Across many parts of the world, rents are rising faster than renters can keep up – and it appears The Sims 4 rent does the same thing. Players who have jumped into EA’s popular life game since it went free-to-play this month have sometimes been stunned by their monthly bills – oftentimes, because they’re unaware of how those are calculated.
“Does anyone know how to lower rent prices?” asks redditor peachymoonlightea in a post to The Sims Franchise subreddit. Included in the post is an image of the Sims family’s monthly bills, which total 3,852,854 simoleons. That’s a tough payment to make, even for Sims in some of the Sims 4’s highest paying career fields like military officers and stylists.
As commenters point out in the thread, one place many new The Sims 4 players get into trouble is in the total value of their Sims’ homes. The monthly bills are calculated based on everything those Sims own – not just the dwelling itself. You might have a modest house, but if you fill it full of priceless violins, your monthly bill is going to be high.
However, placing those items in storage won’t help, because the stuff you’ve got in storage is also calculated into your monthly bills.
You can also see massive bill increases thanks to the effects of certain The Sims 4 mods, such as the MC Command Centre.
One way to lower these bills, of course, is to get rid of some of the high-value items your Sims have around the house and in your inventory. However, you can also bring this figure back down to earth by unlocking the Frugal trait for your Sims.
If a Sim in the household has this trait (which you can unlock in the Satisfaction Reward Store once a Sim has earned 2,000 satisfaction points from whims), you’ll see a 25% reduction in those monthly bills. Better news, however, is that the trait stacks – so the more Sims in the household have the trait, the lower your bills get – topping out at a 90% discount for having eight frugal Sims living in the same home.
If you’re interested in playing but haven’t yet, here’s how to download The Sims 4 for free and start your own adventures in economic insecurity.