You can also homeschool. You don't have to go to a brick and mortar school to get an education.

One of the things I do to make my hood seem more isolated rather than making sims travel, say to a sub hood to buy things, is only let them buy goods twice a season. If sims need to buy something mid season well then tough. I'm a little more relaxed about this when it comes to my sims who own shops, they're allowed to restock once a day and if a playable needs to go in to buy something and they happen to restock it's legal. I'm also considering making sims pay more for buy catalog goods (or perhaps $100 postage & handling per square) to make buying from the local furniture store feasible.

On the subject of townies - I feel like it's good for me to have a handful in my neighborhood as I grow it. I've never had more than four or five families in a neighborhood, really, so they sort of stimulate the economy while it grows.

Townies do add a lot to the economy but I wouldn't let them buy up your hard grown produce. I would set them as banned on the visitor controller or Pescado Business selector and only let your playables have them.

I forgot my church. That was one of my other first buildings. My minister sell Bibles, a few cakes and pot plants on a stall there. Churches often use to have a little fund raising stall. Upstairs it has a dining area with a buffet table and chess and down below is the church and organ. I guess it has a bit of an English feel to it. I have my minster study couples counseling and anger management so he can council people. They also have the puppet theater TV from About The Sims and that Bingo game, marshoono(sp?) Couples can get married there or at the wedding park.

How do you guys sell your produce? I don't think there's a vanilla way to mass purchase homemade produce like with the grocery containers. Linky mods please bc I really need that in my hoods

Simwardrobe has the packing station under sims 2, objects, business facilitators. I think that's what most people use. http://www.simwardrobe.com/

You will want BO's More Realistic Yields http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/thread-923.html
You may also want his enhanced packing station mod http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=925

If you really want to go whole hog on becoming self-sustaining, you should go to Plumbob Keep and check out the various 'packing stations' which you can propagate all kinds of vegetables, fruits, wild edible plants, and even animals:
* Sun & Moon's Star Factory *

This is just a start, from what Sunni and Frac have stated. The other day Frac released a set of edible mushrooms that you can sell. Of course he also included the poisonous ones-and they will be a feature of a future craft station.

I love this topic and I really like to keep a neighborhood that is self sustaining. I never was cool with the cash from nowhere system and townie customers who buy buy buy.

Please be patient with me since there are so many details and it's hard to organize in one long format. I really should create a blog! haha.

Okay, now to start with, no lots can have buildings or electricity until the township can afford to pay for those jobs. (carpenter & power worker). So to start, no one has a home they just have a grass lot with the very basics such as a tent, outhouse, shower (I like to think it is a solar bag shower), camping chair, mini fridge (cooler), etc. They can't have lights or anything that requires electricity like a tv, stereo, etc.

The township collects tax and fees, such as every year each lot owner must pay property tax, every sim who earns money must pay income tax, they must pay for a business license, marriage license, pet license, trade license (those who make items for profit), home business license, building permit (when there is a builder), pay for a burial plot, property purchase tax, etc. All this money is pooled together to create the necessity community lots and to pay for community workers. The first community lot I make is a park that has a garden wedding area, a playground for the kids, a graveyard and some open space for people to socialize and then when a builder is hired, I create a stage with covering for the band and a dance floor with covering for sims to dance on for celebrations. It's only a 2x2 but it all fits. I keep it as low budget as I can. The first building is the community centre that has a skill object for each skill so households don't have to pay for them on their lot (I do have a mod that allows skilling at community lots) I build a one room classroom on the community centre (this is where the kids go when they take the bus to school I imagine), a senior's home (paid for by the township for those who are old to move to retire) This is because when you do hire a builder most of the building will be community and I think after spending a life sleeping in a tent they deserve to share a house with their own room and cozy bed as a senior. Then a doctor office, etc.

I start my hood slowly with one sim then gradually add to the hood.
#1. Farmer / Fisher / Orchardist (produce) - the cook pays for the produce
#2. Potter (plates) - the cook pays for the plates
#3. Cook (meals) - the cook has a wood stove that cooks all the meals for the hood. Every household buys their meals from him/her.
#4. Clothes Maker - When a baby is born, parents pay $2,500 for the clothes their child will get when they transition through out their life. They can buy more clothes if they want for $400 each. The clothes maker has a job so he goes away to work where I assume he is making all these clothes. All of the pay he receives I mark down the details and then pay it to a random townie through the cheque once a year before taxes. For the custom clothes he makes on the sewing machine in his home. If a sim marries a townie, it is assumed their clothes are already paid for at birth. Only will pay for custom if they want.
#5. The Basics Shop - the starter furniture that every sim household needs when they move into the hood. The business owner buys the commercial land then buys each item of the starter package and places it on the lot. Then they never go back to the lot. They get a job and I mark down the pay they receive and pay it to a random townie once a year before taxes. I keep my details in OneNote so I have a page that shows what is available in the shops. If it's for sale in a shop then the sim buys it from the buy catalogue then pays 100% additional to the shop owner. So I add up the starter package of the furniture they all need to survive at the start and they pay it when buying from the catalog then pay the total again to the shop owner via the cheque mod. This keeps townies from messing with the economy.
#6. Tots N Kids Shop - make a nursery bundle of furniture that all households when they have a baby will need.
#7. Repairman - I use the teleporter to bring them to the house when the shower or toilet needs fixing then pay them a service fee by cheque.
#8. Hair Dresser & Makeup Artist - my hood has two festivals a year where all of the community comes out to celebrate - Spring & Harvest. There are also life celebrations like weddings, prom, birthdays, etc where some may choose to get fancied up for. However, it is necessary that a child / teen / adult / senior have their hair cut at least once during that age. So this keeps the hair dresser busy.
#9. Builder - to start community lots. They get the job brick layer and the township pays for their wage.
#10. Teacher - once you have school aged children, the township will have to foot the bill to pay for a teacher.
#11. Florist - for all those celebrations and gifts. (best for a stay at home parent who has a spouse that makes good moola)
#12. Doctor - paid for by township.
#13. Musicians / Singer - for playing at dances or in home celebrations (part time gig) Have the sim have their instrument in their backpack to plop out.
#14. Event Planner - for those who want something special for their wedding / birthday - The event planner can own a commercial lot that can be transformed for variations.
#15. Painter - every generation likes to have at least one family portrait to proudly display. (introduce only when it every family has a home)
It really is endless the services & products that sims can buy. From necessities like clothing and hair cuts to luxuries like a painting. I prefer to keep one job per sim because I normally have them marry and so one sim can be the bread winner and the other can offer a luxury service or product and they will still make enough money to survive.

I only allow one commercial lot per household. (residential lot)

Once the hood grows I create a Trade Hall & Merchant Hall - for those who own a business or those who make products or provide a service. These people pay dues every year to cover the building costs and expenses. These associations set the prices for products and services in the community and collect the business & trade license fees. They have an apprenticeship program for young adults who aspire to join them. Any trade or merchant who is coming close to retirement can take on a apprentice and the association will pay for the apprentices wage. Such as a young adult is hired to work at a business, he goes to his job and the money earned is paid by the hall. This is a benefit to the young adult because he is learning what he needs to know to later on own the business when his boss retires. The boss gets free labor for training them and someone who will buy them out when they want to retire. For trade apprentice, they move in and work for their boss till they retire. They were able to save their wage paid by the hall to move out. Each hall's members votes in a hall leader, who is usually the most skilled and knowledgeable (so usually seniors) and they do whatever work is needed for the hall administration. It's a stipend paid position (not much). It's more for the power, pride and privilege to be called Master of Merchants or Master of Trade. haha. a bit of inspiration from medieval times, Apprentices and Masters. The trade hall has all the objects for making things.

Township funds are decided at a general meeting where each sim can vote for proposed spending. I use the wedding area to have the meeting.

I think I will stop there. haha.

Just a suggestion but in the beginning instead of having them pay you might want to try bartering while banning bills and paper delivery.