Life is hard. So is Little Lives, when you don't have a lot of money at the start and you are not earning a lot.

Here are some tips on how you can be the most stingy, miserly Scrooge of Littleton, so that you can scrimp every cent. Hey, you are not a bad person, you are just trying to survive.

Your cheapest option for accommodations is Hotel Magnifique (where you spend the night at the start of the game). At $15 a night, your accommodation costs you $105 per week.

But you will need to rent an apartment soon, so that you can place items that allow you to develop your skills for your career. Your next cheapest option, at $180 a week, is the studio apartment located up north, near the beach that cannot be visited.

But for a mere $20 more each week, the low-income apartment can be a good option. It may be nearer to your workplace, gives you more space to place essential items, and you may be slightly less likely to be woken by bedbugs. I know we are aiming to be miserly here, but some money is worth spending.

Moving is extremely easy in Little Lives. Just terminate your lease and all your furniture automatically goes back to your inventory, becoming available to be placed at your new rental. So don’t be afraid to move to the slightly less terrible low-income apartment.

~ It’s not much, but it’s home. ~

Your boss is extremely calculating. Every minute you are not at work, you don't get paid. So unless you are doing something that is giving you more money than your hourly wage, get yourself to work before your shift starts.

~ Punctuality is a virtue, when you get money for it. ~

Eating out hurts your wallet. Once you have invested in a knife set and a few recipes, consider buying some ingredients and cooking your own meals. You will save more in the long run.

Don't fret about your cooking skills at the start, because it does not matter if your food taste like cardboard. You are just eating to survive.

~ At least you are not eating the protein bars from Snowpiercer. ~

Many items in Little Lives are very environmentally friendly and shockingly biodegradable. Once they reach the end of their short lifespan, they vanish into thin air.

To avoid needing to constantly buy new items, it helps to level up your Craftsmanship skill, so that you can repair your items and extend their lifespan. (Your Needlework skill helps as well, but if you follow the next tip of this guide, you will not have a lot of clothes that you need to repair.)

Repairing things is very painful at first - it is time consuming and not very productive. It takes you 3 hours to restore 10% of an item. But it gets easier with every increase in Craftsmanship level:


It pays to level up your Craftsmanship a little, so that you don't spend your life repairing stuff. Your life is already sad enough.

~ And that's why you don't see Marie Kondo decluttering homes in Littleton. ~

You are too poor to be fashionable. But it turns out that you don't need that much clothes to dress for success. Find one outfit that meets your job requirements without any comfort penalty. Then never take it off again, no matter what you do.

~ Wear it for three days, then flip it inside out, and wear it for another three days. ~

If you are not in urgent need of an item, wait for the shops to go on sale. Discounts range from 10% to 40%. This can amount to substantial savings for big ticket items.

~ Now you can tell people that you are practicing delayed gratification by playing video games. ~

Tucked away behind the low-income apartment, the Cash Transmogrifier is a pawn shop that takes your unwanted stuff off your hands and then pays you. Offload anything that is no longer of value to you, including books that you have finished.

More importantly, take a look at the items being sold here, because they come at a whopping 36% discount. The inventory changes daily, so swing by whenever you have a moment. You might just snag a high-end find at a steal.

Because the pawn shop buys all items at 36% of their base price, it is possible to make some money when the regular shops go on sale at 40%. Go to the shop running the sale and buy the most expensive item(s) that you can afford. Then take your haul to the pawn shop where you can sell them at a 4% margin. It's a small profit, but we are living a life where every cent counts. (Make sure you are buying an item that can be sold! For example, don't buy pets for this strategy, you will just turn your home into a costly animal shelter.)

I have also found seashells sold at $3 here, which I then traded in with the shell collector for $400. Sadly, the collector disappeared after 5 trades.

~ That second-hand mattress is just as clean and comfortable as a brand-new one. ~

Most activities in Little Lives occur in blocks of 1 or 2 hours. Sometimes, you find yourself with odd pockets of time where you can't do much. For example, you may have 48 minutes before your work shift starts, or before the university opens, or before that meeting with your friend.

Instead of waiting around and wasting your precious time, consider foraging at one of three locations nearest to you - the Forest, the Park, and the Beach. You may successfully scrounge an item which you can then sell to the pawn shop, turning these small pockets of time into economically productive opportunities.

~ When you are this poor, you need to live off the land. ~

Your friends in Littleton can be a little annoying, badgering you with trivial requests. But every now and then, they give you a tip-off about a loot to be found in the "forest clearing" or "shady spot" behind Hotel Magnifique (this spot is only accessible when there are events). Going to the location gets you $100. So it can be worthwhile to keep one or two friends in your contacts list.

Making friends is fairly easy. Meet new people at map locations that give you the option. When you have a chance to talk to them, start with a compliment. Your friend will be happy and start talking about a topic of their interest. Simply continue with that topic until they say goodbye. After a few encounters, your relationship status will improve from “Neutral”, to “Like”, to “Strongly Like”. They will consider you a friend somewhere along the “Strongly Like” status.

You can create opportunities for socialising by clicking on the “Social Life” circle at the bottom right corner of your screen, and clicking the phone icon on the top right corner of your contact’s picture. You will then have the option of scheduling a meet-up.

But because you are a cheapskate, do not ask them to meet at restaurants. Those meet-ups cost money, and you will have to pay for your stingy friends if you are the one asking them out. Instead, invite them to take a walk with you at a location near your home, and breathe the air for free.

~ If only conversations are so easy in real life. ~

As you drive around Littleton going about your business, you sometimes get a random event where a hitchhiker flags you down.

In real life, you may be disinclined to let a complete stranger into your car. But in Little Lives, helping the hitchhiker is worth it most of the time. Bringing the hitchhiker to where they want to go gives you an easy $50.

There is no urgency to completing their request. Apparently, they have no issue being locked in your car for 7 hours while you attend to your work obligations. So you don't even have to disrupt your schedule to earn this money.

BUT! There is some value to the stranger danger lessons you were taught as a kid. If you prefer to live life dangerously and discover the truth on your own, do not click on the spoiler below.

When you bring the hitchhiker to the requested location, there is a chance that they will rob you of your money instead of giving you the expected $50. When this happens, you are given the options of handing over your wallet or putting up a fight. If you choose to resist, you roll to determine whether or not you succeed. Since there is a chance that you may lose money being a Good Samaritan, you may wish to save your game before dropping off the hitchhiker, and reload if you are not happy with the outcome.

~ If you can afford to reward me with more than my hourly pay, why don't you just take a cab? ~

Life is hard. But hey, it is not always going to stay this way. One day, you will have climbed the career ladder and you will be swimming in cash. And you will wonder why you ever bothered to read this guide. Until then, may these tips help you to live to see that day.


What other guides will help you in Little Lives? Write in the comment and let me know!