So I mostly play rotationally with one main save, so the world, lots, calendar, other households are generally in pretty good shape already whenever I start a new household. And all of my households are very different, so there aren't too many things that I do exactly the same. But I suppose there are a few things:
(1) I never cheat skills.
(2) I only use freerealestate if my backstory for a household is that they are wealthy or upper-middle class. Which is... maybe 5-10% of my households?
(3) I have the simple living challenge for most of my suburban and rural households, though not usually for the San Myshuno households. Consequently, I will usually order groceries on the first day and look for harvestables in the neighborhood.
(4) As soon as the Spice Festival comes up, every household goes for free harvestables and purchases some combination or all of the spices from the vendor, along with bubbles for the kids or any childish teens or adults.
(5) On the first day, all teens and kids do their homework, clean up dishes, etc., and this continues from there on out.
(6) I always have sims cook salads/fruit salads only for the first couple of days so they don't set the house on fire. Unless I want them to set the house on fire. >:)
(7) I always start the house out with a thermostat and umbrella stand, and have them select umbrellas the first day.
(8) If there are kids, I usually buy them the doctor/bear toys, as it seems to be the best way to build empathy. Unless I want them to be terrible little monsters.
(9) For more financially constrained households, my first splurge item is usually a coffee pot, but after that, it's a yoga mat. Most of my sims do yoga, and I try to get them to Wellness level 2 at least, as early as possible.
(10) I'd say the vast majority of my sims garden to some extent. Even the ones that don't have a serious garden will usually have at least one flower in an indoor pot.
(11) I give all of my sims a pretty extensive set of likes and dislikes, particularly for favorite colors and musical genres. If we ever get the option to add a favorite food or type of food-- and I really hope we do!-- all of my sims will definitely have one.
(12) I almost always have my sims (children through elder) join or start at least one club on the first day, so they can call to chat or invite over at least one other sim to start befriending right away.
