Do you have the ultimate collection @SimFan298 or at least Freetime installed? With freetime you get aspiration benefits which is explained at the link I'm providing to Sims wikia that explains it in great detail but when you first start a new household your Sims by default should already have between 4-5 and you can use them to slow down your Sims needs which is something I always do first thing so checking on their needs is reduced due to the slower decay! I highly recommend using the aspiration benefits...
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Aspiration_benefit