diff --git a/src/db/index.ts b/src/db/index.ts
index 9c4df56..f8c3d1b 100644
--- a/src/db/index.ts
+++ b/src/db/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import { logError, logSuccess, projectRoot } from "../utils";
 import fs from "fs";
 import path from "path";
-import { Client, QueryResult } from "pg";
+import { Client } from "pg";
+import fsp from "fs/promises";
 
 export const tableExists = async (db: Client): Promise<boolean> => {
     const result = await db
@@ -47,33 +48,22 @@ export const populateDB = async (db: Client) => {
         )
         .catch((err) => err);
 
-    fs.readFile(
-        filepath,
-        { encoding: "utf-8" },
-        async (err: Error | null, data: string) => {
-            if (err != null) {
-                logError(err.message);
-                throw err;
-            }
+    let data = await fsp.readFile(filepath, { encoding: "utf-8" });
 
-            let arr: Array<string> = data.split("\r\n");
+    let arr: string[] = data.split("\r\n");
 
-            // 1k entries per query
-            const chunkSize = 1000;
-            for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i += chunkSize) {
-                const chunk: Array<string> = arr.slice(i, i + chunkSize);
+    // 1k entries per query
+    const chunkSize = 1000;
+    for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i += chunkSize) {
+        const chunk: string[] = arr.slice(i, i + chunkSize);
 
-                const queryStr = {
-                    text: `INSERT INTO words (val) VALUES ${expand(
-                        chunk.length
-                    )}`,
-                    values: chunk,
-                };
+        const queryStr = {
+            text: `INSERT INTO words (val) VALUES ${expand(chunk.length)}`,
+            values: chunk,
+        };
 
-                await db.query(queryStr);
-            }
-        }
-    );
+        await db.query(queryStr);
+    }
 
     logSuccess("Successfully populated the database!");
 };
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 6700a43..6d6f447 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { tableExists, populateDB } from "./db";
 
 const main = async () => {
     dotenv.config();
-    createDataDir();
+    await createDataDir();
 
     // init db
     const pool = new Pool();
diff --git a/src/routes/bin.ts b/src/routes/bin.ts
index 06361ae..6fd59dc 100644
--- a/src/routes/bin.ts
+++ b/src/routes/bin.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { Pool, QueryResult } from "pg";
 import fs from "fs";
 import path from "path";
 import { Word } from "../utils/types";
+import fsp from "fs/promises";
 import { projectRoot } from "../utils";
 import { getAvailableWord, setWordTaken } from "../db/bin";
 
@@ -18,10 +19,9 @@ export default function BinRouter(db: Pool) {
         const word: Word | undefined = await getAvailableWord(db);
 
         if (word != undefined) {
-            fs.writeFile(
+            await fsp.writeFile(
                 path.join(projectRoot, "data", word.val + ".txt"),
-                body,
-                (err) => err
+                body
             );
 
             await setWordTaken(db, word.id);
diff --git a/src/utils/index.ts b/src/utils/index.ts
index 80668f6..4212250 100644
--- a/src/utils/index.ts
+++ b/src/utils/index.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import chalk from "chalk";
 import { ErrorRequestHandler } from "express";
 import path from "path";
 import fs from "fs";
+import fsp from "fs/promises";
 
 // logs
 export const logError = (msg: string) => console.error(chalk.bold.red(msg));
@@ -16,10 +17,10 @@ export const errorHandler: ErrorRequestHandler = (err, _, res, __) => {
     return res.status(500).json({ message: "Internal server error!" });
 };
 
-export const createDataDir = () => {
+export const createDataDir = async () => {
     let dir = path.join(projectRoot, "data");
 
     if (!fs.existsSync(dir)) {
-        fs.mkdirSync(dir);
+        await fsp.mkdir(dir);
     }
 };