Sometimes you may need to get some quick cash fast. Maybe you had some unexpected car repairs or home repairs? Maybe you lost your job? Whatever the reason, there are a lot of ways to raise some extra money pretty quick starting with tapping your emergency fund. That’s what it was originally opened for and should be the first source of financing. However, if you’re lacking an emergency fund, there are other easy ways to pay off those unexpected expenses!
Sell Something!
The first thing you can do is try to sell some stuff. Do you have old CDs, movies, or video games lying around your house? You could easily sell those items on Amazon and make some extra money. If you have something more collectible that you are willing to part with, you could try selling it on eBay.
Maybe you have something larger, like furniture, or equipment from an old hobby. You could always list the bigger stuff on Craigslist and see what you can get for it. The bottom line is that there are a lot of things you can sell to raise cash.
Go to Work!
This may not sound like a way to make quick cash, but you can! There are a lot of quick and easy freelance jobs that you could possibly do on the internet and get paid right away. If you have specific skills, you could try to market them on a site like oDesk.
If you think you don’t have any internet-translatable skills, you could always do small projects on a site like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. While the pay isn’t great, it adds up quickly over time and goes straight to funding your liabilities.
Get a Loan
Finally, you could always take a loan but that should be the choice of last resort. You have several options on that front starting with your home equity line of credit, borrowing the money from your parents or title loans Wichita.
But when desperate times call for desperate measures you could look into something like payday loans to get you by for a short period of time if you have a job. Be careful with these, because the interest rate is very high and the term is very short. If you’re late, or don’t repay the loan, you will end up owing a lot of money.
If you need a larger amount for a larger period of time, you could try peer-to-peer lending. You use a site like Prosper and post a listing describing what you will be using the money for. Individuals then bid on your loan, and if it raises enough money, you get it funded for the going interest rate. This is a great way to get some extra cash for special projects.
Finally, it is always handy to have an emergency fund ready for these unforeseen events as you no longer fall under the pressure to raise cash quickly. Avoiding loans provides the best arguments for starting an emergency fund today.
