I've been playing my version of the 100 baby challenge family so they have a huge house with lots of stuff and my bills are ridiculously high and I'm constantly bothered by people saying I'm not being eco friendly when I've gone out of my way to be eco-friendly. I've checked guides and stuff and just still don't understand this. Can anyone help explain this to me? It's a 30x40 parcel and my lot taxes are always 25k+ plus I can't seem to lower the power and water even though I've upgraded every single thing in my house to be power efficient***. I've got power down to like 150 and water to 10 on my bills is that supposed to be good enough? I was under the impression with having 2 dew collectors, 22 solar panels, 1 water generator and 1 power generator that I might actually end up with excess I could be selling. Am I totally off and doing something wrong? Also how can I lower this lot tax? Is it possible? My sim is a stay at home mom with 7 kids she isn't making 25k extra every week and its making the game hard to play.Also, I keep a collection museum in the basement of their house. Is that counting against my bills? There are no electronic or utilities down there though just like all the eggs, plants, crystals etc. *** I didn't add the fuel cell thing because I don't want to have to add fuel to every single thing in my house all the time.

"ZombehPandah;d-988467" wrote:I've been playing my version of the 100 baby challenge family so they have a huge house with lots of stuff and my bills are ridiculously high and I'm constantly bothered by people saying I'm not being eco friendly when I've gone out of my way to be eco-friendly. I've checked guides and stuff and just still don't understand this. Can anyone help explain this to me? It's a 30x40 parcel and my lot taxes are always 25k+ plus I can't seem to lower the power and water even though I've upgraded every single thing in my house to be power efficient***. I've got power down to like 150 and water to 10 on my bills is that supposed to be good enough? I was under the impression with having 2 dew collectors, 22 solar panels, 1 water generator and 1 power generator that I might actually end up with excess I could be selling. Am I totally off and doing something wrong? Also how can I lower this lot tax? Is it possible? My sim is a stay at home mom with 7 kids she isn't making 25k extra every week and its making the game hard to play.Also, I keep a collection museum in the basement of their house. Is that counting against my bills? There are no electronic or utilities down there though just like all the eggs, plants, crystals etc. *** I didn't add the fuel cell thing because I don't want to have to add fuel to every single thing in my house all the time. I think they do count collections for taxes. Many of the collections you can download off of the gallery, and, you could make a museum on another lot for you collections.

"SheriSim57;c-17849049" wrote:I think they do count collections for taxes. Many of the collections you can download off of the gallery, and, you could make a museum on another lot for you collections.That's a really great idea! Thank you! I just checked the gallery and found the most amazing collection museum. Going to remove their collection and slowly add my family's collection to it as I find more stuff. Thank you!"CelSims;c-17849052" wrote:Make sure you are storing the power and water instead of having autosell checked. Also check your sims inventory, if there is expensive items or lots of flowers, for example, that will bump it up also. Another thing to bear in mind is that different worlds have more expensive tax, so if you are in Del Sol Valley consider moving some where cheaper.I don't know about items on the lot but I think they may contribute to taxes. We'd need to know exactly what eco NAPs you have to help with the not eco friendly. If you have the garden one you might want to check you have insect boxes.So the inventories also count against the lot tax? Does that mean the household inventory does also because I've been throwing things into the household inventory hoping it wouldn't be counted. Interesting point about the different worlds. I'm in Willow Creek so should be fairly basic. I've been using the same house/lot throughout my whole baby challenge so I'll have to find a way around it without moving but good to know for future games. My house is eco-friendly its just the lot tax and the water/power that I'm seeming to be struggling with. I love the eco-lifestyle game updates just trying to wrap my mind around how they work. Thanks for your suggestions!

What lot traits do you have? There are a couple that help with water and energy. I don't have any dew collectors on my lot in Oasis Springs, but I have the Natural Well and Geothermal lot traits, so even in a household with 6 sims, a cat, and a pool, I usually have water to sell back. Power tends to be less than $100. I do, however, have a ton of flowers and collectibles. My base bills are around 25K, but I've also got the nap that gives you a discount if you've got a bee box or bug box and a planter (both of which I have) and I use the floors and walls from Eco Lifestyle in many of the rooms, so that also gives a discount. (And I have a solar roof because I like the idea and wish I could have one in real life. And I like the look pretty well too.)

Hmm...Usually to lower the bills from power useage, I make the lights automatic, so they only light rooms up when sims are in there.Have you done that?

"CelSims;c-17849699" wrote:@ZombehPandah Interestingly on the off the grid I was playing last night, my water suddenly showed as -400 a day when it was usually +20 a day and my bills bumped up to over 25k from 1k. Nothing on the lot had changed. Taking out the off the grid trait then adding it back in fixed it. So maybe you are experiencing a similar bug.You mention a big garden, are you using the sprinklers from seasons? They cause a massive water deficit.I'll try that with the lot traits. I'm not using sprinklers but I did switch to auto-lights like you said and it's helped a lot. I've also been moving my collection off my residential lot and creating a public museum and that seems to have helped a lot too.

Household Bills & Utilities SUPER Expensive?

SheriSim
Seasoned Hotshot
4 years ago
"ZombehPandah;d-988467" wrote:
I've been playing my version of the 100 baby challenge family so they have a huge house with lots of stuff and my bills are ridiculously high and I'm constantly bothered by people saying I'm not being eco friendly when I've gone out of my way to be eco-friendly. I've checked guides and stuff and just still don't understand this. Can anyone help explain this to me?

It's a 30x40 parcel and my lot taxes are always 25k+ plus I can't seem to lower the power and water even though I've upgraded every single thing in my house to be power efficient***. I've got power down to like 150 and water to 10 on my bills is that supposed to be good enough? I was under the impression with having 2 dew collectors, 22 solar panels, 1 water generator and 1 power generator that I might actually end up with excess I could be selling. Am I totally off and doing something wrong? Also how can I lower this lot tax? Is it possible? My sim is a stay at home mom with 7 kids she isn't making 25k extra every week and its making the game hard to play.

Also, I keep a collection museum in the basement of their house. Is that counting against my bills? There are no electronic or utilities down there though just like all the eggs, plants, crystals etc.

*** I didn't add the fuel cell thing because I don't want to have to add fuel to every single thing in my house all the time.

I think they do count collections for taxes. Many of the collections you can download off of the gallery, and, you could make a museum on another lot for you collections.
SumimaSim
4 years ago
"SheriSim57;c-17849049" wrote:

I think they do count collections for taxes. Many of the collections you can download off of the gallery, and, you could make a museum on another lot for you collections.

That's a really great idea! Thank you! I just checked the gallery and found the most amazing collection museum. Going to remove their collection and slowly add my family's collection to it as I find more stuff. Thank you!

"CelSims;c-17849052" wrote:
Make sure you are storing the power and water instead of having autosell checked. Also check your sims inventory, if there is expensive items or lots of flowers, for example, that will bump it up also. Another thing to bear in mind is that different worlds have more expensive tax, so if you are in Del Sol Valley consider moving some where cheaper.
I don't know about items on the lot but I think they may contribute to taxes.
We'd need to know exactly what eco NAPs you have to help with the not eco friendly. If you have the garden one you might want to check you have insect boxes.

So the inventories also count against the lot tax? Does that mean the household inventory does also because I've been throwing things into the household inventory hoping it wouldn't be counted.

Interesting point about the different worlds. I'm in Willow Creek so should be fairly basic. I've been using the same house/lot throughout my whole baby challenge so I'll have to find a way around it without moving but good to know for future games.

My house is eco-friendly its just the lot tax and the water/power that I'm seeming to be struggling with. I love the eco-lifestyle game updates just trying to wrap my mind around how they work.

Thanks for your suggestions!
DaWaterRat
New Vanguard
4 years ago
What lot traits do you have? There are a couple that help with water and energy. I don't have any dew collectors on my lot in Oasis Springs, but I have the Natural Well and Geothermal lot traits, so even in a household with 6 sims, a cat, and a pool, I usually have water to sell back. Power tends to be less than $100. I do, however, have a ton of flowers and collectibles. My base bills are around 25K, but I've also got the nap that gives you a discount if you've got a bee box or bug box and a planter (both of which I have) and I use the floors and walls from Eco Lifestyle in many of the rooms, so that also gives a discount. (And I have a solar roof because I like the idea and wish I could have one in real life. And I like the look pretty well too.)
EgonVM
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
Hmm...

Usually to lower the bills from power useage, I make the lights automatic, so they only light rooms up when sims are in there.
Have you done that?
SumimaSim
4 years ago
"CelSims;c-17849699" wrote:

@ZombehPandah Interestingly on the off the grid I was playing last night, my water suddenly showed as -400 a day when it was usually +20 a day and my bills bumped up to over 25k from 1k. Nothing on the lot had changed. Taking out the off the grid trait then adding it back in fixed it. So maybe you are experiencing a similar bug.

You mention a big garden, are you using the sprinklers from seasons? They cause a massive water deficit.

I'll try that with the lot traits. I'm not using sprinklers but I did switch to auto-lights like you said and it's helped a lot. I've also been moving my collection off my residential lot and creating a public museum and that seems to have helped a lot too.
JustMeAlb
Seasoned Newcomer
4 years ago
I once greatly reduced my bills by clearing out the household inventory. I had gone through a bunch of careers and had received a bunch of the pricey bonus items for job promotions. Pushed aside the sentimental feelings, sold them all, saw a real bump in the account and drop in bills.
Sketch793
Seasoned Veteran
4 years ago
I'm pretty sure that both household inventory and personal inventories count towards the bills. Don't save stuff if you don't want to pay for having it.
Haneul33
Seasoned Adventurer
4 years ago
How much is the lot worth? To me, the bills seem correct if your sims has an inventory full of things, collections in the basement, and a house full of objects.

Being eco-friendky won't help much more because your utilities are already low - most of your bills is based on what your sim owns on the lot.
troshalom
4 years ago
Of the many things broke in this game they could've left the lot taxes broken. SMH.
Just cheat motherlode or money xyz the amount of money you want. It is stupid the game taxes you on everything you own
EnchantedOatmea
4 years ago
I thought that sim inventories don't count against bills but household inventory does????