How To Make Money Fast In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

You'll need to earn plenty of Bells--the currency of Animal Crossing: New Horizons--in order to buy new items and pay off your loans to Tom Nook. You can earn money several different ways, including selling goods and discovering it, but you should go in with a plan if you want to maximize the number of bells you acquire.

First off: You can only hold 99,999 bells in your pockets at once, so it's a good idea to deposit bells in the Nook Stop machine at Resident Services so they don't take up pocket space. We recommend saving up bells this way rather than paying off your loans in small increments in case a pricey item ends up in one of your stores--you'll want the extra money for surprise purchases from time to time.

Generally, you can sell any items you don't want or need at Nook's Cranny, though we don't recommend selling any crafting materials, like wood or iron--you'll get more money by crafting with those items. You can take any fossils that Blathers has assessed but are already in your museum and sell those, for example, or sell any furniture you've found but don't want. Below, you'll find tips for selling specific items to maximize your profits, plus some other key money-making tips.

Pick Fruit

Each island has its own native fruit: either apples, oranges, peaches, cherries, or pears. By trading with friends or traveling to deserted islands using a Nook Miles Ticket, you may come across one of the fruits not native to your island (and your mom will also send you a few toward the beginning of the game). You can sell non-native fruits for 500 bells apiece, or 5,000 bells for a stack of 10. We recommend planting non-native fruits as you get them so you can have your very own non-native fruit trees for a consistent source of income. If you have a friend whose native fruit is different from yours, you can also pick your own fruits and sell them on your friend's island to make more money. You may also find coconuts, which sell for 250 bells each.

Catch Fish And Bugs

One of the most consistent ways to make money is to catch and sell bugs and fish. First, if you're low on pocket space and can't get to the store easily, we recommend releasing any bugs or fish that aren't worth a lot. This is especially important if you've traveled to a deserted island via a Nook Miles Ticket and there are other, more valuable fauna there. Our fish guide and our bugs guide both list the price you can get for each bug and fish we've caught so far.

You can sell any fish and bugs at Nook's Cranny; if the shop is closed, it's better to store them and sell them the next day than use the box outside, as that box only gets you 80% of the standard price. However, before you sell any fish or bugs each day, check for one of two random visitors: Flick or CJ. They buy bugs and fish, respectively, for a massive 50 percent markup and will stay on your island until 5 AM the next day. You can find Flick wandering around different parts of the island if he's visiting, while CJ will usually be near water. Prioritize catching fish or bugs on the days they're visiting to make fast money.

Sell Hot Items

Once you have Nook's Cranny unlocked, Timmy and Tommy will select one "hot item" a day that they'll buy for twice the usual price. Hot items are always ones you can craft yourself and already have the DIY recipe for. Some are worth far more than others, so we recommend crafting and selling one to see how much it'll get you. If you have the spare resources and it's worth over a thousand bells, it's probably worth crafting a few to get some spare change. It's best to store crafting materials instead of selling them, since you'll get a better return for crafting hot items and selling those.

Mine Money Rocks

You know the rocks scattered around your island? One rock every day will spew money when you hit it instead of stone and iron. You need to hit it eight times in rapid succession to maximize your reward, and because you'll recoil when you hit it, it's a good idea to dig a few holes behind you before hitting any rocks so you don't have to readjust. If done correctly, you should walk away with 16,100 bells every day.

Grow Money Trees

As you explore your island each day, you might come across a glowing spot in the ground. If you dig it up, you'll get 1,000 bells, but if you bury some bells there, you'll grow a tree that produces bells! This isn't the most consistent or quick way to get money, but it's relatively easy. Note that money trees only bear "fruit" once, after which they turn into normal hardwood trees.

Here's how money trees work. If you bury an amount under 10K bells, you'll get a tree that produces three bags of that amount of bells--for example, if you bury a 1,000-bell bag, the tree will have three 1,000-bell bags on it when it's grown. At any amount above 10,000, though, you only have a chance to triple your investment; if you're unlucky, you'll simply get three bags of 10,000 bells. That means the safest and most consistent amount to bury is 10,000 bells for an easy 20,000-bell profit, while you can also safely bury 30,000 bells and still get all your money back at the very least. You can take out a bag of bells by clicking on the bell amount in your inventory menu.

Explore Deserted Islands On Mystery Tours

Using a Nook Miles Ticket, which costs 2,000 Nook Miles, you can visit a random deserted island on a "mystery tour." There are a lot of benefits to this, but some of these islands are especially good for making money. You could find an island covered in money rocks, an island covered in rare flowers that attract rare butterflies, or even an island crawling with tarantulas. (You can also farm tarantulas on deserted islands, but new April bug spawns may have broken tarantula farming for a while.) We recommend emptying your pockets of everything except the essentials before you leave for an island so you can carry as much home with you as possible and have an even bigger payout.

Play The Stalk Market

The stalk market is Animal Crossing's version of the stock market. Every Sunday, Daisy Mae will come to your island and sell you turnips for a fluctuating price, usually somewhere around 100 bells for 10 turnips. The idea is to buy turnips from her and sell them to Timmy and Tommy later in the week for a higher value. The catch is that turnips will rot after a week. Timmy and Tommy change their prices every day when they open and again at noon, so you want check with them before and after noon every day to monitor the turnips' value. Most of the time, you'll get a better price later in the week, but if your turnip prices are garbage, it's a good idea to ask some friends how their markets are looking so you don't lose too many bells.

Pop Balloons

You've probably seen a balloon floating above your island with a present attached to it. These balloon presents can contain a number of different things, and sometimes, they'll contain bags of bells! We've seen as much as 30,000 in one balloon, so definitely keep a slingshot on you at all times so you can shoot down these presents.