When it comes to game challenges, I too just don't get very far and do not find them enjoyable. Something I do though is I took a brand new game save, turned off all aging, and turned off culling. Went through and completely gave every single sim and lot a complete makeover according to my liking. (The lady in my avatar with the green shirt, short hair, and hat is Moira Fyres from Wendenburg.) After learning the hard way, keep a copy of the newly updated save in a separate folder. I can't even tell you how many times I had to start over because of accidentally playing that save in gameplay. Whenever a new pack is added, go through every lot and maybe sims, and add some new aspect of that pack.
If there is something I want to do to a certain lot, will play a copy of the save, make the changes, save the lot, and then place it in the game save that has not been played. Don't bother with upgrades because that does not save through to the library.
