I started missing all the challenges we had for Sims 3 and so I wrote a homeless challenge for Sims 4. I will gladly modify it, so all feedback is very welcome! Feel free to point out if something sounds funny, it's probably just because I'm not a native speaker of English.

Credits: I'm grateful to all Sims 2 and 3 Homeless Challenge writers for inspiration. I'm not directly adapting anyone's challenge here, however.

DESCRIPTION
You are a sim who has to face the harsh realities of living without a place you can call home. You can choose your background yourself. Are you a runaway country girl or a businessman who has suddenly lost his job and his house, for example? Whatever the reason for your homelessness, you’ll need to survive by any means necessary and slowly build a better life for yourself. It won’t be easy, but you’ll experience The Sims 4 from a very different point of view and may find yourself in some surprising and amusing situations along the way.

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GOAL
To have 5 000 simoleons in cash and a basic house. How you do this is up to you. After you’ve completed the challenge, if you want to continue playing, all the restrictions are removed.

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SETUP
-Create a sim, either young adult or adult. You may choose your traits and aspiration if you want to, but I recommend picking them randomly for a more interesting challenge (you can use random.org , for example). Clothes must look cheap and worn, if possible. You may choose your style and make it suit your background - just remember that if something looks more elegant than shabby, it’s not ok.
-Buy an empty lot.
-Remove all your money (see the instructions below).
-Start playing and have fun!

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RULES AND INSTRUCTIONS
-You may not move out, get married or have a steady boyfriend / girlfriend. You can have a baby, however.
-You may not get a job before the requirements are met, because nobody wants to hire you (see below).
-Collecting, fishing, gardening, digging for treasure, rummaging in trash cans, asking for loans, writing books, painting, playing an instrument etc. are permitted and can be used for making money. Use your imagination! Only regular careers are forbidden.
-You’re not allowed to build on your starting lot or to buy anything that you can’t carry in your inventory before you’ve applied for the building permit (see below).
-Instructions for changing the amount of money you have: Press Ctrl + Shift + C to open the cheat console, turn cheats on (if you haven’t already) by writing testingcheats on and hitting Enter, then write money "amount here" (no quotations) and hit Enter. You have to use this cheat code when you buy something specified in this challenge, eg. a new set of clothes, or if you earn something as a domestic helper, for example. For all other purposes you can just use the build and buy mode. If you don’t want to or can’t use cheats, you can invent your own system for this (buy trees to spend money, for example)

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MINI CHALLENGES

The following mini challenges are all optional, so if you want to have a simple challenge, you can ignore all or some of them. The rewards you’ll get for completing these challenges will make it easier for you to reach the goal, however.

Auntie Edna
Your distant relative is impressed at how well you’re doing despite your circumstances. She gives you 1000 simoleons .
Requirements:
-7 points in one skill or 5 points in two different skills.

Building permit
After applying for a building permit, you’re allowed to build on your starting lot and buy furniture.
Requirements:
-Cost 500 simoleons

Domestic worker
You can do household chores for families to earn a little money.
Requirements:
-You need to buy a set of clean clothes, cost 150 simoleons.
-You need to have at least three skill points in one of the following: Cooking / Gourmet cooking / Handiness; OR have one of the following traits: Neat / Speedy Cleaner / Mentor.
Instructions:
-Choose a house where at least two sims (or preferably more) live. You must show up at their door at 8 am. If they let you in, you’ll work until 4 pm. You have to cook at least one group meal, clean, fix everything that’s broken, help children with their homework and upgrade appliances.
-Your wage for one day is 10 simoleons x your skill points in Cooking, Gourmet Cooking and Handiness. For example, if you have two skill points in Cooking, three in Handiness and one in Gourmet Cooking, your wage will be 10 x (2+3+1) = 60 simoleons.
-If there is no work to do at any given time during the day, you may read a book, watch TV, play chess, take a nap on the sofa and so on. You may also eat a portion of the meal you’ve cooked. Just don’t do anything impolite like sleep in their bed or take a bath!

The community wants to help
You’ve made friends in the community and they’ve become aware of the difficulties that homeless people face every day. They collect some money and build a shelter for homeless people.
Requirements:
-Five friends
Instructions:
-Build a shelter on an empty lot (not yours!), an ugly shack with the cheapest furniture available: a fridge, counters, toilet, sink, shower, dining table and chairs, sofa and a couple of single beds. NO stoves, skill objects, TVs, computers, fancy decorations etc. Change the lot type to “Generic”.
-You may use this lot to have a simple meal, rest, take a shower or use the toilet, but you don’t own it and so you can’t buy more furniture later etc.

A new you
You can take self-development classes, which allow you to change your traits.
Requirements:
-Cost 500 simoleons / trait
Instructions:
-You need to use cheats to change traits: Open the Cheat Console (CTRL + SHIFT + C) -> write testingcheats on and press Enter -> write cas.fulleditmode and press Enter-> press and hold Shift and click on your sim -> Modify in CAS. You can now change the desired trait.

Get a job!
You may get a regular job.
Requirements:
-You need to buy smart clothes and a good haircut for job interviews, cost 500 simoleons.
-You need to have your own house (a very basic one is ok as long as it has walls and a roof, shower / bath, toilet, bed and fridge). The shelter for homeless people does not count!
-You need to have at least three points in a corresponding skill (eg. culinary career -> Cooking / Gourmet cooking).

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LINKS

-Clothes for homeless women by MaiaMadness: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=539332
-Homeless Shelter: can be found in the Gallery, creator's Origin Id is MaryBluePL

I'd like to try it. Thanks for the challenge1!!!11!1

Nice to hear, thanks! Let me know if you want me to clarify anything.

My daughter was telling me the other day how she misses 'game mode' in the Sims. If you remember Sims 2 on the PlayStation, they had the option for an actual game where you had objectives. It was a pain in the ass and she never completed it because of the difficulty. I sent her the link to this because I think she might find this fun. Thanks for sharing!

That's interesting, I'm sure I would have loved to play Sims 2 that way. It seems that for some of us it ain't fun if it ain't hard.

This challenge was moved here from the general forum where I originally posted it as this forum for Challenges hadn't been created yet. This challenge is somewhat different from the Homeless challenge MissChevus created (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=537534), so maybe it will still be useful for someone.

I like this challenge! I've started playing it. Meet Bo!




I went ahead and made some dirty looking recolours to make her look all shabby. Can't wait to play with her more!

@MaiaMadness, that's nice to hear! Bo does look very shabby, well done! She also looks quite determined and ready to face whatever challenges life throws at her. I wish her lots of luck! What traits does she have?

She has the glutton, creative and insane traits, which I think is gonna be a lot of fun.

Haha, I agree. And like I said, good luck! You're going to need it. :D

I think I will try this just worried if I can handle it lol

I'm sure you can, bobbubbles! And if you want to, feel free to adjust the rules to make it a bit easier. For example, you could start with 200 simoleons instead of nothing, or decrease the amount of simoleons required to get a building permit or a new haircut / clothes.

Pro-tip for those who may want it: Wherever there's a grill in a neighbourhood, someone will usually have made some food that's just there for the taking. Also, digging for collectibles is a good way to get a bit of cash quickly.

I am posting my challenge on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzF...JCykFXS8dcLoDfQ

@jezzikah22, I think you meant to post your link on the other homeless challenge thread. Miss Chevus will surely want to take a look at your videos.

A quick tip for anyone playing this challenge: MaiaMadness has kindly uploaded the shabby clothes she made for her homeless sim here on MTS. You can find them here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=539332

I enjoy this challenge very much! I even uploaded my "Homeless Shelter" for your Challenge to the gallery, so feel free to try it Unlike the other shelters in the Gallery it meets your requirments, including no stoves and no skill objects. But it is not an "ugly shack" My profile on Origin is MaryBluePL

@Mary Blue, I finally had the chance to play the game and take a look at the shelter you made. I really like it! I added it to the small links section in the challenge so that people playing this challenge can find it easily, I hope it's ok.

this challenge is fun! my homeless is named Rylan, who is kicked out from his rich home because he want to become an artist instead of following his father's footsteps. His traits are creative, self-assured, and foodie. after being kicked out with his pj on, he dig stuff to afford the building permit and a nice bed, then an easel. Now he is a Composition Curator and just knocked Bella Goth up and dumped her. poor Bella.

maybe painter with the traits is too easy. I am going to try with good,hothead,family oriented criminal.

I really enjoy Homeless Challenges in Sims, but this one looks even more fun. I've banned my sim from being able to write or paint, as those can be good money makers. She's going to be the maid around town and that's the only way she can make money (along with the mini challenges, she'll be doing those, as well).

ETA: I also put the shelter down in town (thanks Mary Blue!) and she's only allowed there at certain times. She must show up between 11pm-12am and leave by 6am-7am. Those are the only hours it's open to her. (something odd is going on with the beds, though, as her energy fills up in two and a half hours). I used the money cheat to take away 150 and changed her formal to her "work" clothes for her maid service. I'm having a lot of fun with this challenge!

Good job on the challenge! Thanks!

So far it's taken 4 days to get my building permit. The hardest part is getting enough sleep. I feel I shouldn't be allowed to purchase any furniture though until I have a room for that furniture, so my house isn't going to be much more than a one room cabin, just so I can put a bed in it and let my sim get a good night's sleep. My money making efforts have been limited to fishing, finding rocks and a bit of rummaging. My day is spent at the park, where I can take care of all my needs and catch fish.

This is actually more fun than buying a house at the start, and getting a job, etc., and then trying to get skills. It's also easier to play the homeless part in this game than Sims 3 because there is no autonomous going home. I do meet a lot of people but my sim is hotheaded so he tends to drive away most who he meets, so there will be no homeless shelter, I'm afraid.

I've got a nice little one bedroom house, done all the mini challenges (including changed her clothes for 500 simoleons for each outfit), and 600 simoleons away from 5000 and completing this challenge. I'll post pictures in a bit (if I can figure out how to).

Any other suggestions for more mini challenges? I really had fun with this challenge.

Im so into this challenge - Im going to start this up now lol

Here is Josephine on her way to work...



And the best shot I could get of her house....



I got the house on the gallery, I did not create it.

Just a quick question how do you become a domestic worker? I thought just randomly going into people's homes would be frowned upon.