If you’re keen on finishing your house quicker than Tom Nook can demand repayment, check out this Animal Crossing: New Horizons quick bells guide.
The best part about playing any Animal Crossing game is relaxation. The village you live in is a simple one, with little required of you other than to pick some weeds and chat with some of your villagers.
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However, you may find that you’re lacking storage space, or that you aren’t able to display all of your favorite furniture pieces in your current home. Getting Animal Crossing: New Horizons quick bells is a bit simpler than you may have thought, if you’re willing to do a little cheating.
This isn’t to suggest that you hack your Switch console or use any third-party applications to get the job done; rather, you’ll want to time travel to get the most bells out of your playtime.
‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ quick bells guide
Turnip stalk market
One of the best ways to earn quick bells in ACNH is by following the stalk market (as in, turnip stalks). You can buy them in bundles of 10 on Sundays until noon, and they only last for a week. Simply find Daisy Mae wandering your town carrying a bundle of turnips to start the process.
I tend to go all in and spend nearly my whole savings on each week’s turnips. The earnings are exponential, so if you sell at a reasonable price, you’re nearly guaranteed to gain some quick cash.
As a general rule, try to sell for at least 30 more bells than you bought them for. There are two selling prices for turnips each day: one before noon, and one afternoon. The longer you wait in the week, the higher the gamble.
I’ve seen turnips sell for as much as 500+ bells midweek, but as low as 30 bells on other days. Look for the simple but sweet 120-130 bells range to make some consistent quick bells.
You can travel to a friend’s island to use their high selling price, but be wary of going to strangers’ towns, as they often ask for an entry toll.
Miles to go
The first objective when you start up a new game is to get enough Nook miles to pay off your first mortgage. It’s fairly simple to do so, as daily tasks such as fishing and catching bugs will get you pretty far.
Once you’ve completed the first miles mortgage, you’ll be asked to pay for the next upgrade in bells, instead of miles. However, your options to get quick bells are limited, seeing as one of the most lucrative means of getting bells is not yet accessible: selling fossils. Every day, start looking for fossil markings (distinguished by a little “x” on the ground) to score your loot.
You need to make sure you’re saving at least one of each unique creature you capture so you can show them to Tom Nook. Once he decides your bug and fish catching skills are up to snuff, he will call in his old friend Blathers, the series staple museum curator.
Blathers is the only way to transform generic fossil sprites into sellable goods. He will simply ask to see what you’ve dug up, but he won’t force you to donate the goods. Once the fossils have been identified, it’s as simple as selling them to Timmy and Tommy for thousands and thousands of quick bells.
Time travel is your best friend
By this point in your New Horizons playthrough, you’re probably hitting a wall in quick bell potential. Unfortunately, Blathers has likely closed up shop in order to allow construction on the full museum to begin.
As you can’t sell fossils as-is from the ground, you’re left with the generic useless fossil items. While you now have the pole vault from Blathers, you may find that all of your explorations are going to waste, as you can’t sell any of your quick bell fossil items.
Instead of waiting the two days to get Blathers to open his museum so he can ID your fossils again, simply time travel a day or two forward. Time travel is a staple in the Animal Crossing series, as it allows players to advance time forward by changing the clock on the video game console.
Save your game, and go to your Switch system settings. Make sure to turn off the setting that syncs your clock with the internet, and then change the day up by one. Then, load your game to see all of the loot, fruit, and shops restocked for the new day.
Rare bugs, fruit, and money rocks
Some other true and tested means of earning Animal Crossing: New Horizons quick bells are rare bug catching, rare fruit harvesting, and money rocks. Fruit and rocks are the most reliable means of earning quick bells, while finding a rare bug or two will help expedite the process.
Tarantulas are the rarest semi-common bugs available. Catch them whenever you stumble upon one, but be careful, as a bite from one will knock you out, and teleport you back to your house. Use your Nook miles to buy a ticket to a randomly generated island at night, as you may get one of the islands that has a plethora of tarantulas ripe for selling.
Rare fruit is mailed to you by your mom early on in the game. Make sure to plant whatever fruit isn’t natural to your town, as it will sell for loads more than the native fruit. Make sure you’re spacing out your trees far enough apart so as to allow them to grow big and strong.
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Lastly, money rocks are an easy way of earning quick bells in any Animal Crossing game. Use either an ax or shovel (I find shovels are easier) to bang on a rock to earn quick bells ranging up into the thousands.
There’s always one money rock each day in your town. Make sure you dig three holes behind yourself to prevent recoil, as hitting the rock is time-sensitive (think the multi-coin question mark blocks in the Super Mario games).