5 Creative Ways To Make $100 Today

So you’re still unemployed, rent is due, and benefits are running out. An MCA loan is an option, but you might have other ideas. The outlook of another stimulus check coming is bleak. And the worst part is you aren’t even lazy. You want to work! But with very other American feeling the same way, it may take months for people to find a role in their industry again. Until then it’s a gig economy. And there are plenty of ways to at least make $100 today.

You just need to get a little creative. This limbo of being out of work or short on money is familiar to millions of Americans and has many highly capable individuals in a stalemate.

Don’t fret. Take a deep breath, and think outside the box.

After years of jumping from job to job I have found many ways to turn a free day into a profitable day.

Here is a list of 5 ways anyone can make $100 today.

1. Garage Flipping

We’ll start with every side-hustlers favorite quick money scheme. Probably the best (and most fun way) to make $100 today.

If you have heard about this one you can move on to number 2, but I’m pretty sure I can give you some new tips that will help you find the real treasure.

Step 1: Open a free sellers account on Amazon, EBay, LetGo, and Poshmark.

Step 2: Set up a PayPal account and link it to both your bank account and Amazon/Ebay pages. (This way you can get paid day of when you make sales).

Step 3: Hit Craiglist, google local garage sales, check the local paper, or even just walk through your neighborhood. Garage sales are happening all the time. People who have them are just bad at marketing them.

If you still can’t find a garage sale and it’s almost noon, google nearby Goodwill locations or Salvation Army thrift shops. Gems can be found there too.

OR you can even go to Craigslist or the side of the road to see what items people are giving away for free.

Step 4: Product Evaluation

The bare bones of this process is simple. You want to buy something that you can sell online for a profit. That part is obvious. But how do you actually find profit in a cardboard box full of junk?

Simple, your phone.

Any item you find will either have a UPC or at least be searchable by it’s description. Remember that you will have to consider shipping. But if Amazon is selling a stuffed animal for $30, and you see the same one at the garage sale for 25 cents, clearly there is money to be made and you found a winner.

Other Tips

– Look for Churches or Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift shops

– Collectibles/action figures are always worth checking to see if they are undervalued (Baseball cards, Funko Pops, etc.)

– Always keep the cost of shipping in mind, its easier to ship a DVD than a longboard

One final tip from the Garage Flipping legend – Gary Vaynerchuk.

“Silence can also be a great negotiation tactic.

In the first garage sale, I asked if the gentleman would be okay with going down to $5 for a Vintage Budweiser light he priced at $10, and he said “no.”

Then, I just went silent.

In that silence, I gave him time to re-think his decision and whether he really wants to get rid of the item or not.

Finally, before I left, I offered to buy it for $8 and he said “yes.”

This item is the kind of product you put on Facebook marketplace and wait for a collector to come by and purchase it. I bought it for $8 and re-listed it for $80″ – Gary Vaynerchuk

2. Painting Street Numbers

Now hear me out on this one, it sounds strange, but in today’s climate you can make $100 today painting street numbers in under 3 hours.

It’s a little thing that bothers many home owners. That faded painted number at the edge of their driveway. They want to fix it but they don’t know how, have the time, or even know if it’s legal.

That’s where you come in.

If you live in a neighborhood that has painted street numbers, especially in a time where people know others are struggling for cash, with some perseverance it’s very likely you can find 15 clients in just a few hours.

The best part is, most homeowners have no idea how easy this process is.

“$10 should get you started with a can or two of black spray paint, and some stencils a little smaller than the curbs in your area. Then just park on a street and go up one side and down the other.” – CommenCentsHub

So for just a $10 investment, you could have $150 in your pocket before 4pm!

3. Amazon Mechanical Turk

There is a lot of talk about sites that give you cash for filling out surveys. I’ll save you the details but a high majority of these survey sites will not pay you and are just trying to collect your data. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who actually makes hundreds of dollars for filling out surveys. 

But there are other ways to make money on your couch with a laptop. The best option? Amazon Mechanical Turk. 

Amazon Mechanical Turk is my favorite because it’s transparent. Survey sites will leave you wondering, “Why would they pay me $50 for 5 minutes of my time?”. They wouldn’t! Because it’s a scam!

What is Mechanical Turk’s model? Essentially people across the internet post menial tasks they need done for their sites or projects.  

Tasks could be anything from creating hashtags for a video, to identifying what ranking a site has on Google with a specific keyword. The expertise needed for tasks varies. And the more tasks you do, the more responsibility/earning potential you are given. 

Still, anyone with even the bare minimum computer skills could sign on today and find plenty of tasks they could complete. 

Here is a great rundown by Trent Hamm, founder of The Simple Dollar, who checked out Amazon Mechanical Turk one morning-

• 8:46 AM – Signed up for Mechanical Turk. It took roughly a minute to open an account there – no problem.
• 8:47 AM – Chose my first task – write a 350-500 word article on “email autoresponder marketing” for $4. I’m just going to churn it out off the top of my head.
• 9:02 AM – Done – if that type of “off the cuff” writing is accepted, maybe Mechanical Turk is a decent way to earn money. I basically just wrote in a nearly train-of-thought style, something I would consider a weak first draft for The Simple Dollar, but still readable. I’m going to try categorizing some images at a penny a pop for a bit.
• 9:08 AM – I managed to do six images in six minutes for a whopping six cents. Not a good use of time. Note to future self: stay away from the single-penny tasks.
• 9:09 AM – After browsing some tasks, I decided to try a series of really short questionnaires from MasterCard for $0.10 a pop.
• 9:18 AM – I was able to do five of the dime surveys in eight minutes – totaling out to just under $4 an hour. Not good, but it could definitely be worse.
• 9:19 AM – I decided to try some simple product categorization for a nickel a pop. It seems easy – just look at a picture of an item and come up with some short tags to describe it.
• 9:25 AM – I managed to complete two of them in six minutes. I actually completed three, but one was lost to the Turk’s horrible page design, which eliminated everything I had filled in because I hadn’t clicked on the “Accept HIT” button. Ten cents in six minutes is not a win.
• 9:26 AM – I take on a task that involves looking up addresses for wineries at $0.40 a pop.
• 9:32 AM – Should have read more carefully, as it requires entering a bunch of wines from each winery as well. Six minutes work for $0.40 is NOT a good deal.
• 9:36 AM – I notice that if I sort by dollar value, some higher-dollar entries will pop up and then disappear before I can accept them – $6 to $10 a pop. Chasing them might pay off, but it seems to be a time waster.
• 9:37 AM – I take a short test to “qualify” me to do some higher-value HITs. Apparently, they don’t want just anyone writing service reviews. You have to at least be aware of the company.
• 9:41 AM – I finish the test – but the ones I would be “qualified” to do are now gone.
• 9:45 AM – I spent five minutes looking at really awful HITs. If they pay a penny a piece, if you can’t do them FAST, they’re not worth it.
• 9:46 AM – A moment later, I found a service review, enabling me to describe a service I received for $2.55.
• 9:50 AM – I finished the review, earning $2.55 for four minutes’ work. That task was actually the one I was “qualified” for because of the earlier test, meaning I invested eight minutes to earn $2.55 – or $19.13 an hour. Not bad at all! – Source

So if you are looking to stay remote and make money on your laptop, skip the surveys, make a Mechanical Turk account. Put in the effort, you could make $100 today.

4. Sell Your Body (Not In That Way)

As you probably know, there are ways to “sell your body” without being an escort. 

Bodily fluids are a booming industry right now. 

Here are the 4 that are in the highest demand, and likely have a clinic by you looking for donors as soon as today. 

Plasma 

We’ll start with the most well known bodily fluid on the market. 

Plasma contains antibodies and is the most crucial component to human blood. As long as you aren’t terrified of needles, the process is relatively quick and painless. Hence why it is such a popular donation by people at the end of their ropes. 

Qualifications 

– 18 years or older

– Over 110 pounds 

– No viruses (HIV, Hepatitis, etc.)

The Pay?

“Blood banks set their own rates for plasma, but they generally fall in the $20-$50 range per donation. According to the American Red Cross, it’s safe for healthy people to donate plasma about once per month.” – Source

So you may have to donate another fluid to make $100 today.

Sperm

Getting paid to release the poison? Sounds like the perfect gig. 

A lot of people assume donating sperm is a competitive process. But actually, that’s only half true. There are only a few real qualifications that almost every couple is looking for in a sperm donor. In fact, most sperm donors are actually college students.

Qualifications 

– 18 to 35 years old

– Not overweight 

– No hereditary diseases 

– Educated (Either enrolled in college or BA minimum 

Other than that the rest of the traits such as race and eye color will come down to preference of the couple looking for a child. Which is why the pay ranges so much. Some couples will pay $1000 for what they consider “Unicorn Sperm”. 

That being said, it is known that being a redhead will likely disqualify you.

If you are selected, expected to be treated like a race horse for the next few weeks. Constant check ups and “drainings”, but soon enough someone will be interested in your genetics. (Just know you’ll be signing a sheet that the kid won’t be yours). 

The Pay?

Sperm banks vary in rates depending on where you live and your genetics, but payouts range from $50 to $300 per donation.

Eggs

Sorry guys, but there is a LOT more money in eggs.

Qualifications

– 18 to 35 years old

– Generally healthy 

– No hereditary diseases 

While it may be easier to get accepted, the process of donating is extremely invasive and painful according to many previous donors.

The Pay?

Big money! $5,000 to $10,000 per egg is the going rate after going through the entire ordeal of donating eggs. Make WAY more than $100 today with this one.

Urine

Yup, urine. The 4th highest selling bodily fluid (not including breast milk).

Why are people buying urine? Because they need to pass drug tests of course! Also yes, selling clean urine is illegal. BUT sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. And where there is demand there will be supply.

Qualifications

– No drug use/clean urine

– Willing to break the law 

– Willing to deal with degenerates or athletes who want your urine 

The Pay?

Going rate for urine is about $20 per ounce. May not be worth it if you have to pay jail fees.

If you have enough degenerate friends though, you could make $100 today easily by just peeing!

5. Sell Water At Local Events

Selling water bottles is easily the most overlooked hustle. For some reason people look down on the concept of it, yet will still find themselves buying one for $1 off the street when they are sweating and nowhere near a CVS.

Think about it-

• 2 cases of water will cost you less than $10 (Get a well known brand like Poland Spring)
• Now you have 48 bottles
• Sell for $1 each, you have at least a $38 profit
• Buy 3 more cases, sell out, buy more cases and repeat. You will be over $100 before you know it.

Now of course this is more of a seasonal idea, and even on a hot day you will need to find the right event to post up at. If done correctly though, you will be surprised by how quickly people will hand over a dollar for cold water right in front of them. So swallow your pride and make $100 today.

Here are some tips on finding good locations to sell water bottles –

Think of where people congregate on a hot day in your area:

• Parks.
• Concerts.
• Fairs.
• Soccer matches or tournaments.
• The beach.
• High school football games.

If you Google “soccer tournaments“, there’s likely a few within an hour of you any weekend between March and November. 

(Courtesy of Common Cents Hub)

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