I almost always have my Sims start out Rags to Riches style and have done a lot of things mentioned above. Never thought about kicking over a trash can and rummaging for stuff though or sleeping in shifts with one bed either, those are great ideas @astera00!
Other things I do are:
- Fish at the Magnolia Promenade pier - Your Sim will reliably fish up Dragonfruit and Voodoo dolls. They can either sell the Dragonfruit for quick cash or plant them for BIG profits once harvestable. They grow only in the Fall though, so if it's not Fall, they'll need to be sheltered. Just build a 'roof' greenhouse for them in that case. They can get Cowplant berries there too. Those are worth 180 simoleans now outright, and/or if you don't want to grow them, plant them first on your lot and then sell them in buy mode. Selling them that way they're worth 475 simoleans.
- Give your Sim the Glutton trait - They can rummage for free food in trash cans. Gross, but hey, it's free food!
- Wash hands to fulfill Hygiene - Tedious, but it gets the job done if you have restricted them to only using lots they can 'walk' to in the neighborhood and there isn't a gym available. Unless they're camping on the island in Windenberg. In that case, get them a sink asap to do this. I'll get them the stone looking one from OR and pretend the lot they're on was previously a public/park area. Or sometimes I'll just get them the tarp shower. :)
- If you have CL, get the yard sale table as soon as they have enough funds and use it to sell collectibles they've found. *Tip - Don't sell harvestables on this table though. Those never are a one and done sale, it will just stay on the table indefinitely and your Sims can sell them over and over. Too cheaty for my game play, but it's a nice bug for those who don't mind taking advantage of it.
- Once they start building, I don't paint the walls, put down flooring or any windows either. But if I do and you want to use a free window covering instead of buying curtains/blinds for at least the bathroom/bedroom, the CL posters work great for this.
Just a few things I can think of off the top of my head for now. Happy Simming! <3
EDIT: Just thought of one more thing. To help beat the weather when your Sims are poor and can't afford to build yet, just put down a roof (they're free) and manipulate it high enough and wide enough for a Sim to fit inside, put a door on it and they can use that for a temporary 'house'. I've even put my plants in there to double as a temporary greenhouse so plants will grow year-round.
