How to Make 100 Dollars Fast and Improve Financial Health

When I set out to learn more about managing my finances, I didn’t expect to think in $100 increments. I run a family business, I own a home, I even started to put money aside for retirement. Though perhaps a little late in life, I’m already in my forties! But that is precisely why I decided to learn more about financial health, because I suspect that I can do better than I have so far. As it turns out, taking a closer look at my financial situation led me to see how all the little things add up to create the bigger picture. And that if I can figure out how to make 100 dollars fast, anytime I want to, multiple times a month, I can support my present standard of living.

(Note: This post contains affiliate links where I earn a small commission if readers purchase through my links. It helps me cover my web hosting costs.)

My mission to improve my income started when I stumbled upon Nicole Lapin’s book Rich Bitch: A Simple 12-Step Plan for Getting Your Financial Life Together…Finally. I admit to feeling a little silly buying a book that seemed so gimmicky. And the whole woman-on-her-cell-phone cover almost put me off completely, but I decided to overlook these things that my mountain-dwelling nature lover ego cringed at. The part of me that cringed at the idea of being a “rich bitch” is also the part of me that is not very good at making lots of money. Why not give my inner glam girl a chance? Let me see what she can do. She’s always wanted a pair of diamond stud earrings.

A Quick Rich Bitch Book Review:

It’s super easy to read, and even funny at times. I think it is the perfect book for young women, even teenage girls, to give them a head start on financial health. It is definitely written for women, though the financial advice applies to everyone. But dudes might take offense to some of Lapin’s humor. The financial advice is easy to understand and apply.

After reading the book, a few things about my financial health became instantly clear to me. I need to improve my money game, and fast! When I am completely honest with myself, I can see that my present financial habits aren’t going to support me in the long run. Imagine me rolling my eyes and sighing as I get my nails done, pre-COVID of course.

(Next on my list is taking Sara Blakely’s Master Class on Entrepreneurship. Once upon a time she sold fax machines, until she invented a line of shapewear and made Forbes’ list of billionaires in 2019 . . . I’m confident she can teach me something.)

So let’s get to the fun part where I talk about How to Make 100 Dollars Fast . . .

I’m self-employed. I do not earn a steady income, as I never know exactly when our family real estate business will yield a huge check. It’s great when it does, but it’s not reliable, especially in these strange times we live in. A huge part of financial health is getting real about your situation. When I assessed my income and expenses, I realized that my expenses are consistent and fairly reasonable. But my income is unpredictable. That’s a problem. So how do I fix it?

I could choose to pour all my heart and soul (and time spent not sleeping) into my business. But I also know that there’s a reason that I haven’t done that in the past 10 years. I don’t want to spend every day of my life immersed in the world of real estate. I want variety and balance in life, I want to write, I want to create, and I want lots of free time. So if I want my financial plan to be realistic and sustainable, I need to honor these truths about myself.

This led me to the idea that if I can come up with multiple ways of earning small amounts of money, I can theoretically cover my cost of living. And the income from my business would be more like a windfall. If I don’t have to rely on it to pay my mortgage, that eliminates the stress of how unpredictable it is. That doesn’t mean that I won’t also find ways to improve my income from real estate, but the idea is that I won’t put all my eggs in one basket. Diversifying my income feels like a good strategy in a world full of uncertainty.

After assessing my financial health, I realized that I already have a couple side gigs that can yield small amounts of income, around $100, if I devote a little time to them. This is the moment where I got really excited. What if I come up with many more ways to make 100 dollars fast? And implement all of them! It will be like having a money factory, with many small projects and ventures creating enough income all together to pay all my bills. Building a money factory actually sounds super fun to me (and it’s generally a good idea to get my inner child on board)!

So, here’s the important thing about coming up with ways to make 100 dollars fast:

The list has to be things you will actually do. For example, I’m not going to collect scrap metal, though that might work for someone else. I’m not going to join the “oldest profession” and work as an escort. So that’s not one of my ideas. No judgment, just not my thing. Teaching tantra? Perhaps, maybe after a few years of practice . . . but I digress.

The next step in my mission to make more money is to come up with an epic list of ideas of how to make 100 dollars fast. I have 40 ideas so far, but I’m not going to list them all here. What?! Why not?! Not because I’m keeping them to myself like some stingy hoarder. It’s because they are very specific to me and my skills and situation. But don’t worry, I will share some examples!

I started by looking at things that I already do or have done in the past that I enjoy. Here’s a sample of 10 ways to make $100 from my personal list:

Selling things on eBay/Developing new products to sell
Writing product reviews to earn affiliate income
Selling eggs from my chickens
Referral income (such as from out-of-area real estate leads)
Earning interest on savings
Offering Coaching/Consulting sessions
Using my SEO/web skills to get content writing gigs online
Selling clothes at local consignment shops
Selling prints of my photographs
Selling herbal tinctures

These are all things that I’m happy to do, but they don’t apply to everyone. The moral of the story is that identifying what we are willing to do for money is a huge part of creating financial health. The power of brainstorming is that it reveals all of our options. It’s not easy to come up with multiple ways of earning income, but the more ideas we generate, the more avenues we have to explore.

The next step is to pursue the ideas in whatever order makes sense for you. I work on a few of my ideas every day. I might only devote a few minutes to an idea, such as figuring out what the next step would be to bring that income idea closer to fruition. I love the variety of this method. There’s also the exciting possibility that one of my ideas will be worth much more than $100 in the long run. It feels like nursing a lot of little sparks and knowing that some can grow into warm and cozy fires (preferably in an elegant home with a gorgeous stone fireplace).