lootit lootit lootit
seriously.
if you need it go get it or make it, if you find it and can't use it then sell it and if your crafting isn't high enough then gather and craft until it is... you get lots to sell as a byproduct.
in the meantime, loot it all and pay attention to weight/value ratios. how smart is a battleaxe that weighs 28 and sells for 35 vendor when you can loot mage robes that weigh 1 and sell for 200?
I play on a PC and the one "cheat" I've never fallen prone to is player.additem f [insert gold here] because on my first playthrough my character had 150,000 gold after buying and fully decorating three homes and going through three horses and my second character had 140,000 with a house. All of my characters make money hand over fist until it gets silly and I'm looking for ways to spend it.
it's crazy how rich you can get in this game if you're also naturally nosy or thorough... if a wall in a dungeon looks like it should have a lever or other way to open it and you haven't found it, go find it... loot the urns... loot the draugr whether you killed them or not... look around on the floor and on tables and in bowls and buckets... pick locks to rooms you KNOW aren't going to lead anywhere...
- potions with 2 or more effects sell well
- fortify sneak, fortify carry weight, absorb health, damage stamina, frost weapon, and enhance destruction are all really well selling enchants even on iron daggers, leather bracers and plain silver rings
- if you have to buy it, do it in raw form... leather is cheaper than leather strips and iron ore is cheaper than iron ingots
- unless you're collecting them like a set, don't learn enchants you're not going to use. sell the items instead.
- you can learn the same enchant from novice destruction robes that you can learn from apprentice destruction robes, sacrifice the lesser item whenever you can
- one silver bar makes 2 silver rings one gold bar makes 2 gold rings - that's 2 enchants and 2 opportunities to sell per bar. why make jeweled items that are harder to sell when you're crafting for levels when you can sell the gems and sell the enchanted jewelry instead?
it's easier to make money than to spend it the longer you play.
good luck