I have asked this before but I am still not able to resolve this...
I have seen other lots with recolors etc... and their lots are still with 3MGs etc.. my lots are all over 100M.. why? I used to be able to upload a fully furnished house without this problem. So why are the recolors making the house so large? Is there anything anyone can do? I had a house that I uploaded a month ago fully furnished and now that same house will not upload... it when from 3 MG to 212Mgs. This is all really strange. I hope someone can help.

The Maxis packaging program is what's causing all your recolors to get packaged with the lot. The only thing you can do is use the Clean Installer to inspect the packaged lot, then disable what you don't want, then repackage the lot. That will cut down your recolors tremendously.

http://sims2pack.modthesims2.com (for the Clean Installer)

how do you use it to upload a lot?

oops.. one more question... I have used the installer and I am not sure what is ok to install and what I should not install.. but I only can see how it works in order to install on my game not to put up the lot on the BBS...I am so confused.. I hate this..

You don't use the Clean Installer to upload the lot to the Exchange. You have to upload the lot using the game's uploading engine. I have never uploaded anything to the Exchange so someone else is going to have to answer that for you.

You're going to have to use your best guess in figuring out what recolors to keep and what to take out. As far as I remember, there is no preview texture for recolors, only for clothes, walls, and floors.

You will need to post your additional questions in the Clean Installer thread:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=20607

hmmm.. too bad this cant be easier.. I am really not sure what to keep in that folder ...ahhhhhhh, thanks for your help.