Start out your day by throwing your food into the fridge and the coal into the stove then go open the door, sign the contract, don't get into your car just yet, go to your neighbors house, make sure that maniac is to the right of his house enterance, when he is, go around the back of his house and into it, loot all his stuff in order to get money (you'll lose energy and happiness but it doesn't matter, don't worry) now you can (if you didn't pull aggro while being inside that is) run out of his house without being shot (at this point don't worry about the aggro cuz he wont shoot you if you leave his property) - Remember you can look thru his trash to get some extra items / money. (Note if you have a hard time stealing from your neighbor you can always sell two things from your home, giving you around 14+ $ and a mood penalty, in order to buy the rifle (15$) and with this rifle you're actually able to kill your neighbor making it a lot easier)
Once you've managed to steal all his stuff (1 item down stairs, three upstairs) you'll be able to cash in a large sum of money at the pawnshop. Before leaving your house, make sure to drink a lot of beer in order to regain happiness.
Once you're drunk AF you'll be able to drive into town, stop at the pawnshop, sell the items, buy worms and then go straight to the store to get 1 food, 1 coal and 1 meat.
Once you've done this find the wolf roaming around the highway (the name of the town between home and the border) press E on the wolf a few times and he will consume the meat you bought earlier and you'll get to rename him something awesome such as Bob, press E again to open the dialog options with the wolf and tell him to roam & protect your house. (This will make the theif unable to rob you - remember to get some meat for the wolf once in a while)
- After this I recommend looking thru the trash for money & w/e really.
---- There is a dumpster at your neighbors place, two at The Highway, one between the dance club and the border and the last one is located at the border. ------
You won't get a lot of money from doing your job the first 3 days but it really doesn't matter as long as you focus on throwing your money at farm animals at your home zone. I recommended that you should buy worms which is the food for the chicken which you'll be able to buy for 3$ each and everyday you feed em you'll be able to get eggs which is worth 4$ -- Remember if you forget to feed your animals some will die.
You don't need everyone in your family to survive in order to win the game, but as long as you're able to keep one person alive you'll get to play on, I recommend the wife just cuz waifu but it really doesn't matter.
Use the bus to transport yourself, at start it really is A LOT cheaper than the car (The car: from home and to work and back again, and you'll have to use 10$-16$ on fuel depending on the days & happiness - oil every 2. day and antifreeze every 4. day plus the annoying tires, and you're still losing energy if you decide to drive - Note 3/4 hitchhikers reduce your hasppiness and they only pay between 5-10i$ ish which is generally a bad deal) using the bus at least once a day back and forth from your home makes it a lot easier to get money because you're selling your eggs and the milk. - And using the bus is instant and it also doesn't drain your energy.
- Cutting lumber is not even worth your time, let's be honest -

Dumpster diving & looting eggs and milk is something you should do after going to work since you get more money from having more energy at work and even if your energy bar hits zero you'll be able to dumper dive and get eggs and milk #FreeStuff
- You're able to make your wife & uncle work to get some more money but I don't recommend this because it increases the chances of them running away.
Make sure to have coal in the stove and food in the fridge at all time for a slow but secure increase of happiness in your home.
The rent increases by 1 $ each day but you're able to reset this increase by reloading your save file.
Focus on using your money for the rent, increasing the happiness of your family, food for the wolf and farm animals and by using the bus and then you'll be okay.

- If you do all of this you'll be able to ignore bribes and what not in order to have fun and get some funny game play moments and it will make the achievements easier to get. 12/12.

I hope this'll help you on your way! :-)