10 Ways to Make Money in The Sims 4 (With & Without Cheats)

Looking for ways to make your sims rich? Whether you want to raise those household funds the old fashioned way or prefer a cheat to get there immediately, we’ll show you how to make money!

There’s a saying that “money can’t buy happiness,” but we all know that money definitely makes things easier. As nice as it would be to be able to build up money IRL as easily as you can in The Sims 4 we’re unfortunately not so lucky, but we can live vicariously through our sims by giving them a lavish lifestyle instead!

Making Money With Game Mechanics: Jobs, Gigs, Freelancing, and so much More

There are multiple ways your sims can make money through regular gameplay, and you can combine several methods to really rake in those simoleons.

Part-time and Full-time Jobs

Sims can use the phone or computer to find a job, or you can do so directly from the School/After School Activity/Career tab. Sims can choose from an Active Career (requires Get to Work), a regular full-time job, or a part-time job in which case you can choose your sim’s schedule. Each type of job will have tasks your sim is expected to complete daily to increase their work performance along with some longer-term requirements, such as advancing a skill.

Odd Jobs

If you have Island Living your sims can look for Odd Jobs, which are one-time gigs that vary in intensity and price. Sometimes they’re simply rabbit hole activities while other times they require your sim to perform a certain task, such as collecting items. You can find these jobs through your sim’s phone, though you can only have one active at a time. Sims who have a regular job can also do Odd Jobs on the side if they want to make money beyond what their job provides.

Business Ownership

Depending on the packs you have, there are multiple business types your sim can own. These include retail lots, restaurants, and Vet Clinics. You will have to take your sim to their owned business in order to operate it and make money, so it works somewhat like an Active Career. Sims will have to do their best to keep their business running smoothly and have the option to hire on employees to help with the work, for a price. You can buy a business through the phone.

Learn about Perk Points to make your businesses thrive!

Freelancing

If your sim has a penchant for writing, programming, or creating art they can take on a career as a Freelancer. Instead of a daily work schedule your sims will take on a client and complete a job for them, moving from client to client as you complete each job. Your sim will have to keep disciplined and carve out time to work on their jobs, and the faster they complete a job the faster they can move on to the next.

The Paranormal Stuff pack adds another freelancing job, the Paranormal Investigator. Unlike the other freelancing jobs, your sim will have to work on their skills before they will be accepted into this career path. With Dream Home Decorator sims can make money by taking on clients to makeover spaces in their homes. Instead of working from home your sim will travel to the lot of their clients to complete these jobs, so it’s kind of a mix between a normal freelancing gig and an Active Career.

Check out our guide to the Paranormal Investigator career!

Thrifting

With the High School Years expansion, sims were introduced to thrifting and creating fashionable new looks for money. Sims can browse the racks at the ThrifTea lot in Copperdale and curate their own outfits which you can choose the price for, and if another sim fancies what you’ve created they’ll buy it! Popular and famous sims will increase the demand for your looks, allowing you to really pull in those simoleons. Trends are always changing though, so you’ll have to keep on top of what’s hot in order to be successful.

Crafting

Crafted items can be listed on the website Plopsy that came with Knifty Knitting, where other sims can make offers on your wares. Listings will last for 3 days so you can hold out for the best offer possible. If you accept a sim’s offer, make sure you ship it out to them in a timely fashion! Craftables available for listing on Plopsy include things like knitted clothing, needlepoint, candles, paintings, photos, floral arrangements, small pieces of woodworking, and potions. Your sim can also buy items from others on Plopsy.

Use these knitting cheats to make high-quality crafts every time!

Royalties

Creative sims who don’t want to be beholden to a regular job or just want to bring in some extra money on the side can send out their works to earn a weekly royalty check. Sims can publish books they’ve written, license songs, or share videos online to earn royalties. If your sim gets really good at it, they can rely entirely on royalties to get them by!

More on SNOOTYSIMS: Getting Simoleons From Royalties: All You Need To Know!

Collectibles

The worlds of The Sims 4 are littered with collectable objects such as crystals, fossils, fish, snow globes, posters, frogs, insects, produce, and flowers. These finds can be sold directly from your sim’s inventory, or you can attend the Flea Market (requires City Living) and stock the table with your finds.

You can also sell anything else directly from your sim’s inventory, such as crafted items.

Other Miscellaneous Ways

In addition to the various methods already shared, there are a few other misc ways your sims can make money:

• Sims can work at a coffee or juice bar to earn tips
• Musical sims can busk for tips
• Contests such as karaoke and festival challenges include money as part of their prizes (as well as new items your sims can sell from their inventory if they don’t want/need them)
• There are several ways your sim can potentially inherit money, such as through scenarios, random phone calls, or the death of a loved one

Making Money Instantly through Cheats

If none of the above options appeal to you or you simply want the funds to immediately build the lot & story you’ve envisioned in your head, there are several money cheats you can use:

• Typing rosebud into the cheat console will give you 1000 simoleons; this is a cheat code that’s been around since The Sims 1!
• Typing kaching into the cheat console will give you 1000 simoleons.
• Typing rosebud into the cheat console will give you 50000 simoleons.
• If you prefer to choose exactly how much money your sims have, try the cheat Money [X] where [X] is whatever dollar amount you wish. This cheat can also be used to decrease the amount of money your sims have, if you need to do so for a challenge.

If you need help learning how to activate cheats, check out our guide.

More on SNOOTYSIMS: The Sims 4 Banking Mod: A Valuable Financial System for the Game (2023 Update!)

Final Thoughts

There are so many ways to make money in The Sims 4, your sims can live whatever life you desire for them! If they want the grind of the 9-5, it’s there. If they want to run their own business, it’s there. If they want to make a living off of things they create, it’s there. If you want to give them all the money they’ll ever need without doing any of these things, it’s there. I hope you learned something new from this list, have fun with it and happy simming!

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