@monijt1 and @smorbie1 - How does your homeless lot or prison hood work? They sound interesting, maybe for that one family that's still way behind when everyone else has got back to work and started paying down their debts.

@FranH - That welfare table sounds like what I read about months ago but didn't realize it was an object, so I ended up with the one-level Social Security Recipient career instead. I'll take a look and see which I prefer, for this and other hoods. Thank you!

@joandsarah77 - I like your grungy hostel - mine is much too neat and clean to be a last resort in case of abject poverty. Bunk beds (mentioned in your council house blurb) are a great idea, whether I'm moving families into less expensive 'nice' apartments or putting them in the hostel. The council houses don't fit the rules for this hood, but they'd be perfect for Sheffield and Greater Pleasantview. Do I need mod to allow for the tiny lot size? Right now I only have vanilla Maxis lots, which start at 1x3 and 2x2.

@Peni Griffin - Now you come to mention it, Mary Feinstein knows just what you mean and thinks it's a brilliant idea! The other ladies were quite horrified.

What I do generally depends on which Sim. Some of them will borrow money (generally with Monique's computer; as it attaches itself to the bills it's harder to ignore than Cyjon's Loan Jar), some of them will dig for rocks, some will sell their shit, some of them will move in with family or friends, and some will just ignore it until the Repoman shows up. I don't like to use money cheats too often but I will on occasion.

No mods needed for tiny lots. You can download a set of 'Sunny Side Lots' here: http://modthesims.info/d/251798 these are simply shrunk mini lots with the sun hitting the front of the lot. My council houses are Maxis lots, I simply shrunk each side in by 5 squares thereby making them cheaper. No CC used at all. because I built then shrunk I could build one tile from the edge, so making the most of the space. On tiny lots you then build on you will still run into the 2 tile edge limit to building.

I also have a homeless lot (not for upload) that I play. Homeless sims are allowed to scrounge from the bin/trash can. Sims find objects doing that and sell them to the air. I use a mod for that. In the vanilla game only 0-1 neat sims can do this. They make $2-20 each dig through, but it can take a while and tanks hygiene. To combat that I also have a sponge bath mod so any sim can sponge bath instead of just on rare occasion when they do so autonomously. I also use a panhandling mod which I got recently but it needs some tweaking since it only works on the home lot and I want it to work on comm lots. I also have them busk on come lots (entertain for tips)
The lot I use is a run down park, basically weeds and a toilet block. The couple there now have one sleeping bag inside and one cardboard box bed outside and an esky/cooler under the counter is a fridge. They mostly eat hotdogs on comm lots though. They have no bills or paper delivery because you wouldn't. They can only buy things small enough to carry home on a bus. So they have some bongo drums and a tiny counter easel to skill creativity (so entertaining for tips makes better money with skill) They need to make $1K before I let them rent a room at the hostel. They then may take an NPC job. I have 2 downloads of these.http://modthesims.info/d/328682

However if you like I also have a homeless career. Years ago I tested this for Calista on Boolprop forums and she had an incredibly hard homeless challenge to go with it. I don't use the challenge since it's a bit too tough even for me for normal playing. The 'job' itself is gruelling, very long hours for about $10. My sims would pass out on the footpath on getting home. It needs lots of skills to advance.

Pictures of some of my homeless sims.

I have that one tier Social Security career. The only problem with it is that it pays out only once a week, when the recipients go to make their office visit. The welfare check comes in every day (and in many cases-due to AL-twice a day). It can be increased with skills being improved and by having children. But it does make sure that once a pixel has a job, that's it!

Oh, and you're welcome!

If they are one of my favorite Sims I may use a cheat for more money, most of my Sims have never been in that position, but then again I don't have many poor Sims, plus everyone have a job.
Plus I don't have Apartment EPs my Sims even if they are somewhat poor or not they all have a home,even if it is only one room with a bath and a place to cook. Yes and that automatic pay bill that FranH mention work very well.

NOTE: Also there is a Begging mod where Sims can get out and ask for money, I know Simslice made one but I do not see it at the Booty on the list.

That is the panhandling mod that I mentioned above, but it needs fixing to work on comm lots. Sims only make $5 each from that plus the card thing needs to be bought and placed on the ground each time. The sim pictured above us using it @Simonut Picture 2.

Do you have a link to the panhandling mod? I've been using 'freestyle for tips' in lieu of begging, but it looks rather silly.

@Bulbizarre are you on Discord, it's easy to drop files in there. Sims will make a lot more money with freestyle for tips, my sims can make $100 if they have some skills. I am hoping to tweak it with Gina's help because A)I want it to work on com lots rather than on the home lot and B) I want them to earn a little more money.

Yeah, I'm in the MTS server.

Dig, dig, dig - all day, all night, all week long if needed Bones are 45 simoleons each - so if that is all they find, dig until there is enough (at least to buy back the bath the repoman took )

@joandsarah77 I don't know how I miss that Panhander / begging mod picture you posted, I have that mod by Simslice, but don't remember where I got it, I don't see it on Booty.

Jo's how is your homeless sims family ?

In my integrated hood, I move sims into homeless lots, when they can't afford a home or can't move into public housing due to back loans (my sims can't receive welfare if they own loans or child support). My homeless lots are just small empty lots. Sims sleep in tents and use portal potties to use the bathroom and shower. Sims only move out the homeless lot, once they make enough money to fully back their loans or buy a house. I only have one sim that was homeless, but she died from the flu before she was able to get back on her feet.

Also, I only let adult and elder sims more into homeless lots. Since they are at fault for becoming homeless, they have the face the consequences. Children sims move in with relatives, so they don't deal with the pain of being homeless.

I only have one sim couple homeless right now @Simonut The other couple (red haired girl, blond guy) they have moved up to my hostel and now have NPC jobs, they are mail carriers.

The couple who there now, well she wanted to pet the skunk... so I let her lol. Just as well they can sponge bath!

Jo's hahaha that is so funny happy to know your once homeless couple is off the street and working. Poor other homeless Sims wanted a skunk, can you befriend those critters ? Without getting spray.

@joandsarah. I see what you mean about Calista's challenge! I would definitely use the homeless career track, and might incorporate many of her rules for homeless living, but not all of them. I like the sound of those other mods, too - any Sim should be able to sponge-bath, dumpster dive or panhandle if dirty or broke enough.

I think of all the ways I've tried to play Sims with a heavy debt load, the one that's worked best has been to place mortgage shrubs so that the cost of buying a house is just about zero, then use the family funds cheat to set each family's funds to $500 or less. The shrubs take payment every day, so can't be ignored, and there is no inheritance for children until the mortgage has been paid off - they just inherit the outstanding debt when their parents die. To that, I can now add that if ever Sims can't pay the shrub interest, they will be forced to move out and live on a homeless lot. I don't have tents (no Bon Voyage), but might use dilapidated buildings in which homeless Sims can be squatters; they would be able to use the toilet and shower as long as they paid the bills (many RL squatters do pay utility bills), but they would have to earn what they could on community lots and couldn't get social security benefits or a proper job, except on the Homeless track, until they'd scraped together enough to pay two weeks' rent on an apartment (I'd deduct a week's rent from family funds as a deposit, because of their low credit rating) or buy a place without a mortgage.

So I'm going to start the hood over with mortgages instead of rent and different rules about jobs. The apartment rules just weren't working - Sims were either too broke or got out of poverty too easily.

Hehe yeah, not for the faint of heart. One bug I found with the career was my tester sim turned into a plantsim since I tried to save money on food by growing produce, and then couldn't go to work, it would fall out of queue.

There's a very small chance that Sims will be able to pet the skunk without getting sprayed, but I've never seen it happen myself.

Really? I've never seen that. That would be interesting.

http://modthesims.info/showthread.p...unk#post5239527

So it's in the prima guide, but we don't know if it's accurate or not. Anyone here ever seen a sim pet a skunk and not get sprayed?

Joandsarah, if you look at the thread that was linked, there is someone there who said they saw a sim pet the skunk without getting sprayed.

I must have missed that.

Bwahahahaha <evil laugh> oh yes I enjoy indebting my little sims. To be fair though, they earn so much money otherwise that it's been fun to think of inventive ways of getting rid of it! And my system helps me keep three classes (upper, middle, and lower) more or less distinct.

I do a couple of things to have them GET debt:

They must pay taxes, which are a portion of their monthly (daily) income (I think I charge something like the daily rate / 4 x 3 or something like that)
These taxes are paid to the mayor, who then uses that money to upkeep the public service community lots like the library and the park. I like to have the mayor own these lots so that they can be 'improved' when there's budget and 'degraded' when there isn't.

I make my sims pay tuition for uni. The private unis charge 50k, the average or middling ones take the majority of students and charge 30k, and the lower end unis charge around 20k. Sims need to earn an A (for private) B (for average) or a C (for lower end) to get into the school the want, and they also need to pay for it. Scholarships are used, but they start right out with debt when they graduate to offset those higher wages that they walk into.

Banking. I have the PCSims banking mod, and sims have an unholy fixation on credit. They snatch up credit cards and bank books as soon as I play the banking lot. I send new sims there to get these things, and watch the playables and townies pour in to get them themselves. From there, any time they don't have the family funds for expanding the house or renting an apartment, I just let them use a credit card or a bank book. The debt racks up, but it truly is more realistic. If they don't make their payments on time, the repo man comes. This way (for finance sims at least) there's a real risk of having a fear fulfilled instead of a want.

Disposable income is flushed away in my hood, but some sims still manage. Mortimer is able to survive as I don't tax retired elders as much. I also provide welfare assistance (because I'm not completely cruel) and sims with children get an extra dispensation to help support them. Still, I designed the system to make sure that while sims don't starve, they aren't going to get rich sitting on their backsides either.

I love your mortgage shrub usage @BlueAlien, I just wish I could change the object type since not every lot in my hoods really works with a shrub outside. I'm thinking of maybe using Cyjons loan jar instead to create mortgages, but I currently force sims to take out several loans to build and furnish their houses via the Bank set.

I was about to ask you, how do your sims have so much money, but ah PCsims banking, now I know why. I tried that once and was like oh my plumbob! at all the flying cash. *quickly deleted it* My sims would be lucky to make 20K over their lifetime lol. A 50K uni would mean nobody would ever go!

Hahaha - I wanted to get rid of all the excess cash so I added the banking system! It does give them as much money as they need - but they have to pay it all back or the repoman comes (and keeps coming). Suddenly they just don't seem to earn enough!