15 Realistic Ways to Make $500 Fast - Beat Student Loans (2024)

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?

4. Make $500 fast with Fundrise

Wouldn’t it be great if youcould invest in commercial real estateand apartmentswithout dealing with all the hassleof 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 nowinvest in large-scale real estate for as little as $10.

Through their real estate investment products, investorsearned an average of 8 – 11 percenton their money last year, and all without painting a wall or dealing with unruly tenants.

There is a reason why they currentlyhave over 200,000+ users, this app really pays you!

If you’re interested, I recommend yousign up for more information from Fundriseby clicking here.

5. Make $500 fast with Blackout Bingo

Blackout Bingois 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 forInboxDollarswhich 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.

If you're interested in learning how to get paid to watch videos, check out our full review here.

7. Make $500 fast with Instacart

Instacart delivers groceries from local stores in two hours from stores like Whole Foods Market, Target, Costco and Petco. Why should you care? Because this is a lucrative opportunity for you to make that $200 fast.

If you wanted to become an Instacart personal grocery shopper, you'll earn an average of $15 per hour!

Here's how it works:

Sign up as a personal grocery shopper and start to receive grocery orders through an app on your smartphone and then shop and deliver groceries to the customer’s door.

• Start earning quickly, and get paid weekly
• Select hours based on your schedule
• Shop and deliver the customer’s order
• Get to know the city by delivering to new and familiar areas

Click here if you are interested in learning more

8. 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$10 sign up bonus. You've got nothing to lose. I told you this was easy!

Sign up through here.

9. 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.

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:

13. Make $500 fast with Swagbucks

Who doesn’t loveSwagbucks? 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.

14. 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 arepaid in cashvia 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.

15. 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:Acornsis a leader in this space. Acorns is one of the most popular microsavings platforms. It literally lets you turn your spare change into investments. Jointhrough here (must complete application) and get a $10 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.