How do you raise money for a Sim?

[KJSinclair]

I am sorry if this is in the wrong place or the question has already been asked and answered. However, in the early days with a new sim it is hard to keep them in a good mood with so little decoration and 'good' furniture.

I have found a few ways to raise a little extra cash for those early days, not necessarily outright cheating but certainly exploits.

1)Move into a house that has trees, flowers and bushes in the yard. Then sell them to raise a little extra cash, you can worry about landscaping when you have more money than you need.

2)Sell the bookcase, then buy another. By selling the bookcase the books get sent to your family inventory, then buy exactly the same bookcase back and sell the additional books.

3) Knocking down walls. I had my recent sim in a lovely little house that although small had a garage that I didn't need so I removed it and gained a little extra money.

4) Moving multiple times between all the houses you can afford. By packing the furniture instead of selling, you end up with all those books in your inventory that you can sell.

Does anyone else have more tips for how they gain extra money in those harder early days?

[Alexandria_]

I often start with houses that have plenty of landscaping items to sell them back for cash.
As for buying bookcases, selling them, then replacing them, that is a good way to get books. However, the books that come with it are valued at $0, so you don't get any money back that way.

With bigger families, I find it a good idea to share double beds when low on money. That way you can get the positive moodlets from a good bed, but you don't need to buy more than one.
I'm interested in what others do to save money too

[Esther1981]

I'm interested in what others do to save money too

Familyfunds? Haha no I rarely use that anymore. I just try to collect rocks and metals, bugs, find money tree seeds, garden, I normally always buy 15 SummerHill Court, so no landscaping stuff for me. On rare occasions when I do use an already made house, sell everything that isn't 100% needed.

[ratchie]

Don't build a house unless it is really necessary.

Rachel

[TheChronicR]

Save some money, buy a guitar and play away. Play until you reach level five. Head to the park on a Saturday/Sunday morning and play all day long. Tips will help you in those early days. The exploit too - once you get the "Perform" interaction on guitar, queue up performances and once you hear the first notes, cancel the action. The performance will register in the Skill Journal, which will gain the tips your musician gets.

[Hosfac]

Being someone who likes to start multi-generational families on the largest vacant lot in a town, this is something I have a bit of experience with! 

1)  Be a squatter:  If you have Ambitions, you can live at the Fire Station while you wait to get your funds up.  Unless one of your sims is a firefighter, the entire building will be abandoned.

2)  Always put the cart before the horse:  Buy good furniture before you build the house.  Don't waste money buying starter appliances or furniture (especially if you're squatting at the Fire Station).  I start with a good bed, then I build an "outhouse" to hold a toilet, and finally I buy a good stove, refrigerator and 2 counters of the type I plan to use (one with a sink on it).  The only thing I do skimp on are plumbing objects, since they are great for building handiness...which brings me to:

3)  It's handy to be handy:  I try to have one sim who reaches level 10 in the handiness skill as soon as simanly possible.  Having a sim with maxed handiness reduces the cost of all building supplies.

4)  Opportunity doesn't knock, but it does call:  I do any opportunity that will bring in money, no matter how closely related to the characters traits or skills.  "Eating Contest" is one I look for early on, as winning brings in $1000.

5)  Beauty is in the wallet of the beholder:  I like to at least paint portraits of my sims to keep track of the generations.  Artistic sims train painting faster, and selling the paintings they train with is a cash-cow.

There are other little things that I do to cut corners (some of which have already been mentioned), but those are by far the biggies.

[Anushka]

In this tread you can find many tips in getting money fast.

Best option is available if you have WA. First thing you should do is go to china, pick books from bookshelf in Base camp, when you get home you can sell them for 20-25 000 $. Also, collecting and adventuring/tomb raiding can help getting money fast.

If you find tiberium in Relic store or consingment store, buy it even if you're short with money, sent it to cut, and let it grow. It is worth it.

Sims employed in Architecture Profession get nice discount on everything in build/buy mode. It is worth to employ your Sim just before you start building and let them quit after that if you don't want to play it.

Photography is another fast money maker, you need around 5k to spend on expencive camera and photos while you skill up, in 2 days you can max that skill, get 75 different photos and make more than 10 000$ per day just around Sunset Valey.

Your Sim don't need to be elated all the time, but you can easily get few nice mood buffs - expencive bed that is first thing to purchase give you comfy moodlet, nicely decorated and eventually Good night sleep moodlet. There is also fun/having a blast which is easy to accomplish. Make a routine to for example after getting up, eat something (rather fruits from inventory then bad food from cheap stove and fridge), use toiled and shower and go to skill up with fun raising activity, or at least not stressing activity. There are many tricks with different traits to use, from neurotic to eco friendly trait.

You can use free floors and wall papers (recolor them to look nicer) to save money, don't use windows if you don't have beautiful vista and you don't need only one smallest window to enjoy beautiful vista moodlet. Beautifully decorated can be achieved with butterflies and bugs, specially the rare ones (if you know where to find them it is not too time consuming).
 
I never start with premade homes cause they have tons of not necessary objects and cheap furniture. You really don't need TV or a dresser.

You can always move in some of the rich townies. 

[Phyre]

A lot of good tips have already been mentioned. Additional things I do to make money is buying 100 apples and 100 tomatos at the supermarket (you need around 550 simoleans to purchase them - if you have less money you can always buy less). I then consign those at the consignment shop. Even without the Born Salesman trait or the Suave Seller LTR you still sell them for double the money that you bought them for. This means that the money that you put in will be doubled by the end of the day. Do this while your Sim's low and cash and it makes a nice little extra paycheck.

I also save money checking the consignment store daily for deals. If you are really, really lucky you will find a Hikon (best camera) there for half the price you pay in Egypt. Photography is an insane money maker. It takes 2-3 days to level up, depending on how much subjects you find, but once you are maxed out you just go buy the landmarks and highest earning subjects such as the "Best in Class" ones. Especially if you buy the Suave seller LTR (which is always the first LTR I buy because it is so awesome - your consignments will sell for 25% more), you will get rich in no time. My record must've been around 150.00 simoleans for 2 sim hours of taking pictures in Sunset Valley.