I always start with a single young adult female sim. I don't cheat any money, I even prefer starting out with absolutely nothing or only a really basic house. Then I usually spend a day getting to know the people around town, while I wait for collectibles to spawn into the map. The next day I spend on gathering stuff, I just love scanning through the entire world to find animals, minerals and plants. It also helps me to get to know my way around the new world I'm playing (I hardly ever play the same world twice within a short time). Once my sim has enough money to give herself a roof over her head, I find her a job (usually self employed) and a spouse. I work on their lifetime wishes and on completing their jobs and once I have enough money for a nursery, I let them have children. What I love most about sims is playing multiple generations and to see how all the family trees develop themselves! But yeah that's how the start of my game looks like most of the time unless I play a special challenge.