I'd like to start talking about the individual families that I'm playing and what's going on with each household.
Poor #1 Stanbury: Current members of this household are Robert & Faith (Gen 1 Founders), who are both elders, their children Thomas (Gen 2 Heir), Claudia (teen), and Charles (child), and Thomas' wife Joy (formerly a Baldwin), who is pregnant with the couple's first child. The other children of Robert & Faith have all grown up and either married or moved into one of the public houses for singles. Robert and Thomas both work in the Adventurer career, which has no cap on the level they are allowed to reach. Nevertheless, Robert has never managed to secure even one promotion, despite having the required skills/friends. He always seems to be miserable when he heads out, so his performance is pretty low. In fact, it's surprising he still has a job at all. Thomas is at level 2 and Claudia also brings in a little money with her teen job in Law Enforcement. Recently the family saved enough money to buy a sewing machine so that the ladies of the household can contribute to income as well. Luckily, Joy had nearly earned a bronze badge in sewing while living at the group home for single women. Since Thomas is not likely to earn a promotion any time soon (he needs 2 charisma, but I only have them skill if they roll the want), the extra income from Joy is quite helpful in keeping food on the table. The household bank balance is $2847. They will need $50,000 to move up to Trade, so that will not be happening for a long while.
Poor #2 Hopkins: Current members of this household are Simon & Elsie (Gen 1 Founders), who are both elders, their children Nathaniel (Gen 2 Heir) and Bess (child), and Nathaniel's wife Johanna (formerly a Whitlock), who is pregnant with the couple's first child. The other children of Simon and Elsie have all moved out. This household has the "slow time" glitch, which means in normal speed time passes very slowly making it impossible to play on any speed but the fastest. There are pros and cons to this glitch, as some time related functions of the game move according to the slowed down time and others continue to progress at the normal rate. For example, pregnancy progresses at the normal pace, meaning instead of 3 days, a typical pregnancy will last about half that amount of time. It makes it easy to fill the house with babies. Bills and the repo man also progress as normal, which makes it difficult to know when bills are due and what time of the day or night the repo man might show up. Luckily the family has enough money now that they can pay bills immediately. Another plus is that aspiration level degrades much more slowly so that everyone is always in a platinum mood, and will easily top their Lifetime Aspiration Meter, becoming Perma-Plat. On the other hand, while relationships within the family remain strong, maintaining relationships outside the household are very difficult as they drop at about twice the normal rate. Moving the family out and back in might fix the glitch, but I've decided for now to just live with it, as the pros and cons are fairly balanced. As stated in a previous post, the Hopkins are likely to be first to move up to Trade. Elsie is a flower arranging goddess, making about 50 snapdragons per day. Her husband Simon is at the highest allowed level of the Business career (level 3 - Field Sales Rep) and her son Nathaniel is at level 4 of the Athletic career, which has no cap. The household bank balance is $36,605 out of the $50,000 they need to level up.
Poor #3 Baldwin: Current members of this household are Heath & Lucinda (Gen 1 Founders), who are both elders and their children Hart (Gen 2 Heir) and Van (teen). The other children of Heath & Lucinda have all moved out. Hart has not found a wife yet. Heath is at level 2 of the Military career, which has no cap. He previously worked in the Science career, but when he was promoted above the cap he was forced to quit. Hart was at the highest allowable level of the Business career (level 3), but he was demoted due to a bad chance card. Lucinda adds to the family's funds via pottery making (she's not very good at it though, lol) and Van has a teen job in Law Enforcement. This family has struggled for a long time, but they've finally starting making some headway towards leveling up to Trade. Unfortunately, if Hart doesn't produce an heir, it may all be for nothing. The rules don't stipulate what to do if an heir doesn't marry and carry on his line. I guess that's a bridge I'll cross when and if I get to it. At the moment, I'm considering one of two options: a) have the next of Hart's brothers who gets married move back into the family home and become the heir or b) allow Hart to live out his life in the family home and then move the next Poor couple in to take over the lot. The household bank balance is $9957 out of the $50,000 needed to level up.
Poor #4 Hopkins: Current members of this household are Henry & Alice (formerly Whitlock). They are newlyweds and expecting their first child. Henry is a Gen 2 spare starting a new household, with very few furnishings and a bank balance of $5. He has a job in Military (level 4) which has no cap. Since they have so little money, Alice will not be able to take up a craft yet. Wives are also permitted to earn money via fishing, selling lemonade, and busking, but I don't usually pursue those as lemonade makes very little income and she'd have to leave the house for the other two, which is difficult to do with small children.
Sub Farmer #1 Godwin: Current members of this household are Jasper & Harriet (Gen 1 Founders), who are both elders, their children Silas (Gen 2 Heir) and Esme (teen), Silas' wife Matilda (formerly Whitlock), and Silas and Matilda's children Adolph (Gen 3 Heir - toddler) and Amelia (baby). Matilda is pregnant with the couple's third child. Only non-heir teens are permitted to have jobs in the Sub Farmer class, so the only one working here is Esme as a Slacker. Farming must be the primary source of income, though extra income may be earned in the usual ways (crafting, fishing, etc.) This family has not yet saved enough money for a crafting bench, but the harvest is coming soon thankfully. The winter was especially hard on them. The community pond froze early and thawed late, so they were not able to supplement their food stores with fish. Since Sub Farmers are not allowed to buy groceries, they were in danger of starving. Luckily Matilda's parents were able to spare a couple of fish, which they gifted to the Godwins. Things are looking up for them, but their bank balance is only $1751 out of $50,000, so no promotion to Trade in the near future.
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