With today's rough economy, you might need some extra cash...fast. Good Housekeeping says one option may be sitting on your nightstand. With gold worth about $900 an ounce, selling your gold jewelry is one way to put some money back in your wallet.

"Gold is really cash today, and it's a substantial amount of cash," said Andrew Fabrikant of Fabrikant Fine Diamonds. "But jewelry that has additional value to it, other than just its gold weight, will bring you more money. You can and should be able to get up to 90 percent of the jewelry that you're selling."

But Good Housekeeping says be careful. "Steer clear of gold parties," said Kelli Grant, writer, Smartmoney.com. "It's something that's become very popular. Basically, it's like a Tupperware party. you invite all of your friends to the house and they bring their gold jewelry and you have an outsider come in to weigh the gold jewelry and give you cash on the spot. And really these are just bad deals because you don't have the opportunity to shop around and see if you can get a better price for it."

Websites like Prosper.com are another new way to get cash fast. "You're asking other people just like you to invest in you and help you come up with that money, and you're going to pay a rate of about six percent on the loan--much less than you pay with a credit card, and then these other consumers are getting a great rate on their cash. It takes about a week to set up an account and get some money," said Grant.

A final note: Good Housekeeping says lenders have gotten tougher about granting home equity credit lines and how much they'll let you borrow against your home. Most lenders now cap credit lines at 80 percent of a home's value minus its mortgage balance.

To learn more, check out the October issue of Good Housekeeping or visit www.goodhousekeeping.com.