I play every household for 1 season and then go to the other one. Right now I have Pleasantview as my mainhood and Veronaville and Strangetown as subhoods. I try to have as many Sims as possible in 1 households so all the Monty's live together, as many of the Capps, Burb + Oldie + Pleasant in 1 house. It saves a lot of time.
Every woohoo is a try for baby.
I try to listen to the Sim as much as possible, so I mainly look at their wants what they want. They only get a job or a skill point if they want to.
I pick the aspiration based on how they were as a child. If they have a lot of friends, popularity. If it's a boy and has 1 female friend or the other way around, family. If they have zero friends, knowledge or fortune.
I try to ignore townies and NPC.