There are a lot of ways to play and enjoy Stardew Valley. Players can focus on farming, crafting, exploring, or more likely a combination of all the above and more. There are a lot of things to do and see in this game.
Perhaps because of this, players will often make mistakes that can inadvertently hinder their progress. Many players don’t pay attention to the little things that can become complicated nuisances later on. Here are some of the more common mistakes first-time players make and how to avoid them.
Updated on May 12, 2023 by Michael Christopher: There's no shortage of information thrown at the player in the early days of Stardew Valley. While the game is relatively simple once you've played it for a bit, it can be overwhelming at the start. We've decided to update this guide and add a few more things to avoid for those who are not (yet) experts at the game. Good luck out there farmers!
18 Ignoring Worms In The Ground (Artifact Spots)
As the player walks around, they’ll come across these strange spots on the ground with worms wriggling in the center. Unbeknownst to many beginners, these are Artifact Spots. When dug out with a Hoe, these spots can contain valuable loot.
Lost Books, Artifacts, valuable crops, and Ore — among other things — can be found in these spots. They have a very small chance of spawning every day. These items are incredibly useful for progression, and finding even one can make the early game much easier.
17 Wasting Winter
Considering planting and harvesting crops typically takes place in the warmer periods, many players mistakenly assume Winter is a waste. They end up wandering around aimlessly and not taking advantage of this prime time.
Winter is a great quarter for making plans, gathering resources, speaking with locals, and other activities that are hard to pursue in the Fall or Spring. Winter is the season to strategize for the upcoming year, explore, become more social, catch some fish, go mining, and much more. Another great idea is to upgrade the Watering Can, since you most likely won't need it during this season.
16 Not Understanding The Save Mechanics
This issue isn’t one of willful self-sabotage, but more of a lack of knowledge about how the game’s mechanics work. The game saves whenever the player character sleeps. It does not save when the player closes the game and there are no autosave features or checkpoints.
Many beginners are unaware of this initially, or forget in the early stages of the game. As a result, they may check out during the day and lose some of their progress. Admittedly, it isn’t major; at most, a player will lose a day’s worth of work. But it can be frustrating, and losing that big catch from a lucky fishing trip is no fun.
15 Avoiding Garbage Cans
When starting out, the beginner’s biggest obstacle is a lack of resources. One activity that can be used early on to obtain helpful items is to dig through garbage cans. These have a chance to spawn a number of items. The most helpful include the Cave Carrot, Field Snack, and Largemouth Bass. Of course, there is also the possibility to obtain useless items like Trash or 
Soggy Newspaper.
This should never be done in front of any NPCs, as it harms the player's relationship with the character. The only exception to this is Linus, who will develop a camaraderie with the player digging through trash.
One particularly good spot to hit is the trash can pictured above, just to the right of the Stardrop Saloon. Gus, the owner, will often throw out uneaten dishes from the day before, so you can find decent meals here for restoring health and energy, or for powerful buffs.
14 Wasting Prismatic Shards On Gifting
Prismatic Shards are valuable items that have a number of uses in the game. One of the least useful purposes for these items is to give to fellow villagers to boost relationships, as every villager except Haley loves them. However, Prismatic Shards have so much potential that they should never be wasted on friendship, especially given how rare they are.
For instance, they can be used to get the Galaxy Sword, buy Magic Rock Candy, and enchant tools in the forge. There are plenty of other gifts give to the villagers that don’t require wasting Prismatic Shards.
13 Not Planning Ahead
With so much to do each day, it’s common for players to get so distracted they forget to think ahead. It’s important to remember that this game is built around the idea that little actions each day lead to greater results in the long run.
Players should be doing things that feed into the larger plan. For example, wood should be gathered to build more storage chests to stockpile seeds that will be needed through Winter. A player should never just be gathering wood because they don’t know what else to do. Odds are, there's something you can be doing to help make tomorrow easier.
12 Cutting Down All the Grass
Hay is expensive to purchase from Marnie and annoying to have to grow. So, instead of chopping it all down, let it spread around Barns and Coops, then leave the doors open. Animals will eat grass growing wild before they eat the Hay you provide for them, so it's wise to not completely clear it all the time.
If it's raining or Winter, animals will not come out to eat grass, but otherwise, it's a great way to save! You can even place a fence post over some grass tiles to prevent animals from eating those bits, and more grass will spread from those un-eatable tiles.
11 Building Silos Too Late
Silos are cheap and easy to build, and they should absolutely be built before any animal buildings or the purchase of any actual animals. This is because grass that is cut with a Scythe will, a large percentage of the time, produce Hay that is automatically sent to the Silo. It'll be stored here until the player retrieves it or, if they have an auto-feeder, it will automatically fill the feed bench inside the Barns and Coops on their farm.
It's wise to build a Silo earlier rather than later, as all the grass that you cut down without a Silo is sort of a waste. It's also great to build up some Hay storage before Winter comes.
10 Putting Off Bundles
At first, Bundles may seem like a minor thing or perhaps even part of an achievement system. What most beginning players fail to realize is that Bundles are used to unlock later content. Even worse is that many of the Bundles are season specific.
Many new players will ignore the Fall Bundles only to realize their importance in Winter or Spring, and need to wait. Players shouldn’t break their backs trying to get these done, but dedicating some time every once in a while to check on the remaining items is worth it. You can even check the Bundles from your inventory screen, so you don't need to walk all the way to the Community Center for a quick check.
9 Ignoring NPCs
With all the farming, gathering, and crafting that needs to be done, talking to the locals seems like a waste of time and effort. Unfortunately, it takes time to build relationships with those NPCs, and that requires having conversations over and over again.
The locals in Pelican Town will give the player important recipes, send them gifts in the mail, and much more. It's wise to begin having conversations with people when you see them, or else you'll be stuck grinding friendship points later when you realize you need a certain recipe from someone.