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Can you lower the bills? Getting off the "grid"? Solar panels?
FlamingoKicker1
Posts: 4,474 Member
I'm not sure how the game calculates the ridiculous bills they send our sims but there has to be some way to lower them cause they are just getting out of hand. My sims are still getting started in their jobs and suddenly they are getting huge bills for almost nothing. What are they getting charged for? Electricity? Water? OK, that makes sense but maybe there should be solar panels in the game so you can get off the "grid" and not have to pay for electricity anymore. Maybe there are and I'm just not seeing them.
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Like if people use the money cheat and then build (or buy off the gallery) a really big house with all the best stuff the more in bills you pay. Maybe consider downgrading your house until your sims make more money to keep up with their bills? Or let the power get shut off and then bum off your neighbors. :wink:
Shutting off the TV(s), stereo(s), and switching lights to "Auto Lights" saves a few simoleons as well.
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The proper way was to make the bills calculate every penny that the household has earned be it from salary, selling collected items etc and deduct a percentage from that.
The percentage should have been determined by how big the lot is (indicating wealth of the sim, poor, middle class and rich)
for example
- bigger lots representing the rich sims should get an income tax of 35% from their weekly income. Means if in one week that household made 4000 income from different sources the tax/bill will be 1400
- Medium lots representing the middle class should pay 25% of their income
- Small lots representing poor sims should pay 15% of their weekly income.
The bill will count the weekly income no matter if that income is spent on buying things or not.
I find a system like that would be more fair if it is based on the income and not on the items available on the lot. One week your sims might earn 3000 and the next week he might just earn 500 but his bills stays the same at a high rate. Income tax would have made a better solution than how the bill is counted.
Solar Panels seems like it could be really awesome.
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I'd like it if bills were treated that way. It makes more sense honestly.
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*There's nothing wrong with loving the Sims 4, there's also nothing wrong with seeking improvements.
A list of Mods I use.|My Sims 4 Mod and CC "Master" post. Helpful Links included.
Can I just say, by the way, that before this latest Trick or Treat contest and the little chest that came with it, the inventory increasing the bills was the dirtiest and most horrible idea I'd ever seen implemented in the game to boot?
If you have Outdoor and you want to boost that herbalism skill, or if you have Get to Work and you want to sell a bunch of pictures and items in your store, but you have to carry it in your inventory for a while first, your bills would skyrocket. I had one Sim living in a teeny tiny house, but I was making her grow tons and tons of produce and having her mine in the little...mining spots. I was going to make it so she'd be "rich off of the land".
And then her bill was thousands of Simoleans and I was freaking out because I didn't know why in the world her bills were so high. This? This explains it. I hope that this is somehow fixed at some point in the future, if it hasn't been already.
I don't even think it's a bug. It feels intentional, especially seeing how happy Graham gets when someone complains about high bills. It's a bit odd to me though. Sucks when you have a gardening sim and just so happen to harvest right before the bills arrive and all of a sudden have to sell your children just to afford your bills.
*There's nothing wrong with loving the Sims 4, there's also nothing wrong with seeking improvements.
A list of Mods I use.|My Sims 4 Mod and CC "Master" post. Helpful Links included.
Does anyone know if storing them in the chest negates them from bills?
As for going "off grid"...
Don't pay the bills. Power gets cut off first, then water. Candles and camping lights work still, coolers, grills, firepits etc. Just nothing that needs to be plugged in or requires plumbing. You can either use public showers/toilets, or let your sims pee themselves and make Herbalism "cleansing cream" (I forget the name) which works like a shower-in-a-can. I think swimming in pools also raises hygiene (slowly), but doesn't require plumbing (so add a pool/pond/lake/natural pool to swim in).
I can't remember if the the camping shower stall works with water turned off, but the design looks like it should do. Same with small radios (they may be battery powered?).
Where are the candles? I'd assume under Lighting but I looked and couldn't find them. I'll have to hunt again. I should have everything that is currently available. I've tried to figure out a way to have a candlelit dinner but it's either full lights or nothing.
I have some very nice homes I built for my Sims which aren't expensive at all but they have everything they 'need' and their bills are no more than $200 or $300. However, if I build on a land like at the Oakenstead lot in WC their bills are $10,000 a week and they don't even have the most expensive TVs hardly any painting, no inventory items, (Because I have to sell all collections and art work, lol) or the most expensive bathroom or kitchen fixtures. Location matters, people.
A week in the Sim's life used to be a year.
Hey I have the MC Command. can you tell me what MC command does for bills?
Have you tested putting the same house (if it would fit) on a cheap lot like next to the river or train tracks? It might be cheaper.
It's a setting under the mccmdcenter. The same place you would find the pause on load setting. If it's set to -100, bills would be zero. You can set somewhere in between or even higher,. Nb if you have the child support setting enabled and have children outside of the active lot, this will add to bills ( hence a setting of -100 wouldn't be zero)
I haven't actually used it yet, I just remember it being a change in the most recent update. So you'd need to grab the most recent (2.1.0) if you haven't already.
Objects by function > Lighting > Miscellaneous. (candles and possibly camping lights)
There is a terracotta tray with 3 scented candles, a metal/glass paraffin/kerosene lamp, a square glass candle lantern (PPS) and the gas/battery camping lights (OR). Others too.
Thank you so much, I will look for it but I would be more interested in this child support thing.
At the moment I have a different mod that lowers the bills and make them moderate.
Having said that I really would like an option to live off the grid and away from electricity and technology. I really cant stand how all sims automatically have smart phones because it limits me to modern stories.
I cant get the camping lights to work while my power is off..