7 Ways to Make A Quick $500 in 30 Days

Making a quick $500 in 30 days can be done. It all depends on how badly you want it. Sometimes you just need a quick boost in income to help cover a medical bill, sometimes you need to make extra money to buy a gift or two. The difference between people who make some extra cash and those who don’t all boils down to motivation. If you’re motivated and a little creative, if you’re willing to be uncomfortable for a short period of time and if you’re a go-getter, you CAN make a quick $500 in 30 days and maybe less. It all depends on you.

1. Plasma donations

Plasma isn’t just something to describe a flat screen television! Blood plasma is a vital part of medical care and has significant value. A local blood plasma center pays a new “patient” $30 the first time he or she sells plasma and $20 for the second. After that, they pay a flat $25 per “donation.” And you can donate twice per week and it take about 30 minutes each time. In 30 days, you should be able to donate 9 times for a total of $225. You’re almost halfway to that $500.

2. Tax withholding

If you’ve always received a tax refund, its time to change your withholding. By making a change for a short period of time, you can increase your take home pay. Be sure and check with a tax adviser if you are unsure how changing your payroll withholding will affect your tax status.

3. Freelance Writing

You can find thousands of freelance writing and editing jobs from a company called Sun Oasis. They offer paying freelance opportunities for someone willing to enter data into forms, write articles and stories, edit documents, or even to answer and send emails. You can also try Sologig which lists opportunities by geographical area.

4. Ask for a raise

There’s nothing like getting paid more today for the same work you were doing yesterday for less. If you decide to ask for a raise, know what value you provide and what kind of condition the company is in.

5. Sell doughnuts

Or sell candy, or calendars, or whatever. A few years back, I needed some quick cash and decided to sell doughnuts door to door on a Saturday morning. I was motivated! After picking up 100 (yes, one hundred) dozen doughnuts at 6AM and stacking them to the roof in my little hatchback, I hit the neighborhoods and sold all 100 dozen before noon. My profit was $2.00 per box and this was just one weekend.

6. Garage sale/resale

If you have a knack for knowing the value of typical garage sale items, you can make a great deal of money by negotiating with garage sellers and then re-selling those items on Ebay or Craigslist.

7. Rice & Beans

There’s nothing wrong with tightening down the screws and eating only rice and beans for a couple of weeks. If you’re motivated enough, 3 weeks of rice and beans could save you several hundred dollars. It doesn’t have to be just rice and beans either. You can spend Saturdays at Sam’s Club or Costco and load up on the free samples. Scour the paper or the local Chamber of Commerce and find out where car dealerships are giving away hot dogs, or radio stations are grilling free burgers, or a local business is having a barbecue and take advantage!

photo credit: swanksalot

[tags]business, freelance, income, free, money, negotiate, savings, taxes, raise, plasma[/tags]

Note: Thiw post was included in The Carnival of Personal Finance at Living Almost Large.