How many Sims do you generally play with in a household at the start?

I almost always start with one sim, and branch out from there. Occasionally I'll start with two, but that's very rare. I think the last time I started a save with a complete family was over 10 years ago in The Sims 1. ...Maybe I need to vary my play style. :D

I usually start with 1-2 sims, and let the family grow, or I sometimes decide a sim shall be single forever (poor sim). But once there are more than 5 sims (pets not included) in the household, I tend to abandon, as it becomes so hard to enjoy the actually gameplay without stressing myself out...

Always one. The last time I started off with a couple was back in TS3 before they came out with the zodiac signs, I forget what it was called. After that part was added, my couples I created together, ended up not liking each other very long.

I'll answer my own question.

I used to run quite the variety when I first bought the game (save glitch and all), which meant anywhere from 1 sim to 4-6 sims. Now, I either start with 1 or try using a 7 sim household that just causes chaos. I have an urge to micro-manage even though I probably shouldn't. It's probably because they path-finding and their choices on what to do is rather asinine without a push... or six-hundred.

One... :D And start 'hunting' for the spouse...

I start with one Sim and send them to University to find their other half. After I move them back to the base neighborhood and move the future spouse in, I start over again. I used to go back and try to complete the families but that was before I had to get a new laptop.

I started with one sim girl and focused on building her traits full, exploring careers and unlocks, completing most aspirations, etc. until I finally got kinda bored and decided to hunt for man (who was an NPC) who would then father her 2 kids.

Nowadays I just play random households and do their daily routine and build some skills for a couple days before switching to another household.