I set up a lot of pre-existing relationships throughout the world - established families are established with skills, jobs, relationships, and clubs with aging off. Sometimes I take control of those Sims to play an arc from their view point - especially if they need to do something nefarious and specific. My core families usually only have cheats applied that harm their position, usually cheats that doc them money for actions that would take money in the real world (traveling long distances, entry fees*, etc.), but their friends will get a helping hand at age up, otherwise they'll be elders with cooking 1 and still be burning their house down every time I visit. Core families also have skill progress slowed via MCCC since they get a ton of playtime per age category, and a cheat enforced cap on skills per age category, unless the skill is their one singular focus.
Every now and again I'll play out some unrelated story with those cheated premades - like Raj murdering his mom by pufferfish, with the assistance of his neighbors. It doesn't bother me that loads of cheats were applied to set up Raj's bad relationship with Mom or for everyone involveds financial situation.
Not exactly a cheat, bit along the same vein I add filthy to almost every house lot I play in or visit, just so there's some chance Sims will need to clean something - everything breaks too often, but gets dirty too uncommonly by default for my taste.
* LittleMsSam has a mod for this, but it uses a lot trait, which is very coveted on commercial lots, and the prices are more compatible with high rollers than dingy nightclubs and bars my Sims frequent, so I just cheat my cover charges.
