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Animal Crossing money making: How to get bells fast in New Horizons explained

Tips on how to become a bellionaire.

One activity you're going to find yourself doing a lot in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is making money or, to be accurate, making bells.

There are loads of ways you can make money in New Horizons; it could be as simple as selling sea shells or as risky as playing the stalk market.

In this guide, you'll find a variety of money, sorry - bell, making methods we've discovered in Animal Crossing: New Horizons to help you stay as wealthy as possible.

On this page:

Bells in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

Bells are one of the two currencies you can spend and earn in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The other currency is Nook Miles.

You'll use bells to pay off your various mortgages, fund upgrades to your island, buy new clothes and furniture, among other activities.

Bells are basically what makes the Animal Crossing world go round. For this reason, you're going to spend an awful lot of your time in New Horizons earning, and spending, bells.

You can find your current bell balance by opening your inventory.

Where to find you bell balance in your inventory.

Animal Crossing money making: How to get bells fast in New Horizons

Below you'll find some money making methods for New Horizons, which will make paying off your mortgage or funding that new addition to your island a lot easier.

  • Purchase Bell Vouchers with your Nook Miles. For 500 Nook Miles each, one of these vouchers will give you 3000 Bells. This makes Bell Vouchers a great way to earn some quick money, especially if you've collected a large amount of Nook Miles.
  • Play the stalk market. If you're looking for a high risk, high reward investment, then the stalk market in New Horizons is for you. Every week Daisy Mae will visit your island to sell turnips at a price that will vary from week to week. You can then sell these turnips to the Nooklings; their prices will differ from day to day, however, so you might end up making a loss.
  • Sell the 'Hot Item' of the day at Nook's Cranny. Once Nook's Cranny has opened on your island, the Nooklings will select a 'Hot Item' every day. If you sell this specific item to the Nooklings on this day, you'll receive double the profit. The 'Hot Item' is randomly selected, so you might not always be able to take advantage of this bonus.
You can sell various items at Nook's Cranny.
  • Complete favours for your villagers. The animals who populate your island are always going to be looking for a helping hand and, if you offer yours, they're going to reward you. Sometimes this reward will be bells, other times it could be spare clothing or furniture that you can sell.
  • Selling unwanted furniture. Throughout your time in New Horizons, you're going to receive, find, buy or create an awful lot of furniture, some of which you're not going to want. Selling this unwanted furniture is a great way to earn some bells. You can even further this by using your spare crafting materials to create furniture to sell to the Nooklings as well.
  • Catching and selling fish. The waters around your island are filled with fish and, with your trusty fishing rod, you can quickly make some money by selling them to Nooklings at either Nook's Cranny or Residential Services. There's no limit to how many fish you can catch each day either, so, if you love fishing, this is a great way to earn some bells.
Keep an eye out for the money rock!

The Animal Crossing 2.0 update and Happy Home Paradise is here! We can help you with the new additions - including where to find Brewster, Gyroids, new villagers, ordinances, new fences, storage shed, new hairstyles, Froggy Chair, group stretching and Kapp'n boat tours. Cooking is now unlockable, so you need to know how to make both flour and sugar, as well as how to grow carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Meanwhile, if you're new to Animal Crossing, our New Horizons tips can help with the basics. From the off, there's fish and bugs to catch, flowers and fruit to grow with. One long term goal is building your Happy Home Academy score. Finally, you need tools such as the new ladder and vaulting pole to fully explore.


  • Find the money rock. The money rock is, as the name suggests, a rock that will grant you money when you hit it with a shovel. Everyday one of the rocks on your island will transform into the money rock and it's up to you to hunt it down. Be careful if you're using a Flimsy Shovel - it might break during your quest to find this elusive rock.
  • Catching and selling bugs. Your island is home to a variety of insects, from peaceful butterflies to very angry wasps, and all of them can be sold to the Nooklings at Residential Services and Nook's Cranny when it opens. Remember - it's always a good idea to donate the first new type of bug you catch to the museum to ensure it's added to the collection, even though Blathers isn't too fond of bugs.
  • Visiting Tarantula Island. This is the community name for a Mystery Island which is filled with Tarantulas - one of the rarest insects in the game, which each one selling for 8,000 Bells. Though it's incredibly rare, it's worth trying your hand at visiting if can - as a single trip can earn you up to 250,000 Bells!
  • Selling shells. Everyday a selection of shells will wash up on the shore of your island waiting for someone to collect them. That person is you. Collecting and selling these shells can net you a reliable, daily, profit.
You can sell bugs to make money.
  • Selling fossils. Thankfully, just like with fish and bugs, you only have to donate a fossil once to the museum. This is great, because each fossil is worth a good amount of bells, meaning you can earn a solid amount each day just by selling your archaeological discoveries.
  • Shoot down floating presents. Sometimes, as you wander about your island, you might see a present attached to a balloon float through the sky. Using your slingshot, you'll be able to shoot down these presents and keep them for yourself. This might reward you with bells or an item, like a piece of furniture, that you can sell.
  • Shaking trees. You'll be surprised what you can find in trees - bells, pieces of furniture, wasp nests.
  • Sell fruit - especially if it's not from your island. Your island's fruit can be sold for easy cash, and will regrow regularly to give you a steady supply of income. Better still, fruit from another island will sell for even more. Visit a friend and bring it back to your island, but remember to plant it instead of selling it straight away - that way, you'll always have more to sell!
  • Hopefully these will help you build that new bridge or buy that sofa you've been eyeing in Nook's Cranny a little bit faster!

    Cover image for YouTube videoAnimal Crossing: New Horizons - Our Best Tips and Tricks for Getting Started