Sims/saves gone after removing unused mods

Hello! I previously had mods installed in my sims game a few months ago, but they ended up making the game unplayable. It even ended up (I think) making my previous families disappear after it was updated. Since then I've been playing with the mods still in my folder but not actively in use, and made some new sims I'm really attached too. I tried to clean out my folder, but it wiped my new families and depending on if I try removing all files from the folder or putting them back, I either get a weird blank slate or I get my previous families restored?? I don't have my new sims saved to gallery, is there anyway I can restore my game ?? Please help ☹️