How to Get Lots of Money in the Sims 3 Without Using Cheats or Getting a Job

Last Updated: September 2, 2022

The Sims 3 is a really fun game that basically simulates life. One of the things you have to do in Sims, just like in real life, is to earn money. It is very fun to have lots of money, but without cheats, it can be pretty difficult. So then, you can get your Sim a job. However, it can get really boring waiting for your Sim to complete work. So how do you make lots of money without getting a job? This guide will teach you how!

Method 1

Method 1 of 13:

Painting

1
Go to Build and Buy Mode and buy your Sim an easel. You can place it anywhere, try suggest placing it outside so that you can have a bit more room in your Sim's house.
2
Go back to Live Mode, click on the easel, and select the interaction that appears. You'll have the option to paint a big, medium, or small painting. Paint a big painting as it may sell for more.

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3
Sell your painting when it is finished. It will not sell for much to begin with, but as your painting skill increases, you will be able to sell your paintings for a lot of money!

Method 2

Method 2 of 13:

Writing

1
Go to Build and Buy Mode and buy your Sim a computer. If you can, buy an expensive one so that it is less likely to break.
2
Go back to Live Mode, click on the computer, and select the Write interaction. You will likely get to choose which genre you write. Choose whatever genre you want, but try to select a genre that will open up a new writing genre. For example, if you write a few Trashy genre books, and you are a Hopeless Romantic Sim, then you will get to write the Romance genre.
3
Publish and sell your book when it is finished. If it is good enough to be published, you may see it on the library or bookstore's bookshelves!

Method 3

Method 3 of 13:

Inventing

1
Go to Build and Buy Mode and purchase a workbench for your Sim. It is a good idea to build a separate room for the workbench as it takes up a lot of space. Please note: Sims 3 Ambitions is required to be able to invent/ purchase a workbench.
2
Return to Live Mode, click on the workbench, and select Dabble or whatever comes up. There will also be the options to purchase scrap metal, which you can do but a) you won't need scrap metal just yet and b) if you have Sims Pets 3, then you can adopt/buy a dog and get it to give up scrap metals.
3
Go to your inventory and sell your creation. Your Sim's first creation will only be a toy and it will not sell for more than a few dollars, but as you invent more and more, your inventions will become wackier and sell for more! However, to power your extravagant inventions, you will need some scrap metal (which you can purchase at the workbench, or dig it up with a dog in the Sims Pets) to power your invention, or you will need a ghost (which you can catch with the ghost zapper, which you will invent eventually, or you can get a cat to catch them in Sims Pets) to power your invention.

Method 4

Method 4 of 13:

Fishing

1
Command your Sim to go to any fishing spot.
2
Click on the icon near the fishing spot and select Fish. If your Sim isn't catching anything, try buying some bait.
3
Sell the fish you have caught. The bigger and rarer the fish, the more money it will be worth!

Method 5

Method 5 of 13:

Guitar

1
Go to Build and Buy Mode and purchase a Son flux Guitar. Place it anywhere you'd like, inside or outside.
2
Click on the guitar, and select Practice Playing. Once your Sim's skill level for guitar goes up to about level 4 or 5, you will be able to follow the next step.
3
Click on your guitar, select Put In Inventory, go to a busy park, go to your inventory, select the guitar, and select Play For Tips. If you are good enough, you might earn a bit of money from people who are watching you play.

Method 6

Method 6 of 13:

Collecting

1
Go anywhere outside. Try going just outside your house, in the front and back yard, or go to a park.
2
Look for things like small animals that you can pick up. When you find one, click on it and collect it.
3
Go to your inventory and sell the thing that you just collected. The rarer the thing you collect, the more it will sell for.
4
Exit your inventory and keep looking for collectibles. This method can be hit or miss as it is not really a skill that your Sim gets better at so it's basically your ability for this method, not your Sim's ability.

Method 7

Method 7 of 13:

Mooch

1
Go to Create A Sim and create a Sim with the Mooch trait or select a premade Sim that is already in the neighborhood and has the Mooch trait to play as.
2
Build up a high relationship with somebody who is rich. It is best to become at least Best Friends with them.
3
Click on the rich Sim who you are Best Friends with, select the Special category and then select the Mooch category, and finally select the Mooch Big Amount of Money. You can also select Mooch Food, but that will only give you food, not money. However, mooching food is a good way to keep costs down since it will get you free food!
4
Keep mooching. Don't do it too often, do it only once or twice per visit with the Sim. Eventually, you will get a lot of money!

Method 8

Method 8 of 13:

Cat (Sims Pets Required)

1
Adopt or purchase a full-grown cat if you don't already have one. You can also make one in Create A Sim Mode. If you make the cat in Create A Sim Mode, give it the Hunter Trait and possibly the Adventurous trait.
2
Click on your cat and select the Teach To Hunt interaction. If you have purchased a version of the game where you can control your pet (such as The Sims Pets 3 for PlayStation 3), instead of getting your Sim to teach the cat to hunt, simply click anywhere outside, select the Hunting... interaction and then select the Stalk Something interaction (it will be the only interaction on the list). If you can't control your cat in your version of The Sims Pets 3, just use the Teach To Hunt interaction often (note that if you use it too much your cat will probably get the Brain Hurts moodlet and you will not be able to teach your cat anything for several hours).
3
Check your inventory to see if your cat caught anything. If they did, sell what your cat caught (they will probably catch a beetle). The rarer the thing caught, the more the thing will sell for! As you probably figured, this method is just like the collecting method but it is much more efficient!

Method 9

Method 9 of 13:

Digging (Sims Pets Recommended)

1
If you have Sims Pets, adopt or buy a full-grown dog. If you can control the dog, while playing as your dog, click anywhere outside, select the Digging... option, and then select the Dig interaction (it will be the only interaction on the list). If you can't control your dog, get your Sim to use the Teach To Dig interaction on your dog often (if you use this too much on your dog, however, your dog will get the Brain Hurts moodlet and you will not be able to teach your dog anything for several hours).
2
If you do not have Sims Pets, click anywhere outside and instead of selecting the Go Here interaction, select the Dig Here interaction. This will dig a hole and you will possibly find something buried underground...
3
Go to your inventory and sell the item that you dug up. You will probably only dig up something like iron or a seed instead of a gem. Sell it anyway. After a while of digging, you will find things that are even more rare and valuable which means that they will sell for much more money.

Method 10

Method 10 of 13:

Guitar Extra (Requires Bridgeport)

This method requires the map Bridgeport for the subways. It comes with the 'late night' expansion.

1
Get your guitar level to 5. Learn a composition.
2
Pause the game and stack up your action bar with 'Play (Composition name )'. For starters, it would usually be something like "yes mam, I do".
3
Hit play. After the first line of each time, it's played cancel the action.
4
Do this as many times as you are willing.
5
Go to any of the subways and play for tips. At first you'll only get maybe 80 - 300 per, maybe 30 minutes. As your guitar skill increases and the more compositions you play, you can earn a lot of money. In a small amount of time, you could be earning 40,000-100,000 a day. That's with maybe 6-10 hours of playing. This is definitely enough to get by living the fancy life!

Method 11

Method 11 of 13:

Harvestables

1
Grow your own fruit and vegetables.
2
Harvest when ready.
3
Sell the produce through build and buy. Or, sell it using the market stand at a community lot or the grocery store.

Method 12

Method 12 of 13:

Future Lotto (Requires Sims 3: Into the Future)

1
Fix up the Time Portal
2
Go into the Future
3
Go to the Park (where the City Hall will be located)
4
Check for Lotto Records until you find one
5
Return to the present and buy a lottery ticket! yes!

Method 13

Method 13 of 13:

Plants vs. Zombies Sunflower (Requires Premium Content from The Sims 3 Store)

1
Place down some Plants vs. Zombies™ Sunflowers in your house outside.
2
Wait for the plants to start producing Sun, then sell the Sun in Buy mode.
3
Plant more Sunflowers in the house to produce more Sun over time.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I get a time portal?

Community Answer

You need to get the Sim 3 "Into the Future" expansion pack. Once you have the pack, a portal should appear near your home after a while. Do the quest to fix the portal after interacting with it. Once you have done this, you will be able to use the portal.
Question

My Sim lives in an apartment. I cannot plant and there are no lakes nearby. How can I still earn money, then?

Community Answer

You can invent (ambitions expansion) or paint to make money. Sculpting is also a good idea (ambitions expansion). You can also put your Sim into the woods to search for metals and things to sell. Once you get enough money, leave the apartment and find a proper house for your Sim. More space = more stuff to do = more money!
Question

If I want to go to Future, do I have to fix the portal?

Happygreengirl12

Community Answer

Yes, you do. You only have to collect some of the little time-travel things and the only thing that takes forever is the loading, so it's not that bad.

Warnings

Entering the cheat will sometimes make your computer freeze or makes the game slower and/or exits due to an error.

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