Most of us were taught from a young age that if we were patient and worked hard, our efforts would pay off. Butgrowing upshows you that life isn’t fair, and you can actuallyworka grueling job for 40+ hours a week and still have trouble making ends meet. So if you’re looking to take someshortcuts, there might be a way you can earn a littleextra cashon the side without putting in too much effort.Users onQuoraandReddithave recently been discussing some of the easiest and fastest money they’ve ever made, so we’ve gathered their replies below. Some of these are very creativeside hustles, while others just involved being in the right place at the right time. But enjoy reading through these stories, and be sure to upvote the lucrative ventures you’d be willing to try out too!This post may includeaffiliate links.

Most of us were taught from a young age that if we were patient and worked hard, our efforts would pay off. Butgrowing upshows you that life isn’t fair, and you can actuallyworka grueling job for 40+ hours a week and still have trouble making ends meet. So if you’re looking to take someshortcuts, there might be a way you can earn a littleextra cashon the side without putting in too much effort.

Users onQuoraandReddithave recently been discussing some of the easiest and fastest money they’ve ever made, so we’ve gathered their replies below. Some of these are very creativeside hustles, while others just involved being in the right place at the right time. But enjoy reading through these stories, and be sure to upvote the lucrative ventures you’d be willing to try out too!

This post may includeaffiliate links.

Man relaxing on a sofa, taking a selfie, associated with easy money-making stories like eating competitions.

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$40 to fix the sound on my uncle’s computer. Just needed to be unmuted.Edit: Tried to tell him just needed to be unmuted. Wouldn’t have any of that and had me come over to “Just do it”. He also refused my refusal of the money.

Elderly man with headphones using a laptop, possibly recalling ways to make money easily.

Went to a casino with the family. Dad handed me 20 bucks for gambling. Did not gamble, made 20 bucks.

Slot machines in a dimly lit room, highlighting easy money opportunities and the allure of gambling winnings.

Got an email from a Nigerian prince. Money should be here any day now…

Man in suit celebrates triumphantly outdoors with laptop, symbolizing winning an eating competition.

I was taking an online Intro to Programming class (Java) for easy marks in high school. A few other friends were in it, one of them didn’t really do many of the assignments. About a week before the final project was due (Nothing too complicated, one of the options was a simple game using some of the things we learned).He said he’d pay me $300 to do the assignment for him and I thought he was joking. So I threw together a nice little Ottawa Senators trivia game and made the GUI pretty using the team colours and logos. This took about 3 hours including lunch.I send him the project files and what do you know, he shows up the next day and hands me $300.

Waited in line for iPhone 4 for 12 hours. Sold spot to someone for $500 cash. My SO was still in line and used cash to buy us phones.

Apple store with a crowd gathered outside, illustrating easy ways people have made money.

I once worked security at a Hillary Duff concert. Once I got my hands on a set of earplugs, that was some d**n easy money. Just had to stand there and look mildly annoyed.That’s basically my face all the time anyway.

Security guards facing a crowd with flashing lights, highlighting the concept of an eating competition for easy money.

~$700 for taking a big a*s piece of aluminum to the scrap yard. A neighbor was using it as a retaining wall, tore it out, and said I could have it. I think it was part of a bridge.

Two people carrying metal sheets through rubble, showing hard work and effort amidst debris.

In junior high I sold 7 Beanie Babies for $950.

Stuffed bears with tags sit in a row, reminiscent of simple ways to make money.

I signed up to do extra work for a very s****y but major-studio film while I was in college; it was filming near my campus. For whatever reason, the director liked me and asked if I would be OK with speaking one or two lines to the main character (a famous actress). I said sure. Because I had to spend all day on the set and go to costuming and makeup, I was offered a SAG voucher (I’m not sure if it works that way anymore?) and was paid union rates. Instead of $100, I made a little under $2,000.

Breaking up with my ex. Saved so much money it felt like I had gotten a raise.

Person in a black jacket gesturing with open arms, facing a woman in a black dress in an alleyway, showing emotion.

Bought some Bitcoins a few years back before they gained their current momentum. It was just after a crash at the time, so in hindsight they were at a “good” price, although I was unaware of this.Anyways I had completely forgot about them until I read about the bitcoin market crashing again, around April of this year. I thought “Oh well, there goes my money”. I checked to see how worthless they were only to find out they roughly were, and still are, worth about 40-fold what I paid for them!

Person using a laptop displaying a trading platform, demonstrating earning money easily through investment.

Found $40 on the ground. picking it up: 5 seconds tops.Hourly wage at that rate: $28,800/hourYearly Salary at that rate: $57,600,000.

A 100 euro banknote lying on cobblestones, symbolizing winning an eating competition for easy money.

Hand holding a slice of pepperoni pizza from a box, symbolizing an eating competition victory.

Bought a home befote a housing boom. $120, 000 profit in 1 year from selling 1 house.

Person handing over keys, illustrating easiest ways to make money, with focus on simple transactions.

Drove my cousin to and from college.He couldnt drive yet, and my uncle was like take him and pick him up, a cab was 60 so for an entire semester 4 times a week, 50 bucks a day. So great.

Person driving a car down a city street, possibly reflecting on winning an eating competition.

All I had to do was be born, and people STILL give me money every year for it.Suckers. My mom was the one who did all the work anyway.

Hands placing a £5 note into a red envelope on a table, symbolizing winning an eating competition for easy money.

Picked up a broken clothes dryer off of craigslist for free. Heating element was broken. Crimped the wires back together, sold it on Craigslist for $80.That’s not the best part, though. I delivered it to this chick’s house, hauled it downstairs for her and hauled off her broken one cause I’m a nice guy, she tipped me $20. Spend $15 on parts to repair that dryer, sold dryer a few days later to a guy who gave me two old washers and a dryer AND $80.Now my garage is full of f*****g appliances and I’ve got people constantly wanting to give me broken appliances or buy working ones from me, and I can’t keep up. All I wanted was some beer money… :(.

I once sold my drunk friend two pieces of his own toast for ten dollars.

Man smiling in a relaxed pose, wearing a plaid shirt.

Won an eating competition, 1000 bucks in 2 min.Also found out what Churros taste like, so win/win.

People participating in an outdoor eating competition, enjoying watermelon on a sunny day.

Appeared n**e in an indie art film. 2 hours of rolling around on a bed and gazing longingly out a window for $500.

A man operating a professional video camera on a tripod in a dimly lit room.

I set up a Wii for my mom’s friend’s kid. $20 to plug in the cord to the tv and turn it on.

Working as a bank teller. Someone brought in $86 in silver half dollars. All pre-1964 some were pre whatever date was needed so that they were 90% silver. Sold them on Craigslist within the week for $1850. For anybody that is wondering, I did attempt to convince the customer not to deposit them. The customer insisted that they had no value.

I used to get $5 a day for lunch. Went home starving every day for 3 years.

Child placing coin in a van-shaped piggy bank, illustrating an easy way to save and make money.

I get payed to sit here and look at reddit… so I guess I got that going for me..

Man in a white shirt looking at his phone thoughtfully, seated at a table, contemplating easy money-making ideas.

Sold my car to some bald guy with a beard wandering the desert.

Person in a red jacket holding a large stack of cash, symbolizing easily made money.

Cleaning some pool furniture. About a half hour of work for 60$ was great at 16.

Fruit roll-up sliced on a table next to a knife, resembling a flag; easy money idea from an eating competition.

I take attendance for athletes at my university. I sit outside a class for 30 minutes and make 8 dollars. If the class is empty, I can leave and still get the pay. It’s not the most amount of money, but it pays for food and drink.

I helped a friend’s dad with his computer. His machine was dying, and I managed to scrape together an old dell(my father had the parts because he supports a couple of sites in a region and had some left over parts). I whip it all together, drop on XP, and hand it over.Get it all set up, talk to his ISP, make sure everything is working.He hands me 500 bucks, I would have done it for free. For 500 bucks he could have bought a new computer with much better specification.Total time at his place, an hour.

When I was living in Virginia I was renting a room in a townhouse, and one day it snowed a massive 2 inches! As I was clearing my car off, one of the neighbors offered me $80 to shovel her stairs, walkway and car. I insisted that was way too much money for clearing the light fluffy snow, but she wouldn’t listen. Then the neighbor saw me and paid me another $50 to do her walk and parking space. $130 total for about ten minutes of work. This should have been a clue to the insanity I was about to witness on the roads, it took me two hours to drive the 5 miles to work.

Man in a grey shirt relaxing in a chair, holding a blister pack.

Man in a suit smiling, talking on the phone, and using a laptop in a car, highlighting easy ways to make money.

Some guy offered me $450 for my student football ticket (I go to a university that eats drinks and breathes college football, and this was a very minor game that everyone had already been selling their tickets for less than $50) if I would just shoot the s**t and talk about football with him. I told him quite plainly that I have 0 interest in football or sports at all really, don’t know the rules and have never sat through an entire game so his money would be better spent elsewhere.It was then that my boyfriend pointed out that that’s probably not all that he thought he would be paying for.

Soccer players in action on a field with a crowd watching, showcasing easy ways athletes compete and earn money.

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In 2012 when hurrican Sandy hit NY I just so happened to arrive on the day of the hurricane. Was totally stranded without power or water in the East Village. NExt day I got a zipcar to charge my phone. Driving around I saw tons of people who needed rides and being me, I stopped and picked up a person. Then I stopped to pick up 2 oldies, and they immediately ask “how much?” “Ten bucks,” I told them.2 hours later I had driven from the East Village to Upper EAst like 4 or 5 times, and made about $300.

Restoring my bosses computer who knows nothing of computers during working hours (worked in retail at the time). Got 200$ for watching a couple episodes of Samurai Jack.

A girl bet me $20 to eat sushi. I did and it was delicious. She agreed to pay me $5 everyday that she neglected to pay me the $20. I made a solid $40. This was in junior high.

Received $100 for participation in a focus group about Digg. Got to the building about 5 minutes late and talk to the receptionist. She says its no problem and will show me to the room shortly. While she is gone, another woman comes out with a check and tells me I’m good to go.

Got paid to go learn how to speak French in France.

Woman in red coat and beret using a laptop at an outdoor cafe, lights twinkling.

3 hours of live black jack made 1250 dollars. (started with 100 walked with 1350).

Person at a blackjack table with poker chips, possibly discussing easy ways to win money.

I was trying a freelance site where people get hired for programming or tech-related jobs. One guy was posted a simple question, like “How to check the installed memory amount in Linux” and I answered him with a $5 bid. There were tons of others people on that one, but he accepted my answer. Easiest $5 ever done.

I bought a large new apartment complex that had been foreclosed on. I lucked into finding it bullshitting with the previous owner one night when he was drunk at a bar and got to speak with the bank before they put it on the market. Rented out every single unit in 3 months, pocketed every bit of cash I made from it (kept the previous employees) and then sold it about a year later for a $400,000 dollar profit on top of what I had been making from all the rentals.

I used to donate s*m for money. I’d get paid $75 a load. I also donated plasma whenever I could as that paid more.Free pn + orgasm + getting paid for it = winI wonder how many kids have been spawned from my seed?

Smiling man in a blue shirt with arms crossed, representing easy money ideas.

Bought and sold a domain name. Could have bought a motorcycle, should have bought a motorcycle.

I was practicing appeals law. Often a plaintiff lawyer who had won money for his or her client at trial did not like to handle appeals, so if the losing side did appeal, the case would be referred to me. My fee would be contingent, usually 10 %. A sizeable case was referred to me and settled shortly after. I had done no significant work. I was paid $197,000 dollars. I voluntarily relinquished $47,000 to the client.

My middle school banned gum for a year so i would go to stores and buy packs of gum in bulk then come into school and sell it to my classmates. I made about $10 every day and i was 12 years old.

Woman in an orange shirt blowing a bubblegum bubble, showcasing a playful moment related to an eating competition.

Two smiling women in denim jackets pointing, outdoors on a sunny day.

Found $40 in the ATM yesterday…

When I started my first holliday job, I worked at the cash register of a big supermarket chain. A woman wanted to pay with a VISA card that was denied. I informed my manager and she cut the card in two, wrote down my name and sent everything to VISA (this is standard procedure).For this, I recieved 5000 belgian francs (before the euro). I had never had so much money before. With that, I bought my [first cell phone]

I lent my student I.D. to an alumni at a college football game for 50 dollars. Students get in for free, well we pay a sports fee in our tuition. All I did was go in and hand it to him through the gate.

I sold WoW accounts when I was in high school (2005-2006) for outrageous amounts of money. I would find people either on Ebay or on forums who didn’t really know how much their account was worth, lowball them, and then sell it on eBay for 2-5x as much. Once you could transfer characters to new accounts though…that’s when the real money was made. Buy an account with 3-5 level 60s for $300 and transfer them all to new accounts. Each new account would sell for at least $200. My friend and I made almost $7000 our sophomore year in high school doing this over a span of about six months and I never had to work through the rest of high school.

Person playing video games on multiple screens at an event, possibly part of an eating competition themed experience.

Armor trimming.dingobiscuits:What’s that?aMazingBanannas:In the online game runescape you could trim armor, and this was very desirable and quite hard to do. People would advertise that they would trim people’s armor for free in public chat. This involved trading said person the armor. This person would receive the item and then make off with it, never to be seen again. A very simple scam, and a lot of kids fell for it

Person in a hoodie focused intently on a computer screen, dimly lit room, possibly participating in an online eating competition.

I was offered $5000 to take a p**s on some guy. Turned it down though cause the whole thing seemed a bit sketchy..And btw, I’m a dude.

Playing poker. I use to live next to the new Cleveland Horseshoe casino. I would go play on Friday / Saturday nights after either an Indians or Cavs game. It would draw a lot of suburbanites who had been drinking and who aren’t good at poker into the casino.Played the lowest limit ($1 / $2) and averaged about $300 profit per night. With a few nights approaching $1,000 in profit.

One of my brothers friends copied and pasted the Kony 2012 video when it came out. He was well meaning in his intentions and knew very little about copyright laws being only 11/12. He already was a YouTube partner and it ended up getting a few million views. He made 2K.

Young person focused on a laptop in an office setting, related to winning an eating competition for easy money.

Blackjack. It’s also the fastest and easiest way I’ve lost money.

Invested in Google when it was at $880.Edit: Also invested in a company called Growlife, traded as PHOT. I bought in at $0.03, now it’s at $0.395. With all of this marijuana legalisation going underway I suspect it will be a lucrative industry in the near future.

Stock market. I made a few good investments about a year ago and I’ve made 250% so far.

Being a cam w***e! Making over 700 $ for two hours of drunken flirting and self-pleasuring that I would have done anyway without the monetary incentive? Yes please.

Beanie Babies. I have hundreds that I bought years ago. Technically I havn’t made much money yet, but trust me I will.

Buy ds. Sell ds for more than you bought them for.

I had a healed wound on the top of one of my knuckles. Scraped it purposly on a trampoline infront of a friend for 2 bucks. Didn’t hurt at all.

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