- Completing offers
- Browsing the internet
- Taking surveys.
Here are a few good reward sites:
These sites will pay you right to your PayPal account or you can get gift cards for places like Amazon and Walmart.
What’s great about reward sites is that they pay fast. For example, Qmee pays on the same day! You can have your earnings sent to your PayPal account within minutes.
Sure they don’t pay as highly as some of the other options on the list, but these sites offer a simple way to make some extra cash.
19. Make $100s with local gigs through Gigwalk and GigSmart
You can make money doing local gigs across multiple industries from construction to retail with GigSmart and Gigwalk.
The average gig on GigSmart pays $17 an hour.
Gigwalk pays anywhere from $3 to $100 and you get paid right to your PayPal account.
20. Put ads on your car and make $400 in a month with Wrapify
Wrapify pays you to wrap your car in ads.
If you get your car fully wrapped, you could make $264 to $452 a month!
That’s just for having ads on your car. And Wrapify will wrap your car for you.
It’s such a simple way to make money.
- Sign up for Wrapify here.
21. Be a customer support agent and make $400 in a week
Customer support agents get paid to assist customers with any problems they may have.
For this one, you’ll need to be personable and patient.
Lots of customer support gigs are home-based now.
Here are a few companies that hire customer service agents:
Customer support agents can earn anywhere from $10 to $20 an hour, with the average income being $13 an hour.
22. Be a virtual assistant and earn $400 in a couple of weeks!
Many assistants now work from home. So there are plenty of virtual assistant gigs out there that you can do to make some extra cash.
You do all the jobs a regular assistant would do, except you work from home.
Virtual assistant work is often freelance based, so this is a good side gig you can do to make some extra money fast.
Here are some places to find virtual assistant jobs:
You can earn $10 to $27 an hour as a virtual assistant, with the average pay being $15 an hour.
23. Make $400 in a week as a proofreader/editor
If you have a good eye for spotting typos, then you may want to work as a proofreader/editor.
Proofreaders and editors read everything from blog posts to novels to check for typos and grammatical issues.
Here are some places where you can find proofreading work:
For some places, you do need a degree, but for many you don’t. You can easily fit this work into your schedule and bring in some extra cash.
Proofreaders can earn anywhere from $11 to $28 an hour, with the average income being around $17.50.
Read our proofreading guide for more places to find work and for tips on how to get started.
24. Make $100s testing search engines
Another way to make money is to test out search engines. Search engine evaluators improve search engines like Google and Bing.
Here are a few places to find work as a search engine evaluator:
In this job, you check that the right results are generated by a search engine’s algorithm when you enter a specific keyword.
You can earn from $13 to $16 an hour.
25. Make money signing up for websites
You could make $55 right now just by signing up for these websites:
- ShopAtHome: $10 PayPal cash or Amazon gift card
- MyPoints: $10 Amazon gift card
- BeFrugal: $10 cash bonus
- Rakuten: $10 cash bonus or $10 Walmart gift card
- InboxDollars: $5 bonus
Sure it’s not $400, but it’s a good start!
And, those aren’t the only websites that’ll pay you to sign up.
Read this post for even more sites that’ll pay you to register.
A Few More Ways to Make Cash Fast
Okay, so with the tips above, you can make $400 fast.
There are a few extra ways you can make money though:
- Trade in your receipts for cash each time you visit the grocery store with Ibotta.
- Sell your clothes on Poshmark.
- Get paid to scan stuff in-store and shop online with Shopkick.
- Sell your old textbooks with BookScouter.com.
- Get paid to watch trailers on AppTrailers.
- Sell your DVDs with Decluttr.
- Get paid to unlock your phone with Slidejoy
- Sell your furniture with LetGo
- Use Paribus to get well-deserved refunds
- Get paid to search the internet on your phone with MobileXpression
- Use Microsoft Rewards to earn money by searching the internet with Bing or Microsoft Edge
- Get paid to answer simple questions with 1Q
- Get paid to have Embee Mobile Performance Meter installed on your phone
- Sell everything with OfferUp
- Use Rakuten to get cashback and other deals
How to Make 400 Dollars Fast as a Kid
Most of the options above are good for adults. But what about kids?
Well, whether you are a 9, 10 or a 12 year old kid, you can also make a bit extra pocket money.
Here are a few ideas to try:
- Do yard work for neighbors
- Mow lawns
- Yard clean up
- Snow removal
- Pet sit
- Walk pets
- Collect cans to recycle
- Take surveys (here are a few legit sites fort kids to make money)
- Use your social media accounts to make money as an influencer
- …
Obviously, not every one of these options is going to earn an exact $400. But that’s not the point of this list. It’s just to give you some ideas. Today with so many apps geared towards kids, there are tons of ways kids can earn money. You just have to think outside the box a little.
I Need 400 Dollars by Tomorrow
There are times when you NEED $400 today or by tomorrow.
So you look for options such as title loans, personal loan or borrowing money.
When you need $400 fast in a hurry, I know it’s tempting to wanna use one of those title loan companies like TitleMax that have offices seemingly on every corner.
But please don’t!
The amount of interest you pay on those loans is just crazy. Sure you get that $400, $500, $600 or $1000 instantly but you and up paying 10-20 times of that amount in interest. Some of these places charge a few hundred percent in interest.
There are way better options. For example, you may be able to talk to your bank (especially if you have been a customer for a long time) and get a personal loan from them.
If that doesn’t work, you can always ask friends and family and pay them a reasonable interest instead of paying thousands of dollars in interest to a title loan company.
And if all that fails, you can go old school. If you need money as soon as tomorrow, for example, go door to door and offer people to cut their grass, power wash their driveway, clean up their yard, etc. As you have seen in this post, there are many apps that make it easy to earn money doing small gigs near you.
Of course, good ol’ Craigslist is still a great site for finding quick cash paying gigs near you. So give that a try.
How to Make 400 Dollars a Week (Outside of the Box Way!)
Update and a Note: Google Places is now known as Google My Business. The strategy still works. Although it is getting harder to find local businesses that haven’t claimed their business page on there yet. Also, this method was originally written and published as a separate post by Saeed, but we have moved it here to make it easier for you to access it sicne it’s relevant to the topic of this new post.
I need $400 fast!
I have heard that phrase so many times that I have started to think about unconventional ways you can earn an extra 400 dollars a day/week/month.
And today, I am going to share a strategy that is really not that hard to implement.
This technique I’m about to explain is a quick and easy way to make some money that almost anyone with access to the internet can do.
It’s about making money with one of Google’s products called Google Places.
It’s something I have used many times, and I continue to use it especially when I need extra money quickly.
It will help you get over small financial challenges. Be it falling short unexpectedly, wanting to put money in some costly marketing course on the web or even needing some extra dough to help you float for a while.
You may question the credibility of this. But I’d vouch for it since I’ve used it many times. It has served me loyally, and when done in the right manner, it’ll help you deal with all minor financial crunches rather easily.
What Is Google Places?
Perhaps no one can explain what Google Places is better than Google:
“Google Places allows business owners to update and manage their physical business location information. This information can be used to update their business listing so that it appears correctly within Google Maps and associated Google properties and search and Display Network sites.”
A lot of local business owners are using G Places as they have realized its true potential in bringing them extra customers.
Having a listing on Google Places means when people in your local area search for a service you offer, your chances of being found by them is much higher. This is why lots of businesses have already claimed their page.
Your Opportunity
That said, there are tons of local businesses, especially small mom and pop owned businesses haven’t claimed their page. Either because they don’t even know about it, or they don’t know how to do it.
And that opens up the door to an opportunity that you can use to make some profit.
How?…
In a nutshell, you will make money by finding small businesses that haven’t claimed their Google Places page, and offering to get them listed for a fee.
But how do you find these businesses?
Finding Unclaimed Pages
We will start our search by simply doing a search on Google for a profession (i.e. Lawyer, Floor installer, Barber, Dentist, etc.).
And since Google already has the technology, it can automatically figure out your location, so it will show you businesses that are in your local area.
Now, on the search results page, click on the “more” tab for an expanded list. From there find and click on the “Places” button, which we’ll be using for our little research. This will bring you to a page where local businesses are shown.
There is a “Place Page” button on the right side of the listing. Our targets are going to be the ones that still haven’t claimed ownership over their respective Place Page. You can know about the ones that still haven’t laid claim on their pages by glancing over to the topmost part of the page with the listings.
There will be a comment “Edit this place – Business Owner?”, and if it has very little relevant information about the business itself then be assured that the page is not taken by anybody yet.
Draw up a shortlist of 5-6 businesses in a given specific area that still haven’t claimed their pages.
If you are new to the entire process, there’s nothing to worry about. All the information you’re ever going to need is there in Google Places Help.
What’s Next?
After that, you need to put on your salesman’s hat as you go about offering these pages to the shortlisted businesses and your help in setting them up.
The most important thing you have to do at this point is convincing these people how they’ll benefit from having their Google Places listing claimed.
Although, I don’t think you have to do much convincing since it’s obvious that nowadays not many people use Yellow Pages to find a business. Most people search on the web through their phones or computers.
Also, be sure to mention to them that the actual listing is free. The only cost to them is your fee.
But I don’t know how to claim a Google Places Page?
No worries. You can find step by step information here on Google Places’ official help page. It will show you exactly how to do each step to get a business listed there.
How Much Money Can You Make?
It depends on different factors, but I have had success with prices ranging between $200 to $500. You may think nobody is going to pay you that much to create a Google Places listing for them, but believe me, what to you and I seems like a simple and quick thing to do, to many small business owners is way too technical and complicated.
Business owners spend thousands of dollars on advertising, you think they won’t spend a few hundred on getting their site listed on a site that increasingly people use to find local businesses!
Last time I did it
All in all, it’s one very workable method and you can certainly do it.
The last time I did this was for a local electronic repair shop.
It took me about 3 hours in total – researching and finding the business, stopping by the store and letting the client know what I could do for them, and the actual listing – and I pocketed $150.
This has to be the fastest and easiest way I have ever made money.
Again, you can charge whatever amount you want. I would try to keep it under $300 or so.
Think about it this way… Even if you get 3 clients a week and charge each $100, that’s an extra $300 a week.
Now, just to take into consideration that there may not be that many businesses in your local area, let’s say you do only 4 a month instead of 2 a week. That’s still an extra $400 a month.
Tell me you don’t have any use for an extra $400 a month!
Closing Thoughts
Sometimes, we just need some extra cash. There are bills to pay, groceries to buy, and cars, refrigerators, etc. that break down.
If you’ve found yourself a little short on cash, give the tips above a try. Whether you just need a little extra money or need to make $1000 a month to keep up with your bills, with these options you can easily put $100s in your bank account fast.
And if you know of any other legit way to make $400 fast, let us know in the comments below!
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