20+ Ways to Make $100 Today

Being short on cash at the end of the month is an all too familiar scenario for many of us, and sometimes the only way to pull it out until next time you get paid is to find quick jobs you can do.

Whether it’s something that breaks down in your household or a bill that you forgot about, to your despair many things can unexpectedly deplete your bank account.

Ideally, you should have some savings as a cushion to fall back on, but unfortunately not many of us can save up money for rainy days or even for emergencies.

Even if you’re out of cash, you still need to make ends meet, buy groceries, get gas money, pay bills that keep rolling in and so on.

So, what can you do? Is there any way to earn some fast cash? Or you’re all out of luck until next time you get paid?

I’m here to tell you that solutions exist, and you can make some money in a short amount of time, but you do have to be resourceful and willing to work hard.

In fact, there are at least 20 ways you can make $100 or more today, and I’ll walk you through each and every one of them.

Some of these ideas are from my own experience, and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. Other ideas were figured out by my friends when they themselves were struggling to make ends meet.

So, let’s get right to the ways you can get $100 for work that you can do today:

1. Ridesharing

If you live in a busy city, signing up for ridesharing services like Lyft or Uber is an easy way to make some extra cash.

Ridesharing has its own advantages compared to becoming a licensed taxi driver, mainly because qualifying as a driver for Uber or Lyft is a much faster process.

Sign up as a driver on the Lyft or Uber website, answer a few questions, prove that you have insurance on your car and submit to a background check.

Once these are ready, you have the green light to give rides to people. You’ll need a smartphone for this job and you’ll need to download the Uber of Lyft app on your phone.

Depending on your work schedule, you can work during weekends, nights, or mornings. During unpopular times you might give people rides to the airport or take people home after a late night out.

Many people even prefer ridesharing services to taxi services because they’re usually cheaper, more convenient, and often provide a much better service than taxi companies.

Depending on how busy your area is, Uber or Lyft drivers can make $15 per hour or even more if they drive during price surges, if they offer premium services, or if they get tips.

You can drive for Uber or Lyft whenever you feel like it or whenever you think you’ll need extra cash for the month.

Remember to keep your car tidy and clean, drive well, be kind and respectful to your customers and you’ll get good ratings and perhaps even some nice tips.

2. Offer to Babysit or Pet Sit

If you’re great with kids and like animals, you can offer babysitting or pet sitting services to friends and acquaintances.

You’ll probably earn more from babysitting than pet sitting, but if you diversify your services a bit, you may hit your target with both options.

For example, babysitting could include helping out the mother do laundry, tidying up the house, washing the dishes, or even cooking some meals, while pet sitting could branch out into pet walking as well.

Advertise your services on Facebook, Craigslist, or dedicated websites like Care.com, include a photo of yourself, write about your experience, how much you charge and the services you provide.

While I don’t have any experience with babysitting, I’ve done my share of pet sitting and dog walking and I can say I had the greatest fun each time.

3. List a Room or Your House on Airbnb

Supposing that you have an extra room in your house or you can rent out your entire house while you’re on vacation or away for work in another city, this can be an excellent way to earn $100.

You’re more likely to have success with this option if your property is close to a popular tourist destination in your town or near busy metro lines or train stations.

Many travelers choose staying at a property listed on Airbnb rather than a hotel because they’re cheaper, they’re more likely to get a personalized service, or they’re more spacious than a hotel room.

List your room on Airbnb or other similar platforms like VRBO or list your entire house if you’re away for work or business.

If there’s a popular event in your town that draws a lot of tourists, you can crash with friends or family while you rent out your house to tourists coming for that event.

4. Have a Yard Sale

A good old-fashioned yard sale can get you out of a pickle quite fast. If you have stuff you can sell, hold a yard sale to get rid of them.

Promote your yard sale on Facebook or other social media channels, or simply list it on Craigslist.

Choose a date and time that allows more people to come (e.g. after work hours, during the weekend, etc.) and give people a sneak peek of some of the items you’ll be selling by posting a few pictures.

Make sure you check the weather forecast and organize your yard sale on a day with no chances of rain.

On the day of the yard sale neatly organize your stuff on tables or racks, and list prices too.

Don’t be inflexible with prices, allow people to haggle, and always be respectful and helpful with your potential customers.

5. Do Food Deliveries

There are two types of food delivery services you can drive for — one option is Instacart or Shipt, which involves delivering and shopping for groceries for people, while the other is delivering food from restaurants to people by driving for UberEats or DoorDash.

Some delivery companies might give you a bicycle to run these errands, others will provide a small car or a scooter, but you may even have to have your own vehicle.

With these services your pay depends on many factors like the number of deliveries, mileage, numbers of items per delivery, etc.

An advantage of these systems is that you can choose which jobs you want to take and set the hours when you’re available for deliveries.

6. Sell Your Stuff on Craigslist

We’ve all got things that we no longer use — that treadmill that now doubles as a clothes rack, that tea set you’ve never used, or that tennis equipment that just sits around and gathers dust.

Look around your house for superfluous stuff and declutter. Select the things you no longer need and list them on Craigslist.

You can sell baby clothes that your kids have outgrown, toys they no longer like, and other stuff that’s just taking up space in your home.

It’s simple than organizing a garage or yard sale, and you can sell individual items or list them as a group.

The key to successfully selling stuff on Craigslist is adding quality pictures of your stuff and writing compelling descriptions.

Putting a reasonable price on your stuff is another thing to consider. Check out the prices of similar items and set slightly lower prices, especially if you want to get rid of your stuff faster.

7. Clean Houses

If you like tidying up, offer house cleaning services on Craigslist or other similar sites. You can easily earn $100 per day from house cleaning.

Offer your services to people living in your area, elderly neighbors or families with small children.

List the tasks included with your house cleaning services (e.g. taking the trash out, cleaning windows, washing dishes, etc.) and set hourly or task-based prices.

Most cleaning jobs won’t be excessively difficult, you will usually need to vacuum, dust, and clean the bathroom and kitchen.

Charge more for more difficult tasks or tasks that don’t necessarily fall under the scope of house cleaning services (e.g. ironing).

8. Do Gigs on Craigslist

If you urgently need a job, head to Craigslist’s website and check out the “gigs” section that includes jobs ranging from helping people move to doing house repair works or painting jobs.

Gigs are one-time jobs like server jobs for an event or writing jobs but be careful when applying for jobs that sound weird or are too good to be true.

Avoid gigs that involve odd requests or just straight up don’t seem legit and be circumspect in your choices. Always let your friends and family and friends know where you’re going and how long you’re staying.

Other than these precautions, doing Craigslist gigs can be a quick way to make $100 a day by helping someone paint their house or helping people move.

9. Do Tasks on Task Rabbit

Just like the gig section on Craigslist, Task Rabbit is another task-based site where people can be paid for different gigs.

Tasks are as varied as they come from being a personal assistant for a day to helping people assemble IKEA furniture. You can do more tasks a day until you reach your $100 goal.

Simply sign up for Task Rabbit and connect with people nearby who want to hire you for jobs. You’ll know upfront what you’ll be paid, and you can do various gigs all year round or whenever you feel like it.

10. Wash Cars

Instead of doing various gigs, you can specialize in something like washing cars. At-home car washing services are popular especially with the elderly or people who don’t want to waste their time at the carwash.

This can be a great gig for teenagers too, but also for anyone who wants to make extra cash during the weekends for example.

Make sure you have all the equipment ready (wet rags, dry rags, windows cleaner, extension cord, etc.) and clean away.

Clean multiple cars a day and supplement your income for the month. If you do a good job at cleaning people’s cars, they’ll recommend you to their neighbors or friends and you may have regular gigs.

11. Mow Lawns & Do Gardening

Another great side hustle is doing yard work like mowing lawns, cleaning flower beds, raking leaves, and watering the garden.

You can do these tasks right in your neighborhood or areas nearby. Advertise your services and how much you charge on Facebook, Craigslist, or by distributing flyers.

If you do a good work and set reasonable prices, people will hire you to do these jobs for them, and even become regular clients allowing you to earn money each month.

If you live in areas where it snows in the winter, you can offer to remove snow from people’s driveways.

12. Do Painting Jobs

People often hire freelance painters to do interior or exterior painting jobs. This is especially true for small towns or cities, where people prefer hiring handymen.

For this gig, however, you need to make sure you have the right tools and equipment before you approach potential clients.

Advertise your services by distributing leaflets in your area and don’t exclude small businesses either that may need a “facelift” for their exterior.

You can also offer to paint fences, doors, garages, sheds, or other surfaces people may need painted.

Make sure you draw up a small contract that states the price, the items that need painting, and the deadline for the painting job.

13. Clean Gutters

If you’re one of those people who is afraid of heights, this job isn’t for you. If you have no issue with climbing up on a ladder, your services will be welcomed by many who need their gutters cleaned.

People who will ask you to clean their gutters usually don’t have a ladder, so at the very least a sturdy ladder is a tool that you’ll have to bring with you to remove leaves and debris that builds up in gutters.

Make sure you take all safety precautions when cleaning gutters and wear gloves to protect your hands.

14. Offer Tutoring Services

You can offer tutoring services online or to kids in your area in various school subjects like foreign languages, math or chemistry.

If you choose to do online tutoring, you need a good internet connection and a headset. You can sign up to online platforms like Tutor.com or QKids.

You can even combine online tutoring with at-home tutoring to earn even more money.

Depending on how many students you teach and how many hours you work, you can potentially earn more than $100 per day.

15. Stage Houses

When people want to sell their houses, they often hire someone to stage their home. Home staging can involve decluttering the house, bringing in new items, or rearranging existing ones to make homes look their best.

If you have a knack for home design, you can undertake to stage houses for people or you can offer consultancy for realtors and property owners by drawing up a comprehensive to-do list.

You can charge anywhere between $20 to $50+ for consultancy or home staging.

16. Participate in Research Studies

Research studies often hire participants for the purposes of the research that’s being carried out. Some film production companies may even pay people to be a member of a test audience.

In big cities you will come across research studies for drugs, research studies carried out by marketing companies, research studies conducted by universities, and so on.

The highest paying research studies are usually those that are run by drug companies, and you can earn well over $100 a day by participating in a drug testing trial.

You’ll be doing some good to advance science and you can earn handsome sums by participating in research studies.

This option does come with risks, however, like dealing with drug side effects and other complications that may arise, so be careful in choosing the study you want to participate in.

If you’re wary of drug-related research studies, go for other options like research studies carried out in behavioral economics, psychology, or marketing.

17. Do Mechanic Work

If you don’t mind getting elbow deep in grease, you can carry out light mechanic work for acquaintances, friends, or coworkers.

These works include changing oil, changing filters, changing tires, and other small repair works that need to be carried out on a car like fixing a door or a light that is broken.

Make sure you only undertake jobs that you have experience with and stay away from things that need professional tools or expertise to fix.

You can do oil changes or filter changes as part of a car cleaning service, or independently of that.

18. Do Home Repair Tasks

If you’re a good handyman, doing house repair gigs can be a lucrative side hustle. Think of tasks you can do and apply for jobs on Craigslist or distribute leaflets offering those services.

Whether it’s fixing a shelf, installing a water filter, or fixing a leaky tap, there are plenty of gigs you can do to make $100 in a day.

Make sure you have all the equipment and tools that are required for your task and make sure you do a good job.

19. Offer to Remove Junk

All people have stuff laying around that they would be willing to pay for someone to take it away. If you have a truck, organize a junk removal day in your neighborhood and get paid to dispose of your neighbors’ garbage.

If you see any items that could be refurbished, fix them up and list them on Craigslist, otherwise take them to the junkyard for disposal.

When setting your prices, take time, gas money, and cost of disposal into account.

20. Do Freelance Jobs

You can do a variety of tasks and make $100 a day from the comfort of your home.

The key to being successful on these platforms is to have marketable skills (design, copywriting, building websites, offering virtual assistant tasks, doing translation jobs, or other IT skills) and to create a snazzy profile.

You can set your own rates or negotiate rates with clients. Remember that clients can rate your work and future clients will choose to work with you based on your ratings and number of completed tasks.

Final Thoughts

Most of the gigs and jobs presented in this article take some time and organizing, and they’re not always available in an instant unless you have the foresight to prepare the field for some of these.

With a good plan in motion, you can earn $100 or more in a day and even build a regular stream of income to supplement your existing salary.

If you know that you might struggle financially at the end of the month, don’t wait until it’s too late, but consider your options and see if you can do things in advance (e.g. register for Uber or sign up to freelancer and work your profile).

To perform some of these tasks, you’ll need some time to get started with your project, but once you’re all set, you can fall back on them as a backup every time you need to make a little extra cash for groceries, bills, or clothes.

With other tasks, demand may be so high that you can wake up in the morning, realize that you don’t have the cash to make ends meet until the end of the month, hit up Craigslist and get hired for a gig on the same day.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask relatives and friends to help you find gigs. You may be lucky, and they might know someone who needs help with yard work, organizing a party, or they might be looking for a handyman to do repairs around the house.

Updated on: August 24, 2018