This Stardew Valley Joja guide is for the achievement run where you want a clear plan and as little wandering around as possible. I know you want to boycott JojaMart. But if you want every achievement, you need to complete its development projects at least once. My route uses spring fishing, strawberries and summer Starfruit to pay the bill.
Watch my original YouTube video for the gameplay demonstration, or jump to the section you need. The written guide includes corrections and additions for Stardew Valley 1.6.
In this guideOpen contents
The Joja route costs 140,000g from scratch
Membership costs 5,000g and the five development projects total 135,000g. You buy membership from Morris after the Community Center has been unlocked. Purchasing it converts the Community Center into the Joja Warehouse and commits that save to this route.
The table assumes you have not already completed any Community Center rooms. If a corresponding reward is already restored, your remaining Joja purchases change. You also cannot finish every project in one afternoon: membership conversion and projects are completed overnight, with one project ordered at a time.
| Purchase | Cost |
|---|---|
| Joja membership | 5,000g |
| Minecarts | 15,000g |
| Panning | 20,000g |
| Quarry bridge | 25,000g |
| Greenhouse | 35,000g |
| Bus repair | 40,000g |
| Total from scratch | 140,000g |
Spring 1–4: plant parsnips and start fishing
On the first day, do what you normally do: collect Wood, craft a chest and plant your Parsnips. Keep watering them until the first harvest on Spring 5. Your main income job over the next few days is fishing.
I like the mountain lake in front of the Mines for a reliable spring session. If you are comfortable catching difficult fish, rainy-day Catfish are another option. Do not force that choice if they keep escaping; consistent catches beat spending the day losing the same fish.
Store sale fish until you have selected Fisher at Fishing level 5, then sell with the 25% bonus active. You still need enough cash for essential purchases, so sell a few earlier if that lets you make a useful upgrade. This is a plan, not a rule that should leave you unable to progress.
Spring 5–12: unlock Joja and alternate mines with fishing
Trigger Lewis’s Community Center introduction, then visit Morris when you are ready to buy membership. The language lesson with the Wizard belongs to the Community Center bundle route; it is not a separate requirement for purchasing Joja membership.
Alternate fishing days with mining days. In the Mines, collect Copper Ore, Iron Ore and Coal for sprinklers, and push deeper when you can. Basic Sprinklers require Farming level 2 plus one Copper Bar and one Iron Bar. They water the four tiles directly beside them, not the diagonal corners.
One correction to my old script: the Bamboo Pole cannot use bait. Upgrade to the Fiberglass Rod, available from Willy at Fishing level 2 for 1,800g, if you want to use the bait made from Bug Meat. You receive the Bamboo Pole early in the game without needing to buy another one.
For a dedicated achievement save, sell surplus gems and loot you do not need. Keep the Ore, Coal, Wood and Stone required for your planned tools, furnaces and machines. Selling absolutely everything and then buying materials back is an expensive way to be impatient.
Spring 13: put your seed budget into strawberries
The annual Egg Festival is the shopping trip that matters for this route. Strawberry Seeds cost 100g each. Buy what you can afford, while remembering that every seed also needs a watered tile. Prepare the soil before attending so you can plant after returning home.
Plant and water on Spring 13 for the ordinary Spring 21 and Spring 25 harvests without growth bonuses. Leave the future sprinkler positions empty when laying out the field. After Farming level 2 unlocks the recipe, use your saved bars to reduce the daily watering work.
In the video I aim for more than 70,000g by the end of spring from crops, fishing and mine sales. Treat that as a target, not a guaranteed result. Catching skill, rainy days, seed count and energy management all change what your run earns. If you fall short, keep fishing rather than abandoning a perfectly usable save.
Buy the bus and protect your summer seed money
The main spring goal is desert access. Membership plus the bus project costs 45,000g. The bus repair happens overnight, so buy it before the day you want to shop at the Oasis.
After membership and the bus are paid, the four remaining projects cost 95,000g. My original narration rounded this to 100,000g; the exact remaining bill is 95,000g. You also need working cash to buy seeds, so do not spend your entire balance on optional upgrades just because the desert is open.
The Greenhouse can be a very useful early purchase on a normal Joja playthrough. For this particular summer Starfruit plan, bus access comes first because it unlocks the seeds the plan depends on. Once your crop budget is secure, buy the other projects as your money allows.
Summer: two Starfruit harvests pay for the projects
Head to Sandy’s Oasis and buy Starfruit Seeds for 400g each. Normal-quality Starfruit sells for 750g before profession bonuses. That is 350g above the seed cost per crop, with higher-quality fruit selling for more.
Without growth bonuses, Starfruit takes 13 days. Plant and water on Summer 1, harvest and replant on Summer 14, then harvest again on Summer 27. Missing a watering day can delay this schedule. Sprinklers are doing the work while you sleep; crops that are not covered still need watering.
You can make more per fruit by turning Starfruit into wine, but this quick achievement route does not wait for a large keg operation. Sell the fruit, fund the next planting and put the remaining cash into projects. If you already have kegs, use them where the timing actually helps.
A simple budget check keeps the plan honest. One hundred seeds cost 40,000g. One hundred normal-quality fruits return 75,000g, leaving 35,000g after replacing that batch’s seeds. Two such harvests generate 70,000g above the two seed purchases, before quality or Tiller bonuses. Your spring savings and other income still matter. Scale the field to your actual remaining bill instead of assuming any two harvests will pay for everything.
Finish the development form, then check the achievement
Order the remaining projects from Morris as you can afford them. Allow the overnight construction for each one and leave enough calendar time for the completion event. The Joja Co. Member Of The Year achievement is for completing the five development projects, not for buying every later Joja service.
The Movie Theater costs another 500,000g on this route, but it is not required for that achievement. If this is a dedicated achievement save, you can stop once the goal is complete. If you like the farm you built, keep going. There is no need to throw away a save just because the video jokes about deleting it.
This route is quick because it gives every early decision a purpose: fish for seed money, mine for watering support, use strawberries to reach the desert, then sell Starfruit to finish the form. It is not a promise that the whole game takes five minutes, and a slower fishing start can move completion beyond summer.
Watch the original video
Keep exploring the valley
Browse more money making guides, or continue with one of these related guides:
- From Broke to Rich: Stardew Valley Best Money Making Methods
- Ultimate Stardew Valley Fishing Guide [1.6]
- Stardew Valley Community Center Guide
Game-mechanics references: JojaMart, Joja Community Development Form, Starfruit. Screenshots and video by MGaud.