I've done a challenge limiting my chests (I still ended up with more than anticipated) and found it worthwhile. Rule 1 was no seeds out of season unless planted immediately in the Greenhouse (once opened) and Ginger Island (once available). The final list was:
1 chest in the house/farm
1 on the beach
1 in the mine entrance
1 on Ginger Island (first on the beach before I had a farm, then in the farmhouse)
1 by Skull Cavern
1 in a keg shed (By far my most "cheaty" and least in the spirit of the challenge)
Fridges were limited to the one in the kitchen, the one on GI, and the one earned from a quest.
My plan once junimo chests were available was to REMOVE the regular chests at the mine and skull cavern and have the linked Junimo chests at the 3 mining entrances (so technically one more chest at the volcano, but since Junimo chests have fewer overall contents, a reduction in storage slots). But I closed that run before I set it up.
I'm TRYING to not pick up forage in my PC game. It's harder than it sounds because I LOVE foraging, apparently.
A planned run is the No-Capitalism, meaning no purchasing anything but a bouquet and a backpack upgrade from Pierre (or Jojamart), and limiting what can be bought from all the other obvious merchants. Mine would be modded to make life both for easier and harder (for example, since my mixed seeds can theoretically produce any seasonal crop, then no night market or travelling merchant seeds either, and I'll be using the "upgrade tools via fulfilling bundles" mod, so no Clint at all... plus using the Charity mod so spare funds can be donated to the National Centre for Missing and Doved Children instead of sitting in my purse and making me look like a miser.)
Some vanilla versions lean on the travelling merchant a lot or allow for buying at the night market on the logic they're obviously small itinerant businesses, some are stricter and you just don't get to HAVE anything that would count as buying an item (rather than an animal, building, recipe, or upgrade).
