Not sure if this is an annoyance or just plain broken, but...

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, as soon as she has the money for an easel, get her painting!  (I have a sim who started out as family, and he switched to Popularity at college, but he STILL constantly rerolls the Create a Masterpiece want, and almost always gets between 6-700 simoleons for his effort, and I don't have to waste time getting him to kick anything, his fun is always up!)

If you were playing with hacked stuff, you could use Monique's computer and get her writing short stories....

[J. M. Pescado]

and when she got back she had made §588 or so that day, and her nanny cost her §850 almost!

See, that's much more realistic now. As it stands, it's all but impossible NOT to make a profit on the most menial incomes.

[ZephyrZodiac]

You could cheat and move a boyfriend in with her for a day, and then he could move out again - that way she'd get whatever he brought with him, and he'd only get a precentage back.  Even with no20K handouts, if she did that a few times, she wouldn't need to work, so no need for an expensive nanny!  (The nanny was always the most overpriced anyway, and the most useless!)

[BlueSoup]

This is my Legacy challenge, and so cheating is a little against the point.  It's supposed to be hard for her - there are plenty of generations to come that won't have any problem whatsoever financially.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, is it cheating exactly if her romance boyfriend keeps being asked to move in, then decides he doesn't want to stay?  If you have no 20K handouts, he's not going to bring much with him, just enough to keep her and the kid going until he starts school and she can take a job - of course, it would have to be 9-3 until he's a teen, so no skilling in the relevant areas!

Oh, and you want it hard?  then how about each time he pops back into her life, he leaves her in the pudding club?

[akatonbo]

Well, is it cheating exactly if her romance boyfriend keeps being asked to move in, then decides he doesn't want to stay?  If you have no 20K handouts, he's not going to bring much with him, just enough to keep her and the kid going until he starts school and she can take a job - of course, it would have to be 9-3 until he's a teen, so no skilling in the relevant areas!

Oh, and you want it hard?  then how about each time he pops back into her life, he leaves her in the pudding club?

Normal Legacy rules say that you can't let anyone who has already moved out of the house once move back in later. Of course, that's intended to prevent them from bringing the 20k with them repeatedly, but it's still breaking the same rule for the same reason.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Oh, well, I don't play challenges, so I'm afraid I don't know the rules.  Never mind, he can move in once (which is allowed, I believe) stay just long enough, then move out!  (Leaving her in the identical situation, of course!)

[KellyQ]

Well, I decided to go a different way with this Legacy, and she's a single mom.  If she wants to work (and she has to, considering she's still living on the lawn), then she has no choice.  Although obviously I am going to have her take her vacation days now. 

Have you had a chance to update your Legacy story yet, BlueSoup? I checked your page but didn't see anything new. So uh, I guess that's probably my answer.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know I'm looking forward to it when you do.

[BlueSoup]

No, not yet.

But today is my last day of work before 9 blissful days of no work, so I'm sure I'll get a good update in there somewhere. 

[Ancient Sim]

I can certainly echo what Zephyr said with regard to the UK system.  My eldest son lasted all of two weeks at Uni the first time he went, because he simply couldn't afford to live.  The old system had its flaws, but the new one isn't exactly a great improvement.  In many ways, it's better for them to wait and go in as mature students, which isn't the way it should be.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Added to which, Ancient, the old system was not as expensive to the state as the government like to make out.  Only students from poorer homes got full grants, the majority got partial grants or no grants at all - but parents were informed of the amount they should contribute (and for which they could claim tax relief).  The main problem with the system was there was no way built in of ensuring that parents did, in fact, pay the money they were claiming to have paid!  (And since the vast majority of members of the government were probably in the parental contribution category, that may be why they didn't like the system!)

When I was teaching, I used to advise the parents of 7-year-olds to take out endowment polices for their kids, so they'd have something to begin college with!