These Stardew Valley tips will help no end with the never-ending daily tasks that'll keep you incredibly busy. While you're more than welcome to do things your own way, we promise that these tips will make some things that little bit easier. Granted, it can be a little overwhelming working out what’s the best plan of action to get the most out of Stardew Valley, especially in Year One.
If you find yourself asking; do I tend to my crops first? Check on my animals? Chat to all the villagers? Head into the mines? Then we'll help you come up with a game plan. If you play smart, you’re in for a treat. Thankfully, we’ve put together some of our top tips, not only on how to make money quickly, but how to farm efficiently and what areas to unlock first, too. Remember, there's always Stardew Valley cheats and Stardew Valley mods, if you really want to try something new out.
How to make money quickly in Stardew Valley
When you first start out in Stardew Valley, you’ll be given 500 gold to get your farm going. And although that might sound like a lot, in Stardew Valley terms, you’ll find yourself burning through that pretty quickly. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be left wondering how best to make more of this precious gold without just waiting for days for your harvest to grow.
Well, there’s technically no quick way to rake in the gold in Stardew Valley, but there are a few things that you can do to usher the cash into your account a little faster.
1. Invest in crops as soon as possible
When you start out, you'll get a farming pack containing 15 turnip seeds, which you’ll want to plant straight away. To do this, simply take your new hoe and till 15 little patches of soil in which you can then plant them. Don’t forget to give them a water with the can, which you can fill using the water around the farm, otherwise they’re never going to grow.
After that, you’ll want to invest your money carefully in more seeds, which you can get from Pierre’s General Store in town, among other places. But you’ll want to be careful about what crops you buy and when. Initially, we recommend investing in two or three Cauliflower seeds as they cost 80g, but the finished crop is worth much more. Also, pick up some more turnip seeds and some potatoes. What’s great about taters is that they not only sell for 80g a piece, but there’s a chance they’ll yield another potato when you harvest them, meaning you get more spud for your buck. Plus, they only take six days to grow, meaning if you pair them with the turnips which grow over four days, you’ll soon have enough dosh to invest in a bountiful cauliflower crop.
2. Learn which are the most valuable crops per season
The cauliflowers might be the best crop for spring, but you’ll want to know which ones will earn you the most money for every season if you’re going to make some serious money in Stardew Valley. Take a look at the minimum price you’ll get for each crop in each season in the first year (depending on the quality of your final produce) and how to get them. Plus, bear in mind that things like green beans, hot peppers, and other crops will yield more than one crop per harvest, but it’ll tell you that when you buy the seeds.
Another trick is to save up for the Greenhouse, which will let you grow crops regardless of what season you’re in, including during the winter. Otherwise, you'll suffer from the 28 days of low yields.
Spring:
- Parsnips - 35g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Potatoes - 80g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Cauliflowers - 190g (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Green Beans - 40g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Kale - 110g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Strawberries - 500g (Obtain seeds during Egg Festival on Spring 13)
Summer:
- Hops - 25g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Blueberries - 50g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Hot Peppers - 40g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Radishes - 90g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Wheat - 25g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Melons - 250g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Corn - 50g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Tomatoes - 60g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
Autumn:
- Cranberries - 75g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Pumpkins - 320g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Grapes - 80g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Artichokes - 160g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Bok Choy - 80g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Eggplant - 60g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Yam - 160g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Amaranth - 150g or more (Buy seeds at Pierre's General Store)
- Rare Seeds - 3000g or more (Buy seeds from the Gypsy Wagon)
3. It’s hip to be square
When you’re planting, be mindful of where you’re dropping your seeds as there’s a trick to potentially making a few extra bob just by being a little more careful about your seed placement. When you’re planting cauliflower, melons, and pumpkins, try and plant them in 3x3 squares. Doing this will give you a slim chance of growing a giant crop, which will take up all nine squares of soil. You won’t know whether it’s worked until harvest day, but it’s worth a shot, right?
4. Don’t worry about animals too soon
If you want to really streamline your money-making expeditions, you’ll want to ignore your desires to invest in livestock until you’ve got far more gold rattling in your pocket. I made the mistake of falling for the idea of being surrounded by farm animals and spent as much money as I could building homes for them, feeding them, and buying them new friends.
However, when winter rolls around, if you play like I did you’re going to get stuck, because the game doesn’t regenerate enough grass to feed your growing menagerie, meaning you have no choice but to buy hay from Marnie to get you through the season. And with hay priced at 50g a pop, your animals will soon drain your hard-earned funds. Or, you'll need to invest in a Deluxe Coop which costs 20,000g, 500 wood, and 200 stone, or Deluxe Barn which costs 25,000g, 550 wood, and 300 stone, to benefit from the autofeed system.
It is a risk you might be willing to take though, seeing as the Community Centre does need quite a few animal-based offerings.
5. Prioritise wood
Once you’ve planted and watered your crops, it’s worth focusing your energy on chopping down trees. You’ll want to start stockpiling the wood that falls when you do, because it’s a key resource for unlocking new buildings and items on your farm (like the Deluxe Barn and Coop mentioned above). Try not to sell wood unless you’re super desperate for cash, because you’ll quickly be able to craft incredibly useful items like storage chests instead.
6. Unlock the beach bridge first
Once you’ve got 300 wood, you’ll also want to repair the bridge to the left-hand side of the beach. Doing so will give you access to the Tidal Pools, which is where valuable items like coral, sea urchins, and other shells will pop up daily. You can chuck these in your shipping box (more on this in a mo), or sell them directly to the fisherman, Willy, at his shop on the pier.
7. Mine the mines for all they’ve got
On the fifth day of Spring in your first year, you’ll get a letter that informs you all the stones blocking your access to the mines northeast of the Carpenter’s Shop and just west of the Adventurer’s Guild have been magically removed. This just happens to be a gold mine, in that you can forage in them to get yourself a load of special items that can earn you serious cash - and literal gold too.
The mines consist of 120 unique levels, with a save point accessed after every five. And the deeper you go, the better stuff you’ll get. Use your hoe to dig in the dirt and your pickaxe to smash rocks in order to find items. It's also where you'll uncover the ladder to the next level. You’ll be given a sword to fend off the beasties looking to drain your health and while using your sword doesn’t drain your energy, pickaxing and digging will. So, I’d recommend taking a few snacks with you.
8. Fish until you flop
Investing time into catching Stardew Valley fish is another great idea for money making. Early on in the game you’ll be given a fishing rod from Willy and you’ll quickly discover that if you put some energy into it, it can become a very lucrative hobby indeed.
The problem is that it can be tricky to master at first, but there’s definitely a knack to it that the game really doesn’t explain. Firstly, head to a body of water and equip your rod. Then, hold down the action button and don’t let go of the button until your cursor hits the top of the meter. That means your line will be cast as far as it’ll go and you’ll have a better chance of catching a higher value fish (although you’ll catch different fish depending on where your line lands, so once you’ve mastered fishing it’s good to experiment). Wait for a fish to bite and quickly tap the action button as soon as the exclamation point appears. If successfully, you'll see the word 'hit' appear on your screen.
Now comes the tricky bit, because you’ll have to hold and release the action button to keep your green border around the fish long enough for the catch bar to fill up completely. The fish can move about quite a lot and if your bar depletes it’ll escape. The more you fish the better your skill becomes, and the bigger your green window will be, making it easier to nab those pesky pesce.
Once you’ve figured all that out, fishing becomes a brilliant way to earn some money, fast. Look out for bubbling spots in the water as fish tend to bite more quickly there and can be of higher value.
As soon as you can, you’ll want to buy the fiberglass rod from Willy too (available once you reach fishing level three), as it’ll allow you to add bait to your line. At this level, you can also buy crab pots that catch other kinds of fish. At level 7, you can also upgrade that fiberglass rod to an iridium one. Just remember to come back daily to try for new catches and restock the bait in your crab pot and you’ll have another little earner on your hands.
Keen to hunt for rarer items? Read our guides on Stardew Valley Prismatic Shards, Stardew Valley Golden Walnuts, and Stardew Valley mystery boxes.
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