For outside, swap out the flowers with trees. No gardner needed.
Pause a lot and check out everyone to see what their doing. Make sure to turn off the free will.
Get their cooking skills up pronto. And buy a fire alarm. If the skills are low, they can burn down the house. If the cooking skill is high they won't get as hungry as fast.
For easy money:
Cheatcode
<cntrl, shift, c>
type: rosebud
if you type: rosebud;!;!;!;!;!;!
you'll get more money at once
For easy money without cheating buy the piece of art that looks like a slab of Roman marble. It costs 250. Buy it, put it on a wall and wait for 1201am. It'll shoot up to at least 1500 in value. Sell it back and you've got an extra 1250. I do this repeatedly until my sims are comfortable. When first starting a house the first thing I do is buy that.
Also, splurge on their beds, showers and toilets. They'll stay better rested and cleaner longer.
Check out
The Sims webpage for some great info under "tips & tricks". If you go to the site map it's easy to find.
The Gamespot also has some good tips.
I have Sims Deluxe, House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, and Unleashed. I still have trouble having everyone maintain good friendships. (But if you make them fall in love and, um, consummate the relationship it'll last longer.)