I used the same strategies as the more successful players for swiping things - explored all the houses in my practice run so I knew where to go to get the stuff, used my downtime for increasing mischief skill, etc. (Although I didn't think of forming a mischief club! That was brilliant, HelenP.)
I had everything swiped by Wednesday morning week 1. I also bought the "Always Welcome" reward so that I could cook and sleep in nicer houses (I spent most nights in the bachelor apartment in San Myshuno because it has a nice bed and fridge and talking toilets for social).
The angelfish was where I got hung up for over ten game days. I'm way more familiar with Sims 3 in general than Sims 4 - I didn't like 4 when it first came out and didn't play it much - so not being able to use "Inspect Water" to find out what kinds of fish were available threw me off. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I could zoom in on the water and watch the fish jumping to see what types were at a particular spot. After realizing that, it took less than a day to catch the angelfish. I think I eventually got it without bait at one of the spots in the Commercial district of Willow Creek. The fossil only took about 10 or 15 rocks in Oasis Springs.
I also took about six tries to throw a gold medal party, mostly because of inadvertently choosing party locations that didn't have required items like a coffee maker, cooking oven, game table etc. My successful party was an Incognito Costume Party with eight or nine guests, again at the bachelor apartment in San Myshuno, which has a game table. Most of the social interactions required for that one are just talking to people about their costumes, so it's not as hard as the ones where you have to get Sims to kiss or whatever. But I didn't practice the party in my practice file and so didn't know ahead of time to be careful about choosing locations.
So, that is my brilliant strategy for how to come in 20,000 points behind the other finishers
