Much of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is centered around earning money. You sell bugs and fish you catch, diversify your island with pricier fruit, and profit from trading off materials and furniture. This is all so you can beautify your island, grow your town and expand your home.
Knowing the best ways to earn cash may not be obvious from the start. Unlike past games, New Horizons has two currencies: bells, which have been part of Animal Crossing since the GameCube days, and Nook Miles, a brand-new secondary form.
Earning Nook Miles is straight forward, as the game gives you guidance from the start. With Nook Miles, you can make special orders via the kiosk, which isn’t limited to furniture and items: you also unlock various game mechanics this way.
Bells still play an integral role, particularly for paying off your house loan (the first payment can be completed in Nook Miles, but the rest are in bells), buying clothing, building infrastructure and more.
Here are the best ways to become a bell-making machine in New Horizons.
Sell the ‘hot item’ of the day
Nook’s Cranny is the first shop to appear on your island. There you can sell various items to store owners Timmy and Tommy. Every day, a rotating “hot item” will be listed outside the shop (you can also inquire inside). Whatever is listed there can be sold for double its normal asking price, so this is an easy way to make a quick buck. New Horizons’s new crafting ability helps a fair bit, too: As long as you gather the needed materials and have learned the DIY (crafting) recipe, you should be able to construct the hot item at a workbench. One of the most profitable hot items I saw in rotation thus far was the gong, which when doubled, netted me 10,000 bells per piece. Keeping a stock of common items like wood, iron and weeds in your house’s storage can help if a hot item needs those materials to be built.
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Don’t use the drop box unless absolutely necessary
Animal Crossing is a series that progresses in real-time, meaning that when it’s dark outside in the real world, nighttime will also appear in your game. Right outside Nook’s Cranny you can find a drop box that lets you sell wares even after the shop closes at 10 p.m. But it’s best not to use it at all. If you’re someone who can only play at night, this is a handy feature, but every time you use it there’s a handling fee: Items are bought at 80 percent of their normal trade-in value and you only receive payment the next day. This means you would get significantly less money than selling during open store hours. If you’re inventory is full, you can just use your house storage to keep excess materials there that can be sold the following day.
Find the secret money rock
Every day, you should go around your island and hit every rock with your shovel, because one of them has a stash of bells hidden inside. The amount varies, but hitting the rock numerous times in quick succession can net you the most.
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Catch bugs during evening hours
You can randomly find rare bugs and fish while you play, but I found catching bugs in the evening to be an efficient money maker.
Playing at night in past Animal Crossing games comes with significant restrictions. Shops are closed unless you have a town ordinance in place to keep them available into the late hours, and there are generally fewer things to do with your time. Shops close in New Horizons too, but there are still plenty of other activities (and nighttime-specific quests) to do.
If you want to make the most of your time, catching bugs in the evening hours (6 p.m. onward) can be immensely profitable. At least during the current season in the northern hemisphere (this is the only season I’ve played so far), you can catch a number of expensive critters. Tarantulas in particular aren’t all that rare; they roam your town and its outskirts at night fairly regularly, and they can be sold for 8,000 bells each. Pro tip: Tarantulas may seem difficult to catch at first, but if you spot one in the distance, you can approach it slowly by holding down A with your net in hand. From there, the tarantula will lift its front legs to charge. That’s the sign to stop. Then just move closer, inch by inch. When it’s legs go down and you’re finally close enough, trap it with your net.
As for other insects, emperor butterflies (4,000 bells) can be found during early mornings and all through the night, particularly near cliffs and flowers. Man-faced stink bugs are also worthwhile, which go for 1,000, but they’re so common that you can find a number at a time.
Sell items to special visitors
On certain days during the week, special visitors will come visit your town for an allotted time. This includes C.J. the live-streaming fisherman (he uh, looks at fishing like it was an esport) and Flick, the bug aficionado. You can sell some items that are specific to their interests at a premium rate.
Finding doubles of fossils you’ve already given to the arts tends to happen often enough that you can make a good profit here, with some selling as high as 7,000 bells.
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