If you're one of the countless gamers that have made "The Sims 4" the smashing success that it is, you know that, just like life, Electronic Arts' life simulation throws you the occasional curve ball.

Your Sims may have trouble paying for the dream house you've envisioned for them; making friends in the neighborhood may prove challenging; and they even have to deal with such mundane obstacles as slow traffic.

Luckily, just as in real life, it's possible to cut a few corners in the game. Its developers have included a large number of helpful, funny -- and sometimes even somewhat morbid -- cheats. To use these commands, you need to open a text box by holding down the "Shift," "Ctrl" and "C" keys at the same time. Then you type in a magic phrase, and your every trouble will disappear. Here are some examples compiled by Kotaku:

  • So you're in the mood for a cold brew, and your rowdy roommates have wiped out the last sixpack? And what ever happened to the pint of ice cream in the freezer? In "The Sims," those problems go away with a simple command: "objects.consumables_infinite_toggle." This cheat makes sure that household objects are infinitely available.

  • You'd like to grow your Sim family, but the old college try isn't working out? And besides, wouldn't it be nice to just skip the whole toddler phase altogether? With "sims.Spawn," you can simply add another member to your household, no questions asked.

  • Your house is a mess, and you sure aren't in the mood to clean up... It may be time for a maid, and two commands are needed to make things shiny (again): Type in "soak.enable_soak_maid_situation" and "soak.create_soak_maid_situation"; then sit back, relax and let the cleaning begin.

One thing that is important to remember is that some of the more advanced cheats in "The Sims 4" require an extra step before you enter the actual command: activating the so-called "testing cheat" mode. This is achieved by entering "testingcheats true" in the text box first. Just keep in mind, however, that you will have to repeat this command every time you travel to a different lot.