What's Something You Always Do In Your Sims Games?

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.

- I always give my sims the carefree trait.

- Every sims gets an upgrade to their bed, oven, refrigerator, shower, and sofa. I want them to have something that won't constantly give them uncomfortable moodlets. I don't necessarily give them the very best unless it fits the story, but that item will be at least a mid-range option.

- Every time I build or redecorate a house I start with the kitchen. I love kitchens in real life and I carry that into the game as well. I dislike small kitchens so I start with that room and get it setup just the way I like it and then adapt the other rooms to fit the space that's left.

- I always play with aging switched off. I age kids up myself when I feel like it's time, usually after they've maxed their skills for that life stage. I come up with all sorts of outlandish reasons why young adults never become adults and adults never become elders.

I always start out on an empty lot and cheat my money down to 0. Have played this way since sims 3. I never start out with more than one sims.

* Adjust the in game clock to be slower.

* I play the entirety of the neighborhood, I love premades and I will also download all of the maxis made sims from the gallery. This is a must. All of these sims have to be in any new game. It is the only real setting up that I do for a brand new save.

* Every household gets the simple living, and reduce and recycle lot trait. They get a laundry setup, a thermostat and also a vacuum. All lots have appropriate traits, some helpful, some challenging. (Could we have more of those please)

* Everyone joins a club. All coworkers, friends and family have their respective clubs also.

* There are lots dedicated to collections and a community garden in every single save. I have never managed to finish these, but the idea came from Animal Crossing where your collectibles are stored in a museum. This is a collective effort from every sim in the world. All can contribute. (Could we please store fish in tanks on public lots Maxis? Pretty please ;)).

* All popular libraries get a free donation from every sims writer, so all sims can read all of their books. The emotional books are the funniest and most satisfying to watch others read.

* There is a cemetary lot.

* I don't use cheats, but if they are very succesful (or tamed the motherplant), sims can potentially live a very - very long life. I have no qualms using the reward potions to pull all-nighters or fix a bunch of annoying moodlets. As long as they have the points ;)

I set up the house the way I want, within their budget. I double check to be sure there is a fire alarm. ;) I rarely use the Motherlode cheat these days. I like the idea of the Millionaire Scenario, but grinding away to get that much gets dull. I wish we could assign an amount to aim for.

Everybody gets a yoga mat. I try to give them a chess board when possible. I start them skilling as soon as I can. A lot of my sims paint and I sell everything I can on Plopsy. It takes longer to sell the item, but the money is worth it. I get the woodbench they use for handiness skill so I can raise that skill and make cheap furniture.

I've begun to realize a radio is more important than a TV, and a lot cheaper besides. They can listen to music and/or dance to get happy.

As money comes in I will upgrade items and add more furniture.

Vampires always get an umbrella stand, and I hover over them quite a bit to keep them from frying in the sun while I level them up. For me the sun immunity ability is a must. I cannot understand why they will burn to death when they are two steps from the house.

I play with aging off and neighborhood stories disabled.

edited to add the last 2 paragraphs.

I always play every save differently and with different goals, although I always start on an empty (or bulldozed) lot and cheat the money down to 0. They make money in their own ways which match their personalities or occult type. I never let them get a job. They build the house up as their funds increase.

What I do always do, in cas, is is when I create my sim in everyday mode and am satisfied with that, their hairstyle remains exactly the same for every other outfit. I hate having to change hairstyles for different outfit categories. I want them to always look the same from the shoulders up. Jewelry and makeup excluded, this changes with every outfit.

And I only ever play occults. Always.

My Sims mostly have the same hairstyle for every outfit. But sometimes I’ll have Sims with long hair tie it up for working out or swimming.

I might be in the minority but I don´t use cheats. I always start from the basics and Sims are naturally earning all their skills, resources and simeleons by their work. I also love challenges so most my saves are based on a challenge by me or others. My first step is to create a sim who has "backround story" and personality. Then I choose colorscheme for them and decorating style for their home. The skills almost all of my household/families get maxed by doing/reading about them are cooking, baking, knitting, gardening, flower arrangement, candle making, painting and handiness. I love cooking and food in the game so there always a sims with great cooking and baking talents in my all saves. Then the next step in most cases is starting a family and most of my sims have children. I like that they all are different and usually choose their personality traits different than the other sibling has. I usually choose color scheme for the babies too after they become toddler. choosing their favorite colors, activities, music etc. gives them more character and depth. I do have few saves with single sims but thats rare. I have a flower arranger who holds a gardening shop and a bakery owner who are singles. My favorite save is a rotational save where i have placed many Sims I created and they all have unique character and backstory. Their lives tie together in fun ways. Such as the gardener/flower arranger sells things to the bakery owner and they are friends etc.

I always start a new file with the Rags to Riches challenge and give the sim I’ll be playing the clumsy, art lover, vegan or lactose intolerant traits to not deal with a bunch of moodlets.

"cyncie;c-18220851" wrote:
I always start a new sim with some skills cheated in. They did not get to be an adult without knowing how to cook a basic meal or do basic repairs on the bathroom.

This exactly. I also always flag my sims and any sims they are close to, to not change their physique with MCC. Also with MCC I always have CAS full edit mode enabled, and cheats always on. Any new save I create also gets custom holidays as of late. Other than that things can vary.