Early into New Horizons, Tom Nook will approach you to let you know it’ll cost around 50,000 Bells to pay off your move-in fees on the island and get your own house. The bright side is that you can also pay off that debt with 5,000 Nook Miles.
Nook Miles are similar to airline miles in real life and are a bit easier to grind. You can earn nook miles a lot of ways, like completing activities and filling in Nook Miles stamp cards. Here are some good ways to stack up Nook Miles to pay off your move-in debt.
The best way to earn Nook MIles is to fill out stamp cards and complete island tasks. You can find tasks and stamp cards in Nook Miles app on your NookPhone. Once you complete a task you can claim the miles in the app and get other rewards like title keywords. While task cards give you a one-time reward, stamp cards can earn you a ton of miles for long periods of grinding.
You can perform tasks to earn up to five stamps on each stamp card. Each stamp will reward you with some miles with the reward, and the requirements, increasing incrementally. The process is relatively simple but very grindy. Here are some tasks and stamp cards to complete to quickly earn the 5,000 miles needed to trade your tent for a house.
Free Miles
When you get access to the Nook Miles app on your NookPhone, open it up. You can get 500 miles for free when you first open the app. Just click on the top left option when you first open the app to claim the miles. The option will have the name of your town with the word “miles” next to it.
Play on your phone
You can earn miles just for using your NookPhone. Keep checking it and playing around in the apps until a new card pops up in the Nook Miles app. Claiming it will earn you 300 miles. By exploring the village you will also end up with a bunch of junk items you don’t need. These items are useful for the next way to earn miles.
Be a social butterfly
Talk to the villagers on the island and explore the village. This is generally a good idea anyway so you can find new tasks and features that can earn you even more miles.
Sell your junk
After you have explored the village and have started filling up your inventory, you are bound to end up with a bunch of items you don’t need. Sell any extra junk you have floating around in your inventory to Timmy in the resident services tent to earn some extra Bells. After you sell some items the first time you will be able to claim 300 miles in the app.
Sell other stuff
Running around the island you will find a lot of stuff on the ground like fruit and weeds. Sell 20 fruit to Timmy to earn 300 miles. Don’t sell all of your fruit because it can be used to earn a bunch of Bells later. Each island can have a different variety of native fruit on it. Fruit native to your island doesn’t sell for as much on your island as foreign fruit. You can visit other islands that have different fruit than yours and sell them for more. You can also bring fruit back from those islands and sell them to Timmy for more than the fruit native to your island.
Weed out your island
Chances are your island is covered in weeds. You can pull these up from the ground and sell them for 10 Bells per weed. You can create huge stacks of up to 99 weeds in your inventory, letting you sell them all at once for 990 Bells. Beautifying your island this way will also earn you a bunch of miles. The first 50 weeds will earn 300 miles, 200 weeds will earn another 500 miles, and the miles and weeds will continue to increase incrementally from there.
Break your tools
For this stamp card, you need to wear out some tools until they break. Head into the DIY Recipes app on the NookPhone and check what materials you will need to make new tools. Go and collect the materials you’ll need to make new tools, then grind away with your old flimsy tools until they break. Once you start breaking your tools you will also start earning stamps and miles, starting with 300 for the first tool you break.
Make new tools
This stamp card goes hand-in-hand with the one above. Once you have busted your tools, make some new ones with the help of the DIY Recipes app on your NookPhone. As you make new tools you will earn stamps and miles. The first stamp will give you 300 miles, and the rewards will increase from there.
Bulletin-Board
The bulletin-board is next to resident services. Interact with it and create a bulletin. You can type anything you want on it. After you are finished with the bulletin you can claim 300 miles in the Nook Miles app.
Using the camera
The NookPhone comes with a camera feature that lets you take selfies in-game. It can also earn you some miles through the Island Shutterbug stamp card. Just take a picture, any picture, and you will be able to collect 300 miles.
Update your passport
Once you gain access to the passport app in your NookPhone, make some changes to it and add a comment. You can change anything you want. Once you confirm your changes and comment you will be able to claim 300 more miles.
Be an artist
Open up the Custom Designs app on your NookPhone and start drawing something new. Click on a blank canvas and let your artistic side come out. You can draw whatever you like and take as long as you want or just put a couple of dots on the canvas and call it done. Name the design whatever you like to finish the task. Once you are finished, you can save it and go claim 500 miles.
Become a zoologist
You can earn DIY recipes from Tom Nook by turning in creatures you have caught while roaming around the island. You can also earn miles this way. Use your net and fishing rod to catch bugs, fish, and other creatures on the island. Turn in the creatures to Tom Nook to get a bunch of useful DIY recipes. Tom also hints that Blathers may be on the island or coming to it soon. The tools themselves are very useful for earning more miles later. Once you have unlocked 10 of the recipes you will get a stamp on one of the stamp cards and be able to claim 300 miles. Keep earning recipes and you will gain incrementally more miles from this card until it is filled.
Go fishin’ and bug catchin’
A nice thing about earning all of those recipes from Tom is that you will get better fishing rods and aim for another stamp card for fishing. Find a nice fishing spot and catch as many as you can. After catching 10 you will earn the first stamp on the card and 300 miles. Like all of the stamp cards, you will continue to earn more miles incrementally as you keep fishing.
The same process used with fishing can be used with catching bugs. Run around the island with your net and start harassing the local entomology. Catch as many bugs as you can, you can catch the same bugs multiple times and it will still count. After you catch 10 bugs you will earn a stamp and 300 miles with the miles and the required number of bugs increasing with each stamp.
Decorate your island inside and out
Fill your tent with items to earn a stamp and more miles. You can do this easily with all of the bugs and fish you have been catching. You can place bugs and fish as decorations in your tent or house. As you continue to decorate your tent you will earn more stamps and more miles starting with 300 miles for the first five items you place.
You can use this same method outside of your tent to earn more miles. Place a bunch of fish, bugs, and other items outside on the ground. After you have placed 10 you will be able to claim 300 more miles.
Get your house!
After all of this grinding, you will finally be able to pay off your debt and get your house. Head over to resident services and talk to Tom Nook. Choose the “About my moving fees…” option to get started. Tom will take 5,000 miles out of your balance and give you the option to replace your tent with a house for 98,000 Bells.
