How do you get custom clothes on your sims 2 game?

Okay, so... i just downloaded like tons of clothes for my sims 2 game. I only have the sims 2 and no other expantion packs. I just downloaded WinZip, and i "extracted" it into MyDoents/EA games/The Sims 2/Downloads....now apprently its extracted but when i go to creat a sim they arent there! im like freaking out right now cause i downloaded like 50 of the clothes - complete waste of time. If anybody has any way to help me - please do!! Ohh and ive tried Sims 2 file maid, it keeps giving me some error.