Personally, I tends to be very shabby when it comes to sims finance and waste it off rather quick despite my sims has taxes or rather custom BILLS to deal with everyday (Opposite with real life, where Im very finicky with my own money ). For my founding families, I always assign them a specific starting funds which can be anywhere between 500K to 5K depending on what kind of life they have and income and they have no 20K handouts. The ones who have have these 4K are my poverty sims (7.6K if including the lot my sims tends to live in, 2x3), although in this hood, they're basically treated as slaves, (think, riminal blackmarket kind?) and usually dont earn much while their custom "bills" are 100 daily. For some gameplay variety, I decided to try build up my sims houses from scratch and try to play the game more "normal" and more slowly and a big reason why I "reboot" my hoods often, I tends to play things out too QUICKLY.

Im not exactly asking a how-to-do-it thread, but rather wanted to discuss about other simmers deals with their poverty sims. Consider vanilla costs and such in the sim world, (I dont see their funds realistically) 4-5K tends to go away rather quickly... especially when I prefer playing wealthier large families struggling with maintaining their wealth by having larger bills/taxes as compared to to the sims you build up their income from scratch (and many of my houses tends to cost 30K+ due to that I prefer more realism with furnitures).

At first I was thinking of doing it the "camping" way by using tents and such, but got sceptical about it, because the hood has one harsh winter period and dealing with many kids (ACR2), so...hmm.

Since I have no $20K handout installed for the duration of the GS Uberhood challenge, most graduates are going into apartments; however, a couple have graduated with enough money to buy 2x2 lots and start building their homes.

The Moonblossom family started with a tent, an outthouse, an outdoor shower, a cabin just big enough for a stove, icebox, sink, counter, and desk. They had an electric generator somewhere to run the free Humble computer. Furniture Bracken and Darlene had collected during their lives in the SSU Greeks was just dumped on the ground. Outdoor lighting was candles, indoor lighting was from the generator. As they've earned money they've been gradually adding structure as they can afford and need it, and since Bracken got a job in business and Darlene has the computer to write novels on, they've done very well. They arrived on the last day of summer, spent fall building and working and getting pregnant, and now that they've got a toddler and the snow's deep, they've managed to enclose a full bathroom, the living area, the nursery, and finally a bedroom. The living area contained everything while Darlene was pregnant, so she could sleep warm and the baby had a warm place to be born, and if they'd had a financial crisis they could have kept it like that all winter. I'm not letting them build now the snow's deep. They were able to buy some baby stuff, and they also accepted hand-me-downs from friends whose babies had outgrown them. They've had a compost bin from day one, into which garbage and old newspapers were placed (Darlene is a bit abrasive, so her enemies would come along helpfully to kick the trash can), so by the time spring arrives they'll have plenty of compost and be able to get a garden in; and from that point they should be home free as long as they're not extravagant. The lot is about filled up, so when they have more babies and need more space they'll be building up.

Janet Starchild bought her 2x2 lot intending to start a commune. She has a gold gardening badge, so she has a reasonable expectation of making the place self-sufficient. She moved in her fiance Stewart, who proved to be loaded, and his $13K easily allowed them to built a greenhouse and a toilet/kitchen block with a septic tank and a well, but they don't have a generator so they rely on CC kerosene and camp lanterns for light. They're cooking on a grill but Stewart has low cooking points so this is not proving satisfactory. They need a stove soon. No one is suppose to get a job, but Janet's already had one sorority sister come out to live with them and contribute her savings to the mix, so between that and the prospect of getting a mouthwatering crop in before long they aren't really worried. But they're sleeping in tents, and Janet just had her first pop, so the bedroom is a priority.

Other solutions that occur to me are to build a large one-room cabin and have all activity occur in that room or outdoors - this is how almost all cultures did things for a long, long time. Separation of function is a relatively uncommon development in architecture, and honestly has more to do with heating space and the problem of keeping a roof on the place than with practical considerations. For sims, the only considerations are programmed modesty about bathroom problems and noise. If all noisemakers are kept outside, noise is not a problem - and most noisemakers are outside the reach of such a cash-strapped family, anyway. Bathing and waste elimination can be taken care of with cheap dividers or fencing either indoor or outdoor; and there's always the potty bushes.

One thing I'd do if I were running a large hood this way would be to start the neighborhood in the spring, so that everyone had a period of good temperatures during which they can lay the basis of their domestic economy and save resources to build a warm place to sleep. Nobody minds sleeping in tents in the spring, and though in summer they can overheat, a sink takes care of that.

I'd also make sure they had access to useful community lots. In a modern urban setting, a poor family can take advantage of public swimming pools for showers and restroom facilities, even if you don't let them get free hot dogs at public grills or go fishing in the municipal water features. In a more rural setting, a neighborhood fishing hole could have a waterfall shower, so sims could stock up on free sparkly food and get clean. A society may be cash-poor, but rich in resources that can be shared, and community lots are one way to do that.

Another thing that works beautifully is communal living. If brothers Leon and Creon have $3K apiece, they can easily buy a $2,900 lot and then build and furnish with the remaining $3,100, and have a much nicer place than either could have on their own. If each then marries, their wives will bring resources with them - not only cash and goods, but energy, skill, and connections. A number of different domestic arrangements could be used to reduce friction - having separate bedrooms but communal kitchens and nurseries, with clearly-defined and honored division of labor (Mrs. Leon does the bulk of the cooking, Mrs. Creon does the bulk of the repairing, Leon does the cleaning, Creon's the chief gardener, and everybody takes care of the nearest kid) will work so long as everybody pitches in and family culture provides mechanisms for blowing off steam. Hopefully by the time internal pressures advance to the point of schism, the family will have generated sufficient resources to split.

You could also do communal living with the apartment mechanics, if you're good at designing apartments. They always glitch out sooner or later, so I don't recommend them for long-term play, but I can usually keep them going for most of a year, which is a good long chunk of a sim's life.

And even if everybody's in nuclear family units, community can help each other, with more affluent relatives and neighbors sharing resources outright, or trading resources to poor sims for labor (influence them to clean or garden, give them an art object or useful item with a value based on the amount of work done).

With limited funds I usually go with run down apartments. But since apartments are botched in my game for now I suppose I would build a camping-esque cabin. One room, probably an outhouse or bush for the toilet. It's usually easy for me to stay under a very low limit when furnishing homes cause I tend not to decorate a lot lol.

You can't really build anything for that. My council house set here https://www.modthesims.info/d/504400 I did for 10K Small basic on 1 by 2 plots of land. If you used 1 by 1 plots with nothing but a main room and an enclosed bathroom it might be possible.

I too use No-20k-Handout, so my sims routinely move out on their own with less than 2k (4-5k would be like winning the lottery for some of my sims ).

These sims are normally moved into a small home or small apartment using the mini residential lots http://modthesims.info/d/195469, until they can afford to move to something larger. For instance, building a single level apartment on the 1x1 lot offers enough space to have a closed off bathroom, kitchenette, double bed, bookcase and a one tile table with chair all for under §490 (it normally comes out to §483 in my game) a week in rent. So, even if you use a daily bills mod as I do, if the apartment or home is decorated with cheaper furniture (think IKEA stuff items) and a sim/sim couple works, things could turn around for the better in a reasonable amount of time...if no unexpected events (e.g. pregnancy, job loss) occur that is.

I enjoy sims working their way up to better things most of the time, this method also forces me to get them out of the home more to take advantage of amenities that community lots can offer and keep them from going insane from being cooped up in such a small space.

The bed alone costs at least that, how do you build a place like that? or are you using $1 cc? Or do you mean a unit? I have a $200 unit then I have my hostel with the cheapest smallest room at $61.

I wasnt necessary meant building a completly furniturized house for 5K, but rather how to put a strategy with sims who cannot ford a 10K+ house. I was thinking more of those people who basically homeless ,living in the wild, got kicked out from their house or has huge debt.etc but has a family as well.

The only idea I got was cabins (like one above mentioned), but if you can have sims live other way to survive. In that situation, I doubt you normally would spend the starter funds on bars, karaokes, expensive electronics/paintings etc because the sim itself wanted to, but being someone who normally play wealthy sims, I trying to play those sims for a challenge.

But then I dont know how many simmer actually play that kind of sims, but this topic might be a difficult to talk about. Personally I dont include the cost for the lot though, so personally I cant picture playing 1x1 lots with 4+ sims living there with low funds while apartments you cant exactly "expand" the walls.

(Edited the post because I accidently submitted it while writing it. )

Ah, those people - those people that the rich kicked out of their homes and refuses to build them shelters???
A tent is a bit expensive, but you can put two of them in - so tents on lot with a grill and a pond? They may not grow rich, but they should survive during the summer.
When the winter comes - well, perhaps they will revolt!

Oh okay, they rent my units as mentioned above or take out a loan and buy a 10K house or move back with parents. My hostel has a double room so about $400. The $61-$200 unit is for only 1 sim. I also had homeless sims in my last large hood, they had a tiny 'park' with a toilet block and slept in a tent. The baby had a mat thrown down in the toilet block so he didn't freeze. The parents kept themselves warm with lots of canoodling lol.

Justpetro: you are surely crazy about those revolts..
Tents do not need ROOF though. Still having season EP, the idea of sims surviving on that alone in winter feel a bit intruging to play.

I would purchase Cyjon's loan jar and take out a loan enough to build something better than a one-room shanty. Nothing fancy, cheapest furniture, etc. This probably isn't the answer you were looking for.

It can be done, you grab the barrel fireplace and have a small room that you can put a baby/toddler into, mine was just a toilet block with a uni shower and a small two square space.

I tend to start building a bathroom and a livingroom. I have done this a few times and sometimes they end with some big fine houses or just regular family houses. Nothing special actually. But I get them a fridge, a living room and a bathroom and then go on ^^' often they have no tv but a little radio ^^

If your question was meant for me, I build single standalone rental homes/apartments on the 1x1 lot that contain the cheapest toilet, sink, bathtub, kitchen cabinet, stove, Targa's super fridge http://modthesims.info/d/96010, the value window and door from the base game, prior to moving anyone in. I also tend to use inexpensive interior and exterior wall and floor coverings too, but add a little landscaping out front to balance things a bit. This usually puts the rental amount under the §490 mark for moving in. And, the IKEA beds and bookcase are pretty cheap, as are a few CC pieces I have. So, even if a sim only has §2,000, §3,000 or §5,000 to start, they would have more than enough to lease the apartment and buy any missing furnishings...adding a few or even one nice painting tends to keep the room score up.

If they were to purchase the same size empty lot, that particular one actually gives the purchaser §400 (if I'm remembering the amount correctly) instead of charging. So, they actually start out ahead and can just build on the cheap. With some nice recolors of the Maxis items or CC if that is one's preference, you can build on a budget, but still have things look nice.

What you need is empty lot with small pond. A cheapest fridge, a grill, 1 counter with sink, 1 counter, a park bench and a tent. And all-in-one outhouse . They have fun and food from fishing, comfort from bench and a tent. With outhouse you don't need bathroom. Before winter starts you need build just 4 walls and roof and place there tent, bench and bookshelf. No need in floor and paint. Sims are not picky about that.

Sims can survive perfectly well in tents over the winter even if you don't build walls around it. (So can real people, for that matter, even in the most extreme conditions. People climbing Mt. Everest or hiking across the arctic don't lug all the comforts of home along with them. ) I'm currently running a neighborhood where everyone lives in tents because it's all they have yet. (It's a really ground-up neighborhood.) The first lot in the rotation is currently in mid-winter, lots of snow on the ground, and they sleep in tents. They're not necessarily happy or really warm, but they are surviving perfectly well. Their camps look like this: http://dramallamadingdang.tumblr.co...tegral-its-huge

Of course, if they have babies/toddlers, it'll throw off your groove because they can't sleep in tents, but if you prevent babies from happening until they can actually provide for babies, then... Yeah, small lot, a tent or two, a pee bush, stick a water barrel shower in a tree (Pretend they collect rainwater/snowmelt to fill it, and showers will warm them up in the winter. I don't know if those all-in-one things will), and a grill/fridge of some sort (Or be hardcore and make them go to community lots with grills for food, pretend they're begging off other lot visitors), and they're good to go. They may not be happy, but people living in poverty under harsh conditions with no roof over their head generally aren't the happiest people in the world, so... Anyway, they can live perfectly well in this sort of set-up until they have save up money to purchase a "real house." If you'd rather not have the look of a modern tent, then the cabin in this set functions as a tent, if memory serves: http://www.digitalperversion.net/ga...72463#msg672463 It's pretty rustic-looking.

OR, if you want them to have an actual house, you can build a tiny one on a 1x1 lot for less than $5000 pretty easily, even without unrealistically-cheap CC. Make it one room, like a studio apartment, maybe 5x4 in size ought to do, plus a little 3x1 bump-out for a bathroom with a cheap toilet and that communal shower. Use the cheapest bed. Or Inge's CC shelf beds so they don't take up floor space. For food, a mini-fridge with a microwave sitting on it; they live on ramen and frozen TV dinners, so no counters needed because there's no prep-work. Of course, if you're historical, you're probably not using microwaves, so in that case, mini-fridge, the cheap stove and use the kitchen counter OMSP so they can do the prep-work on any surface (or on the floor) so no counters required. They don't need a sink; they'll throw dishes in the outdoor trashcan. With any money left over, get them something for entertainment that doesn't take up space, like a cheap radio you can sit on top of the mini-fridge or something. Instead of a full bookcase, if you want them to have one, get a pile of books that functions as a bookcase (Mutske made some: I'm sure there are others out there.) and stick that on top of the mini-fridge, too. If they have sprogs, one-tile cribs. (You don't really NEED a changing table, but there's one-tile versions of those, too.) Yeah, some of that's sort-of-cheaty CC, but if you're going to alter how the game is "supposed" to be played (i.e. with 20K hand-outs), then I think fudging some things is OK.

My two homeless tots did okay with the toilet block. Sometimes I had to rotate who was inside and who was outside. For all the winter was cold the father only fell over frozen once and nobody died from it. I wouldn't suggest a new player try it but if you know a few tricks like making out and a fire barrel, drinking from the sink to cool down ect, it can be done with a family.

Skip items that aren't needed on a daily basis in the beginning. Enough seating for studies, cheap bookcase (cooking, cleaning, mechanical, social @ diary), kitchen only needs stove, sink, fridge and one counter for food prep to start, add a mirror over sink for some hygiene (cooking, cleaning, charisma and social gains). Bathroom only needs a toilet and shower, sink and bathtub, if needed can be added later. A cheap radio for body skills and dancing for fun. Single or double bed, one sim can use a sofa or recliner (energy, comfort) Easel for $$ and creativity, chess table (logic), one chair if money is short. Phone (social, relationships), alarms, safety and not having items stolen. Walls and floors, one cheap ceiling light per room. Community lot visits can provide for whatever is lacking until a sim can earn more. This covers all needs and skills.

Forgot to mention tiny lots, 1x1 being the smallest. One thing some probably don't know about these small lots, the prices give money instead of taking away, the price of a 1x1 is about -$140., meaning your sim has gained this money instead of paying for a 2x2 or larger. (:

Forgot to mention books and added them

It's more like -400, Duine, but that goes pretty fast once you put up some walls and such. But starting with a 1x1 lot, you can put up a 4x4 room with the cheapest door, skip flooring and wall covers, and the cheapest double bed, and you've got a shack for your sim to squat in to the tune of ~1250. Another 75 for a phone and you can call for a pizza, and chat up other sims. Or skip the phone and walk to a community lot if you have the higher EPs installed.

5K is very little to start with for building, even for me. I haven't done any extremely-low-budget builds in TS2, but I've gotten pretty good at them in TS3, where I consider 8K (after purchasing the lot but before putting anything on it) to be extremely-low-budget. Sometime I should try an extremely-low-budget build in TS2...

PSDuckie:
In my hood, 5K are the lowest of the low type of sims - homeless, slaves, sims in debt etc. Its a group of sims I rarely challenged myself to play and I dont expect their life is going to go so smooth.

I started this thread because I got inspired to play one of these kind of sims Ive seen challenges where people play homeless sims with limited funds, though I probably wont that cruel and put their stuff in the inventory.

Usually the cheapest lots cost 11K, but these sims get the actual lot for free (a 2,9K 2x3 lot) to expand on. Because With ACR2 set on high try for baby (its pre-historic hood), I doubt they would be able to live in those 1x1/1x2 lots.

I prefer choosing a specific starting funds depending on the life of my sim so My wealthy sims start between 500 to 250K, Middle class 250-150K, Low Class 100-25, and Poverty 20-5K

My 8K starts (in TS3; I've never done an 8K start in TS2) are generally the start of either a legacy challenge or an apocalypse challenge. Actually, I find an 8K start in an apocalypse challenge easier than an 8K start in a regular legacy challenge, as a lot of items are banned at the start of an apocalypse challenge, meaning less stuff to place (example: I forgo a shower in such a start) and thus less money used.

I am considering starting a legacy in TS2, and if I do, I'll probably end up doing a low-budget, if not extremely-low-budget, start. I'm not exactly sure what the budget for that start will be, as I haven't decided what size lot I'll be starting on (either 5x5 or 5x6, but I haven't decided which), and I haven't decided whether to do the legacy in the first place.

They'd probably end up lawn living here til they got more money. I like large houses, and can't really seem to build small ones and the lot would take up much of their funds. My houses are all multi-generational, so they don't really need to move at all, like ever unless something gets glitchy.

Mine get mortgages - welcome to adulthood.

They can go and squat on the royal lawns