Bells are your primary currency in Animal Crossing: New Horizons - you use bells to buy items, tools, and pay off your house loans. Collecting bells can be tedious and draining, if you don’t know where to look that is. In this list we’ll be going over some of the best ways to acquire the largest amount of bells possible.
10. Mystery Tour Destruction
Your Nook Miles Tickets have a chance to take you to one of 20 different predetermined islands, all stocked up with natural resources for you to excavate yourself!
Here’s What’s Great About The Mystery Tours:
- No matter how brutally you strip these islands for resources they will always be fully stocked up when you next visit them - so don’t leave empty handed!
- There is a very good chance that you will also find a Message Bottle with a DIY recipe.
- Most of these islands contain resources not naturally available on your own island, so there's usually a markup to them as well!
9. Tarantula/Scorpion Island
The almighty insectoid kings of New Horizons: the tarantula and the scorpion, each selling for 8,000 Bells a catch! These rare little beasts can actually be manipulated to spawn frequently in-game on Nook Miles Tours, plus, they even have their own specialty, Mystery Islands!
Here’s What’s Great About Tarantulas/Scorpions:
- If you take a Nook Miles Mystery Tour after 7:00 p.m., strip all the resources (pick all flowers, chop down all trees, remove stumps, smash all rocks) then the only possible spawns are fish, river bugs and walking bugs (you’ll want to scare away the fish and river bugs). This increases your chances to summon a tarantula /scorpion by a considerable margin (exact numbers unknown.)
- Like I also mentioned, these nasty little bugs have their own speciality islands where they spawn infinitely. This speeds up the process by a considerable percentage.
- You can also sell these bugs to Flick for an even higher marked up price of 12,000 Bells a bug!
8. Special Visitors
Speaking of Flick, another amazing way to curate your Bells is by interacting with the special visitors that come to your island like C.J., Flick, Labelle, Leif, and Gulliver.
Here’s What’s Great About The Special Visitors:
- You are guaranteed to have Leif come to your island at least once a week. Leif buys weeds for double the price that the Nook brothers do - consider stockpiling them and selling them all at once!
- C.J., Flick, Labelle and Guillver come at different intervals. You are guaranteed to have two of them in a week. Sell bugs to Flick, fish to C.J., help Guillver collect his missing parts (buried in the sand like a manilla clam), and if you dress in a certain aesthetic for Labelle she will give you a coupon which you can use to save money at the Able Sisters shop.
- Like I keep on mentioning, special visitors are GUARANTEED to come and rotate out - so don’t be afraid to stockpile your supplies for a few days, heck, even a few weeks!
7. Shells
Shells are another, more simpler way to collect Bells.
Here’s What’s Great About Shells:
- Shells spawn infinitely throughout the day, but spawn at more frequent intervals after 7:00 p.m.
- Each shell has different pricing, going from 30 Bells all the way up to 1,200 Bells.
- Even if there is nothing else to chop, pick or catch on your island - shells will spawn. Think of them as your Bell backbone if all else fails.
6. Money Rocks and Trees
In New Horizons money trees and rocks make a return, but in this entry they are a bit more lucrative and easily accessed when compared to previous games.
Here’s What’s Great About Money Trees and Rocks:
- They spawn everyday. You read correctly - every single day of the year your island will have a guaranteed glowing money spot where you can bury Bells and a rock full of hard cash.
- For money trees, unbury the glowing spot and collect the 1,000 Bells, then input 10,000 Bells into the hole. It will take three days for your tree to come to fruition. It is possible to put in 99,000 Bells into a glowing spot - but the results don’t always triple the product when going above 10,000.
- For money rocks on the other hand, make sure your villager is up against a wall or shovel hole. This will decrease the knockback from the rock hits and will increase your chances of maximizing the timer you have to knock things out once you begin Bell mining.
5. Balloon Presents
Balloon presents are one of the more whimsical events in Animal Crossing. They can provide you with any number of goodies!
Here’s What’s Great About Balloon Presents:
- Balloon presents are arranged by what they drop, this includes; Bells (1,000-30,000), Furniture, Rock Materials (Stone, Clay, etc.), DIY recipes and clothing.
- THERE IS NO CORRELATION between the color and loot dropped. It is best to always pop balloons.
- Regardless of what you get you can sell, craft and profit off of the balloons!
4. Hot Item Feature
The Nook brothers are already your number one destination on this list, why not give their other features a go rather then just selling things blindly?
Here’s What’s Great About Hot Items:
- The “Hot Item” is changed daily, this gives you ample space to work with your resources and truly make profit for items that otherwise would give you not nearly half the “hot” price.
- This feature also helps with other crafting milestones in Nook Miles and Nook Miles+
- The Hot Item feature will never use a recipe you do not have.
3. Bell Vouchers
Nook Miles can be a great way to earn Bells as well.
Here’s What’s Great About Bell Vouchers:
- Bell Vouchers run for 3,000 Bells a piece!
- They are incredibly cheap compared to all other Nook Miles redemption items.
- Sell Vouchers to the Nook Brothers (as with everything else).
2. Delay House Payments
I know that this statement comes with a certain level of anxiety, but there really is no sweat when it comes to your house payments!
Here’s What’s Great About Delaying Your Payments:
- 0% interest rate! You can hold down that tent for as long as you desire without any repercussions.
- The final home in New Horizons is BIG (six rooms total). You’ll want some time to stock up on furniture and recipes before then anyways.
- Paying off all your debts in a short period of time will reward you with tons of Nook Miles in very short intervals, especially if you time travel.
1. The Turnip “Stalk” Market
The number one ultimate way to make bells in New Horizons is by using the Stalk Market to buy turnips. Turnips are sold exclusively by Daisy Mae (pictured above) on Sunday mornings (5 a.m. to 12 p.m.) and can be sold to the Nook brothers any other day of the week.
Here’s What’s Great About Turnips:
- The price at which you buy turnips is never the same as when you sell them. The Nook brothers have two prices for turnips a day, one in the a.m. and one in the p.m.
- With proper calculation, your returned Bells can skyrocket through the roof! Even up to 600% your original investment! You can track your own island’s pricing here.
- There is also an incredibly active subreddit where people are trading all the time! Go and get some Bells!
