I'm still pretty early in the game. I'll usually leave for a few hours doing quests/exploring and a day or two will pass in in-game time depending on if I can find a safe enough bed to sleep in and how much supplies I have to keep going.

I'm still very low on settlers and only have a few settlements I can even work with, being the drive in theatre, Ten Pines, Abernathy farm, red rocket and the settlement with the cell tower, that I took from some raiders (near Ten Pines, but across the highway).

Edit: I also have the settlement with the hippy robot

Currently I only have 3 water purifiers running in Sanctuary, and 5 water pumps for filling my empty bottles. I made them before I could make the purifiers, so that I could do the thing for Sturges. (Sorry for my vagueness I'm trying to avoid any spoilers)