5 Quick Ways to Make Money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Making money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons needn’t just consist of fishing and catching bugs all day. I mean, yes, it’s a big part of it, but there’s also some other tricks to earn a few extra Bells every day on your island. Here’s five quick things you can do every day for some extra pocket Bells.

Hit Rocks with your Shovel

If you’ve ever played an Animal Crossing game before, you’ll recognise the randomly placed rocks around your island. Although, this time, there isn’t one that instantly breaks. You need to eat fruit for that.

When you’ve approached the rock with your shovel, dig two holes nearby like in the image above to stop your character from backing away too far. Most of the rocks will only release clay, stones or iron, which are all still useful. However, one rock will release up to 16,000 Bells that you can pocket immediately. It’s probably important to note that you’ll want to make sure that your shovel has enough life left in it before you do this; the most annoying thing is having your shovel disintegrate into dust when you haven’t released all the Bells.

Money Does Grow on Trees

Now, you should probably do this with a net in hand ready for the wasp nests to drop, allowing a swarm to unleash on your beautiful face. Catch them if you can as they can sell for 2,500 Bells to Tommy and Timmy, or Flick for 3,750!

When you aren’t shaking in fear from wasp nests crashing down, collections of Bells may also fall. It all depends how many trees you have on your island as to how much you may gain from this. Alongside Bells, furniture may also be hidden in the tree, so anything unwanted may fetch a good price from the Cranny.

Trade Fruits with Friends

Selling fruit that isn’t native to your own island will net you 500 Bells a go, up from 100 when you sell your own island’s produce. Coconuts always sell for 250 though, rather than the full 500.

You should receive a few non-native fruits from your mum when you first start the game. Make sure you don’t simply eat them all, rather plant them so you can create some kind of fruit farm on your island. If you have friends who are also New Horizons players, you can then collect your own fruits to visit their island to sell for the full 500. Whilst they’re not looking, steal a few of theirs, plant them on your island and hey presto – more non-native fruits to sell!

Visit the Mystery Island

The mystery island is similar to the paradise island from New Leaf, however in New Horizons it is randomly generated. It’s an easy place to get some coconuts to plant on your beach for starters, even if they do only sell for 250 Bells a pop. Better than nothing.

There are also rocks to hit and more trees to shake, as well as some potentially rare bugs and fish to catch. Before April, the popular money-making technique was to clear absolutely everything from the island (trees, flowers, rocks, everything), with the empty spaces allowing tarantulas to spawn, which sell for 8,000 Bells each. However, since the beginning of April, giant water beetles are now frequent spawners, although they still get you 2,000 Bells each. Still worth a trip over there to see what you can find.

Miles for Bells

After a few weeks of playing and completing objectives for Nook Miles rewards, you may find that you build up a fair amount of points to spend. You could splash out on that lamppost you’ve had your eye on, or you could simply trade for Bells.

Once the town hall is built, you can go to the terminal to redeem your Nook Miles straight for Bells. 500 Miles will earn you 3,000 Bells, so if you’ve run out of other upgrades to procure – I highly suggest you max out the inventory upgrades first and buy the Tool Ring – it’s a quick way to earn a good number of Bells.