Animation still going when getting into BuildBuy Mode and more.

Pausing the game before entering Build or Buy mode is the easiest way to make sure that your Sims don't do anything while you are building and buying. 

If the method you're using to pause the game isn't working well, try a different method.

• Click the Pause button at the bottom of the screen. 
• Press 0 on the keyboard. 
• Press 0 on the numpad. 
• Press P on the keyboard. 
• Press ` on the keyboard. 

If you have to do things more than once to make the Sims do them, then do them more than once. It's irritating, I know, but it's the only suggestion I have. 

I have some of the same problems, and in my case I think it is caused by my old computer not being up to the tech recs. The problem with moving sims and time keep running, is when I travel. Sometimes I lose 2-3 hours just because of this. It happens only occasonally, it might relate to the size of the lot I travel from/to.

So, does your computer meet tech requirenents?

You could try starting a brandd new save, seeing if it will run more smoothly when there are less history/memory and files are smaller.

It could also be caused by CC and Mods. And, don't expect that a simple CC object can't make harm to loading and animations. In my game a CC bed caused sims not to be able to travel from their home lot - they had to walk out into thestreet for the phone option to work... Removing that CC bed solved it.

Also, note that pressing the 0 (zero) change the pause/run status. It will pause the game if the game was running, and it will run the game if it was paused. I often click it once, then wait and wonder if I actually clicked it so I click it again. But clicking it twice like this means I first paused the game then restarted it, so the total is no change. I find clicking the UI arrow/pause works better when game is slow to react.

I press 1 and then press 0 if I'm not sure whether I already tried to pause the game. 1 always sets the game to speed 1, even if that's the speed it's already at, so I can be sure that the following input is actually a pause rather than an unpause.