What are some ideas to help make my gameplay better?

Do you play rotationally? I saw this suggested a bunch on YouTube, and it really got me rengaged. Having a bigger cast of sims allowed me to play out more focused stories at the same time. It’s also fun to see how all my different sims interact with each other, and who is interested in who, what the next generation will do, etc.

Another thing you could try is looking for a save file that someone has shared and play in that. I downloaded one a while back that had a ton of new families and new lots (the Bee Save, I think it was called). The key thing that made it interesting for me was the interconnectivity of the different packs; I’m not a builder, so I was using existing maxis builds and dumping random community lots into Newcrest. This save had spas in the resort areas, themed restaurants in various worlds, nightclubs where there had been penthouses, and so on. It inspired me to put together my own save; the lots are from various builders who are redoing each word, so each lot has a place to go in each word. I downloaded a bunch of decent looking townies to fill it out. Each time I’ve moved my favorite sims between the saves, so it’s not totally starting over but each save feels more alive to me.