I'm trying to figure out how to clean lots, and I'm still confused after reading through the tutorials on here. This might be a dumb question, but when I'm cleaning a lot, where is the lot supposed to be? Am I cleaning a lot that's in the bin? Or am I supposed to place it in a test neighborhood, then clean it, then place the clean version in the bin?
Also, if it needs to go in a test neighborhood, can the neighborhood have sims in it as long as the lot itself doesn't have any sims? Or does it need to be in a completely sim-free neighborhood?
Thanks in advance!

I assume you looked at my tutorial? https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=609188
You do either method 1 which is manually deleting in SimPE or you do method 2 which is automatic with the lot compressor. Two separate methods.

So assuming you are using method 2 (I recommend that) you open lot compressor and browse to where the lot is, just like in the picture. The lot needs to be placed down on a road not in the bin. I would suggest when you install a lot from a creator you don't know to install it in a test hood. The sims in the hood or or lack of doesn't matter. All cleaning does is remove sim references from the lot that it came with.

Okay, thank you! This helps, I just didn't understand if I needed to place the lot somewhere first.