Glad you managed to continue! My tips are:
- Always save as and number your files
- Make a habit out of saving at a particular moment in the game (for me that’s as soon as they go to bed; it’s become an automatism)
When a save is corrupted by the way, you can save all the sims that matter to you (your household and eventual family members and friends living elsewhere) to the bin. Start a brand new game and put everybody in there. All their skills and possessions/inventory will still be there, as are their relationships within one household. You can restore family ties outside your household using NRaas Mastercontroller.