Table of Contents
1. Not Prioritizing Your Tools Early
One Of The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make Early In The Game Is Not Upgrading Your Tools. Don’t Be A Fool And Wait Too Long To Upgrade Them. You Need Better Tools To Manage Larger Farms, Break Rocks, And Gather Materials More Efficiently. Don’t Let That Rusty Watering Can Hold You Back For Too Long!
2. Wasting Money on Unnecessary Purchases
In the early game, focus on building the foundation of your farm. Avoid spending money on fancy decorations or a larger inventory. These things do not help your farm grow. Instead, invest in essential upgrades, seeds, tools and farm buildings rapidly snowball and let you thrive!
3. Ignoring the Silo In Stardew valley
Trust me, you’re going to regret it if you don’t build the silo early. You’ll need hay for your animals during the winter months and when it rains, so make sure you get one up and running ASAP. The sooner you have it, the more hay you can stockpile before the cold sets in.
4. Overlooking Regrowth Crops In Stardew valley
This is no surprise but crops with regrowth, like blueberries and cranberries, are game-changers. They will regrow allowing you to get multiple harvests per season instead of being forced to replant your crops all the time.. Which makes them a great way to ensure a steady income. While pumpkins, melons and cauliflower sell for more, their seeds need to be re-purchased after evrey harvest.
5. Failing to Build a Barn or Coop Early
If you’re not thinking about getting animals early on, you’re missing out. Barns and coops are important because they give you a consistent source of income from products like milk, eggs, and wool. Additionally you need their items for the community center! Make it a priority to get a duck, a rabbit and a pig as early into your playthrough as you can. Ensuring that you finish the community center in your first year.
6. Not Prioritizing Crop Fertilizer
You might be focusing on planting as many crops as possible, but speed grow is crucial for boosting crop yields, especially for regrowable strawberries, blueberries and cranberries. Speed grow will let your crop reach maturity quicker, thus giving you an extra harvest in a season. Buy them from Sandy on Thursdays for a massive discount. Do not support Pierre!
7. Forgetting About Season-Specific community center items
You can’t ignore the season-specific crops. Or fish, or forageables. Keep track of what you need for each season by constantly looking at the community center tab which you can access by clicking this button in your inventory. And do not forget that if you hover over an item, it will also show you if something is required or not.
8. Neglecting Your Friendships
Building relationships with villagers is crucial, but many players overlook this. Don’t just stick to farming—make time to socialize with people like George and Pam. George will teach you how to make spicy eel and Pam can send your batteries in the mail.. These odd friendships have their perks. And if you are planning on marrying someone, might as well get to know them early in your playthrough.
9. Not taking advantage of Special Order Board
This special order board will be unlocked on the first day of fall. Every monday you will get to pick between two quests. These quotes have incredible recipes as rewards! Such as Monster musk, an item that I literally cannot live without.. Additionally they will reward you with Prize tickets that you can use to get Stardrop tea and even a Magic Rock Candy!!! Make it a priority to do these quests every single week as soon as they are unlocked.
10. Not Saving Resources for Upgrades
Never sell anything you get in the mines!!! Iron ore, bat wings, solar essence… All of these items sell for gosh darn nothing!! You will need them, every single last piece of ore! Even if you have no use for them now, save them for later. Trust me, farming for gold when you have 100 iridium bars is just annoying.
11. Wasting Too Much Time on Fishing
Fishing is incredible for making huge amounts of money in the early game! However I recommend that you do not over do it. Yes, you’ll make good money but fishing is very time consuming. I recommend diving into the mines and collecting as many raw resources as you can. It is much more beneficial to get tons of sprinklers early so that you do not need to worry about watering your crops every single day. Set your farm up for success early!
12. Skipping Stardew valley Festivals
If you are brand new to the game, go to all of the festivals.. If you are not, skip them all except for your favorite ones!! Going to a festival means that you will lose the entire day.. A day that could be spent mining, fishing or just cleaning up your farm. Time is money, friend.
13. Not Making Enough Sprinklers
If you have fifty quality sprinklers, you might think to yourself. Wow, I can farm so many crops! Wrong. Listen, you need ten million gold to craft a golden clock… IF you want to get the clock in a timely manner, the only thing you can do is plant absolute acres of crops. Good luck watering all of those crops, get sprinklers. And eventually you’ll unlock ginger island! Yea, you need sprinklers there as well. Get more sprinklers.
14. Overfilling Your Inventory with Junk
This is so obvious yet I make this mistake daily. Are you planning on fishing the entire day? Or heading into the skull cavern? Yeah? Then why the heck is your entire inventory filled with junk!! Only bring the absolute essentials on your adventure! Bring a fishing rod, some food and nothing else. Or bring your weapon, a pick ax and some food and nothing else.. Plan ahead okay?
15. Forgetting to Prepare for Winter
Winter sucks in Stardew valley. Winter is the season of dread and despair… Prepare for your winters!! How? Ensure that you have unlocked access to Ginger island before the first winter hits!! If you can’t, at least ensure that you have a greenhouse before your first winter. It’s not that hard, best of luck.
16. Failing to plan your farm early
Fortunately this is slightly better in this update, but if you plant a fruit tree and need to move it.. You kinda need to chop it down and replant it. You won’t lose the fruit tree anymore thanks to this update, however you might lose the fruit it would have produced for that season… Or, at least only replant them in winter.
17. Focusing on Too Many Different Crops
There are achievements for planting and selling every crop in the game. However, that’s where it ends. Do not grow every crop just to be diversified! Prioritize the max profits crops to ensure that you make the money you deserve.
18. Not Planting Trees Early Enough
Fruit trees kinda suck, I know… they really do.. Even the best fruit tree, like the banana pales in comparison to some of the even mediocre crops in the game. However we still need to plant them early in our playthrough to complete the community center. Or you can risk it with the fruit bat cave.
19. Forgetting to Upgrade Your House
It might not seem like upgrading your house is that important, but it is… Having a fully upgraded house gives you a couple things. First, you get tons of space to either decorate or fill with processing machines. Second, you get a kitchen with a fridge that you can use to cook buffing foods. Third and most importantly, you gain access to the basement which allows you to age your wine or cheese to absolutely milk your profits.
20. Ignoring Skull Cavern and The Desert
The skull cavern plays a crucial role in Stardew valley. You need to conquer it to get iridium ore. Iridium ore will allow you to gain access to ginger island, craft iridium bands, iridium sprinklers and even crystalariums… I know, it’s scary there. Overcome your fears by absolutely dominating it.
21. Skipping Monster Eradication Quests
Monster eradication quests are insane in the early game. It might sound tedious, but go and defeat eighty bugs and get the insect head weapon. This thing will carry you through the rest of the mines with ease. Additionally defeat 500 dust sprites, you need the coal and when you defeat 500 you will have the burglar ring. A crucially important ring that will make your life easier for the rest of the game…
22. Not Upgrading watering can on a rainy day
When you upgrade a tool, Clint will take it from you.. Leaving you with nothing.. This means you will be unable to water your crops!! Check the TV every day, and if it will rain tomorrow, water your crops and then give it to him to upgrade. This way, you won’t miss a day of watering.
23. Ignoring Animal Happiness
This is no secret. Happy animals make you produce better animal products. Which will make you better artisan goods which will make you more money. For example, when processing large milk, you will get gold quality cheese. Now that will save you in the skull cavern when the serpents are coming for your head. Plus, it sells for more. So feed your animals and pet them daily. Don’t miss a day.
24. Neglecting to Plant Flowers
This sounds dumb. However, flowers have a secret. A secret you already know. Bee houses around a flower will make you flower honey. Flower honey is essential, since regular raw honey is kinda absolutely garbage… Plant flowers with speed grow on the very first day of every season without fail. You won’t regret it.
25. Not getting hardwood daily
I am so guilty of this, it actually sickens me… You need two hundred hardwood to unlock access to ginger island, you need one hundred hardwood to build a house for this raccoon guy and you need 100 hardwood to upgrade your house… That’s a lot of hardwood. Fortunately you can get twelve hardwoods every single day for free by just going to the secret woods… Make it a priority.
26. Forgetting to Check the Traveling Cart
Checking the travelling merchant every single friday and sunday is crucial to your playthrough!!! Don’t forget to do this!! You need to buy every single rare seed that you come across! They will allow you to get a stardrop and they will make you rich during fall!! Buying rare seeds is a delayed reward! And yeah, you need purple cabbage for the community center as well..
27. Not Taking Advantage of Fish Ponds
This new Stardew valley update has made fish ponds kind of incredible… Now that we can drop legendary fish into them, we kind of need to prioritize getting fish ponds early. Drop a crimson fish, the angler, the mutant carp and the glacier fish into a fish pond to guarantee good early game money!! Even without golden animal crackers, they are not bad at all.
28. Sleeping early in Stardew valley
Stardew valley has a clock, and when the clock strikes 2am you will pass out and wake up with half of your energy. This is true, however if you leveled up a skill during that day, then this penalty will not occur!!! Meaning if you leveled up mining while you were mining, you might as well continue to mine until 2am… That extra bit of time can allow you to get another elevator floor.
29. Use your warp totems!
Warp totems exist!!! They might seem annoying to craft, however the convenience they will give you is just absolutely worth it… It is definitely worth it to go to the casino, spin a little and trade in all of your coins for farm warp totems.. Trust me, it is much cheaper than the return scepter…
30. Prioritize the museum
Bruh, what kind of person does not prioritize the museum in Stardew valley…. I know, it’s a lot of work, fortunately you need not try and collect everything as quickly as possible. Just at least donate sixty items. This will give you access to the sewer, in other words, access to Krobus! The easiest source of iridium sprinklers in the game.
If you’ve made any of these mistakes — trust me, you’re not alone. Stardew Valley is packed with hidden mechanics and easy-to-miss details that can trip up even the most dedicated farmers. The good news? Every mistake is a lesson that brings you closer to mastering your dream farm. Want more tips like these? 20 Game Changing Stardew Valley Tips and Tricks That Will Save Your Farm
