I hesitated to write this because who am I to talk about natural living skill sims 4 cheat? Seriously. I spend my days writing about the virtues of slow-living, sourdough starters, and the best organic products for your kids. But here goes. Last Tuesday, around 11:45 PM, I was sitting in my “home office” (which is really just a converted linen closet with one flickering bulb), and I was failing. Not in real life—my kids were asleep, and the house was quiet – but in my digital life. My Sim, “Mini-Maria,” was trying to live her best off-grid life in Henford-on-Bagley, and she was miserable. Her garden was dying, the cow was mad, and she couldn’t even make a decent salad without catching the kitchen on fire.
I realized that even in a simulation, natural living is hard work. Sometimes, you just want the aesthetic without the 40 hours of “grinding” through skill levels. Whether you’re using a specific mod that adds a “Natural Living” skill or you’re trying to max out the skills that make up that lifestyle (like Gardening, Herbalism, or Cross-stitch), I’ve got the shortcuts. I felt like a bit of a hypocrite using them, but honestly? It saved my sanity after a long day of actual parenting.
Quick Summary: To use the natural living skill sims 4 cheat, first press Ctrl + Shift + C and type testingcheats true. Then, enter stats.set_skill_level Skill_NaturalLiving 10 (if using the popular mod) or stats.set_skill_level Major_Gardening 10 for the base game equivalent. This instantly maxes your ability to live off the land.
The Cheat Codes You Actually Need
If you’re like me, you don’t have three hours to watch a digital person pull weeds. I bought the Cottage Living expansion back in November for $39.99, thinking it would be a relaxing escape. It wasn’t. It was a chore. That’s when I turned to the command console. Most people looking for a “Natural Living” skill are either using a specific custom content mod or they are referring to the Gardening and Herbalism skills that define that playstyle.
Enabling Cheats (The First Step)
You can’t just type the code and hope for the best. You have to tell the game you’re in “God mode” first. Press Ctrl + Shift + C on your keyboard (or all four shoulder buttons on a console). A thin white box will appear at the top left. Type testingcheats true and hit enter. You should see a message saying “Cheats are enabled.” If you don’t see that, nothing else will work. To be honest, I usually have to type it twice because I always make a typo the first time.
The Specific Skill Codes
Depending on what you consider “natural living,” here are the codes I use to make my Sim look like a pro without the effort:
- Gardening: stats.set_skill_level Major_Gardening 10
- Herbalism (Outdoor Retreat): stats.set_skill_level Major_Herbalism 10
- Fishing: stats.set_skill_level Major_Fishing 10
- Cooking (for those farm-to-table meals): stats.set_skill_level Major_HomestyleCooking 10
💡 Pro Tip If you are using the “Natural Living” mod by certain creators, the code is often stats.set_skill_level Skill_NaturalLiving 10. If that doesn’t work, try replacing the underscore with a space or checking the mod’s specific documentation, as custom skills can be finicky.
Why a “Natural Living” Blogger is Cheating in a Game
It feels weird, right? I spend my professional life telling people that there are no shortcuts to a healthy lifestyle. I’ve written about the truth about finding your natural living center, and in that world, you have to do the work. You have to read the labels, you have to prep the meals, and you have to be patient. But The Sims 4 isn’t real life. It’s a dollhouse.
My sister, who thinks everything I do is a bit of a “scam” (her words, not mine, though we laugh about it), saw me playing last night. I was drinking a lukewarm cup of Bards Coffee and rapidly typing in cheats to make my Sim’s chickens happy. She asked, “Doesn’t that ruin the point of the game?” I thought about it later, and I realized: No. The point of the game for me is the creativity and the vision, not the struggle. I struggle enough with my 5-year-old’s tantrum over the “wrong kind of blueberries” at 7 AM.
Actually, using these cheats helped me enjoy the game again. I could focus on designing a beautiful, sustainable-looking kitchen instead of worrying about my Sim passing out in a puddle of mud because she was too tired from milking the cow. Sometimes, we need a “cheat” in our hobbies so they don’t feel like another job.
The Comparison: Grinding vs. Cheating
Is it worth it to play “clean”? I tried it for a week back in January 2026. I decided I wouldn’t use a single cheat code for my new save file. It was…. exhausting. Here is how the two experiences stacked up for me.
that said,, if you’re a new player, maybe don’t jump straight to the natural living skill sims 4 cheat. There is a certain charm in seeing your Sim accidentally grow a trash plant because they forgot to weed. But for those of us who have been playing since the original Sims in 2000? We’ve paid our dues.
Step-by-Step: How to Use the Natural Living Skill Sims 4 Cheat
- Open the Console: Press Ctrl + Shift + C. My laptop fan usually starts sounding like a jet engine at this point, but don’t worry, that’s normal.
- Enable Cheats: Type testingcheats true and press Enter.
- Enter the Skill Code: Copy and paste this: stats.set_skill_level Major_Gardening 10.
- Repeat for Other Skills: If you want the full “natural living” experience, you’ll also want to max out Fishing and Herbalism.
- Close the Console: Press Ctrl + Shift + C again to hide the box so you can take those pretty Instagram-worthy screenshots of your farm.
⚠️ Warning: Be careful with the spelling! If you miss a single underscore or add an extra space, the game just stares at you blankly. It won’t give you an error message; it just won’t do anything. I wasted twenty minutes once wondering why my Sim was still a level 1 gardener only to realize I spelled “Gardening” as “Garedning.”
Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting
I get emails all the time from readers who are frustrated with technology. Whether it’s a glitchy fitness tracker or a Sims cheat that won’t “take,” the frustration is real. If the natural living skill sims 4 cheat isn’t working for you, it’s usually one of three things. First, make sure you actually have the expansion pack required for the skill. You can’t max out the Herbalism skill if you don’t own Outdoor Retreat. I made that mistake with the Vampires pack once – tried to cheat a skill I didn’t even have the DLC for. Embarrassing.
Second, check your mods. If you are using a “Natural Living” mod, it might be outdated. With the big 2025 updates, a lot of older script mods broke. I had to go in and delete half my “Mods” folder last month because my Sims kept walking through walls. If you’re looking for real-world advice that isn’t about pixels, I’ve talked about the natural living tips lie I believed for years, which covers how we often overcomplicate things – both in games and in our homes.
What if I don’t want to go all the way to Level 10?
You don’t have to! If you want a more “realistic” progression, you can change the number at the end of the code. For example, stats.set_skill_level Major_Gardening 5 will give you a Sim who knows what they’re doing but still has room to grow. This is what I do when I want to feel like I’m still “playing” the game but I just need a little head start.
Real Life vs. Digital Life: A Reality Check
I was visiting a natural living center in Bangor last fall, and I remember thinking how different it was from the game. In The Sims, you type a code and your garden is perfect. In real life, I spent $78.99 on organic heirloom seeds and half of them were eaten by squirrels within a week. There’s no testingcheats true for my backyard in the real world.
But that’s why we play, isn’t it? To have a space where things just work. While I’m a big advocate for putting in the effort for your health–like I mentioned in my post about how I was wrong about what a healthy nutrition breakfast looks like–I also believe in giving yourself grace. If that grace comes in the form of a cheat code in a video game so you can relax for an hour before the kids wake up, then I’m all for it.
✅ Key Takeaways
- Always enable testingcheats true before trying any skill codes. – Use stats.set_skill_level Major_Gardening 10 for the most common “natural living” skill. – Check for typos; the game is very picky about underscores and spelling. – Cheating is okay! It’s your game and your time. Use it to reduce stress, not add to it.
To be honest, I’ll probably keep using these cheats. My digital farm is thriving, my Sim is happy, and I actually got to sleep at a reasonable hour last night. If that makes me a “fake” natural living expert, then so be it. I’d rather have a happy Sim and a rested brain than a “pure” save file and a headache. Feel free to tell me I’m an idiot in the comments.
