Energy

Sims with low Energy motives are very likely to fall asleep at inconvenient times, and on the nearest available surface, such as the floor. These forced sleep periods are awful for your Sim, compared to a normal night's rest in a bed, because they regain very little Energy and no comfort at all. The best way to ensure that your Sim has plenty of Energy is to give them a nice, quiet room of their own with a high-quality bed and let them get six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. This will usually get their Energy motive back up to the top. It will steadily dissipate throughout the day; you can give your Sim a boost of Energy by using a coffee or espresso machine, although this will hasten the onset of their next bathroom visit.

You can help speed your Sim's rest by installing an Aromaster Whifferpuff aromatherapy device into their bedroom, and setting it on the "Juniper and Rosemary" setting. Although this appliance is expensive, and costs $150 for each use, it restores a lot of Energy to your Sim. When used in concert with a bed, you can expect to see your sleep periods fall to nearly half their previous length, which will more than justify the cost of installation, since you'll be able to use that valuable time to work on relationships and your other motives. In fact, if you've got plenty of extra money, you can install another Aromaster in the living area of your house and use it to replenish your entire household's Energy while they go about their normal routine. If you manage to constantly reactivate the Whifferpuff after it shuts off (a single charge lasts for three hours), you'll be able to stave off your rest motive indefinitely.

If you need a bit of Energy, but don't have time to go to sleep before work, you can either attempt to take a nap on a couch or recliner, grab an espresso from an espresso machine, or grab a bug zapper. Both of the latter two options have negative impacts on your other motives, so avoid them if possible.

Best Sleeping Options

Modern Mission Bed	$3,000	10 Energy, 9 Comfort, 2 Room
Aromaster Whifferpuff Gold	$2,500	3 Energy (Juniper and Rosemary scent)

Alternate Sleeping Options

Miss Memo Sleeper	$1,290	11 Energy, 7 Comfort
Vibromatic Heart Bed	$4,500	8 Energy, 10 Comfort, 2 Room, special interaction for lovers

Alternate Energy Replenishment

Gagmia Simore Espresso Machine	$450	2 Energy, 1 Fun, -2 Bladder
Electronic Insect Control System	$4,500	Energy boost, Comfort penalty

Social

A Sim's Social motive is vital to their overall mood. Your Sims enjoy being around other people, and get lonely very quickly if they don't have easy access to Social interactions. Thankfully, there are a huge number of ways to get your Social motive to increase, so long as your Sim can find a way to consistently be around other people. Having a roommate is a pipeline to easy Socialization; if your Sim is living on their own, you should try your hardest to get another character to move in with them as soon as possible. Otherwise, your Sim will have to either ask people over or visit other characters themselves, which takes a lot of time.

The simplest way to restore your Social motive is to select another character and pick one of the interactions that appears on the menu. Some of these interactions may be off-putting to your target, but the Talk option is generally foolproof, although it does eat up time. Socialization can also be combined with other activities, however, to boost multiple motives while keeping your Sims happily networked with their friends. Dancing, for instance, boosts a Sim's Fun motive while satisfying some of their Social needs, while serving a meal to guests will let you Socialize while your Sim eats. Hot tub visits with multiple friends will help your Sim boost their comfort, Fun, Social, and Hygiene motives all at once!

Socialization is probably the most difficult motive to restore if you let it slip down to near the bottom of the meter. Even if you live in a house with a few other people, you won't always have other individuals available to interact with, and even if you do, an extremely low Socialization motive will negatively affect your mood, rendering it more difficult to get positive benefits from your interactions, thus making it more difficult to get back to a safe Socialization level! It's a vicious circle, and one you should avoid by devoting a part of every day to Socialization. If you do let your Sim's mood slide to the bottom, your best bet for restoring it is to get all of their other motives taken care of, skipping a day of work if necessary, and then grabbing another Sim for some "face time". If need be, take a visit to another Sim's house. Encountering a character in their own house will increase the likelihood that they've taken care of their own motive needs, and thus increases the chance that they'll respond favorably to your Socialization attempts. It can take a few hours of interaction to completely recharge a depleted Socialization motive, so try to stay on top of it and not let it drop too far.

In addition to the Social motive's normal degradation, lover's spats can drop your bar right to the bottom if you attempt to cheat on one of your paramours or witness one of your lovers cheat with someone else. Keep in mind that any physical contact will send a Sim into a rage, where they'll attempt to slap whomever they perceive as a threat; in addition to drastically harming your relationship score, this will also have a huge negative impact on your Social motive as well, meaning that you'll have to spend twice as much time Socializing just to get back to where you were before. If you're in love with someone, try to avoid being at the same party with them if possible, especially if they're outgoing; non-controllable Sims often seem to enjoy flaunting their physicality, which will almost always lead to an altercation.