The problem I had mostly was toddlers dropping off the family tree and becoming a stranger to their mother who sometimes didn't take care of them. As a result I started making new households of 8 unrelated young adults and playing with them until I got bored with them, then I'd make another household of 8 unrelated young adults. That's how I ended up with hundreds of young adult sims and when I wanted extra townies for my Big Game I added the old households of 8 unrelated young adults who usually had quite a few skills by then. I didn't put mods into my game until after Sims 4 was released. Actually I did add Error Trap and Overwatch after I found I couldn't play in Isla Paradiso without them. So I played modless from June 2009 until a few months after Island Paradise was released. They after Sims 4 was released I started adding other mods and cc to my game.