Which cheats and why?

I almost always use the money cheat, because I'm not all that interested in rags to riches stories. I just want enough money to build the house and furnish it without counting simoleons. (This is really the dream doll house I always wanted as a kid.)

I occasionally use the bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement or bb.showhiddenobjects to get a particular object, like the country bed or satellite dish. Mostly, I'm leery of any cheat requiring testingcheats to be turned on, and I never use the building cheats because I don't want Sims getting stuck or unable to access objects because things have been placed where they're not meant to be. Or worse, having my game crash because I've done something that the game isn't designed to do.