I just feel ridiculously anol-retentive about executing "set timescale to 1" as soon as I have control when the game starts, which causes me to finish around 1:30am on the first day. Then I have this detailed list of stuff to get done that morning. Sometimes I have to return timescale to 30 just to get some things to happen on schedule, but I quickly return the value to 1. And if it's not obvious, the times in the schedule below are game time.

Note: I should add that I used to add gold freely using the console. Now I've reformed myself to only doing it for the house upgrades for the official plugin mods. Trust me, that's a lot of progress, and it is making things more fun for me.

• Tutorial
  
  • As soon as the game starts, set timescale to 1.
    
  • Pick up Captain Renault's katana.
    
  • Kill as much as you can using the Flare spell.
    
  • player.additem xx000CE6 1 (nighteye goggles), hotkey to slot 7.
    
  • player.additem xx002A5A 1 (binoculars) and equip them.
  
  
• Fast-travel to Weynan Priory and give the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre.
  
  • Ask for assistance from Jauffre and take everything from the offered chest.
    
  • Get the Block skill book from Brother Piner.
  
  
• Early morning tasks (before 6am):
  
  • Open up the Vile Lair and buy all upgrades from Rowley Eardwulf.
    
  • Go get the Fin Gleam helmet near Anvil and sell to Rowley. Use the binoculars to locate it.
    
  • Go to the Apprentice Stone for Fortify Skill, just south of the stables at Skingrad.
    
  • Open up Frostcrag Spire.
    
  • Open up Armory Lab.
    
  • Use Stinkhorn Cap and Wisp Stalks to make poison for your bow.
    
  • Open up Battlehorn Castle.
    
  • Wait an hour or two and kill the Conjurer from the Spell Tomes mod.
  
  
• 6am - 7am:
  
  • Go to the Cheydinhal Mages Guild and join through Falcar.
    
  • Buy Minor Wound (Drain Health) from Druja @ Skingrad.
    
  • Go to The Merchants Inn and buy Battlehorn Castle upgrades from Nilphas Omellian.
    
  • Rotate through all the mage guild halls and grab everything of value.
    
  • Somewhere in one of the mage guild halls, there is a scroll of Summon Headless Zombie, that should help a lot with cleaning out Thieves' Den (the boss Cap'n Dugal).
  
  
• 7am - 8am:
  
  • Buy Bound Gauntlets from Alberic Little (Chorrol). Self-train Conjuration to 25.
  
  
• 8am - 9am:
  
  • Train Destruction to 25 from Marc Gulitte @ Anvil (8am).
    
  • Buy a Charm spell from Selena Orania @ Bruma Mages Guild (8am).
    
  • Go to Mystic Emporium and buy Frostcrag Spire upgrades from Aurelinwae.
    
  • At Frostcrag, make the Bargaining custom spell: Charm 100 pts on Touch for 1 sec, Fortify Mercantile 100 pts on Self for 1 sec.
    
  • Sell all the loot from the mage guild halls to Rowley Eardwulf and The Main Ingredient.
  
  
• 9am - 10am:
  
  • Buy a Drain Skill spell from Sulinus @ Skingrad.
    
  • Go to Frostcrag and make "Drain Skill 100 on Self for 1 sec" spells for Alteration, Illusion, Mysticism, and Restoration.
    
  • Train Illusion to 25 from Carahil @ Anvil (7am-9pm).
    
  • Train Restoration to 25 from:
    
    • Marie Palielle, Skingrad Chapel, midnight-10am
      
    • Marz @ Bravil Chapel, 6am-8am, 10am-4pm, 5pm-8pm, 10pm-midnight
    
    
  • Train Mysticism to 25 from Angalmo @ Chorrol, 7am-noon, 2pm-6pm, 9pm-midnight
    
  • Train Alteration to 25 from Athragar @ Chorrol, 6am-noon
  
  
• Make some more custom spells:
  
  • Fire Bolt 26: Fire Damage 13 pts for 2 sec on Target.
    
  • Drain Health 100: Drain Health 100 pts for 1 sec on Touch.
    
  • Drain Health 100 with Trap: same as above plus Soul Trap on Touch for 1 sec.
  
  
• Clean out the Thieves' Den and buy all the upgrades (5500 gold total).
  
• Visit the other mage guild halls and buy any essential spells.

I know this list probably looks like I need some serious medication I don't know, I find it satisfying to tick off these items one by one. Once the first game day has passed, then I relax quite a bit.

Edit: Wow, I just realized that I can't make the Bargaining custom spell until I get both Illusion and Restoration up to 25, oh well.
Edit #2: Well, that's not true if I buy a Novice Charm spell and have Fortify Skill available as a Greater Power from the Apprentice Stone.

Um, I guess perhaps not.

If you enjoy that style of play, then good on you. I prefer to let my character dictate her own course. She wouldn't march through any pre-determined script anyway. Lol.

As far as time scale, I use the PC command console to change mine from its default of 1 hour real time = 30 hours game time. I have found we are happy with 12 instead of 30. 1 hour of play covers her night, 1 hour of play covers her daytime. When the topic of setting a non-default gamescale has been discused here (quite a few times over the years), historically the preferences of players, while all over the clock, has revealed a tendency toward 10-15. Certainly, there are players who use 1.

I myself set timescale to 10 long ago and, once used to the change, would never go back to 30. I sometimes wish for a mod that would reduce certain actions to 1 for their duration, but in the end stick with the simplicity of a set consistent timescale.

-Decrepit-

I remember that I used to play with a mod that added dynamic timescales, so time would pass quicker or slower depending on your activity (fighting, reading a book, walking through town, exploring the world etc.) Ahh, good times.

I actually set the timescale to 1, along with removing the character's shirt, at the start of character creation. It's hard to see how skin tone changes affect the character's body with the shirt on, and since I'm already in the console I just go ahead and set the timescale there too. I usually exit the sewers before 1 AM. I also always pick up Renault's and Glenroys' katanas, and loot all the containers, and kill that one non-hostile rat. I follow it up with a trip through Vilverin for the Bag of Holding and since I'm there, I grab the Ayleid Statue with the intent to take it to Umbacano when I have the opportunity to do so. After exiting Vilverin, it's pretty random, though I often visit the Market District, break into The Main Ingredient, and make some alchemy ingredients with the Cobl Grinder in the shop, from the bones and gems I picked up in the tutorial dungeon as well as Vilverin, along with the bits of Dwemer metal on the counter of the shop. I'll usually also steal all the ingredients around the shop as well, while the stuff is grinding, then collect it all and leave. But that's more a "usually" thing than an "always" thing. After that, it's all open.

Hmmm, "As Good As It Gets" comes to mind

HOLY CRAPS!!!!!!!! hmy: