Pool Envy

[littleteapot]

Oooooh, it is that time of year again. I want a pool!!! They are so expensive to build, insure and maintain....doesn't make me want one less though. The weather gets warm and the pool envy starts. I don't want to hang out at the neighborhood pool, I want to walk out back and jump in.

So pool owners, tell me why I don't really need one. On the other hand if you tell me how fantastic they are, I could forward that information to dh.

 

[DVCLiz]

I have pool envy, too. We live within three blocks of TWO neighborhood pools, and have memberships at both, but I want to walk out my back door and swim no matter how I look in my bathing suit, or how recently I might have remembered to shave my legs!!

My brother just finished his pool last week, and I have heard about literally almost every single shovel of dirt. He called me the other day and said, "Guess what? It's a pool!!" I said, "Where are you?" and he said, "In the jacuzzi!" I am so jealous - but I don't want to drive 6 hours to swim in his pool - I just want one in my backyard!!

But I know it's a chore to keep up with, and I don't want to do it myself. On the other hand, maybe a pool boy is exactly what I need....

 

[emily1982]

I'd like a pool too...but i live in the UK where it rains most the the time and is cold the rest of the time/if we fitted a pool we'd have no back garden left and not many people in the UK have pools as they don't add value to the houses...so id have the entire town trying to use it if i did get one!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well we got one last year. My brother is here visiting and it KEEPS RAINING....

 

[mommasita]

I used to have pool envy, until we decided we should buy one..

I love everything about it. My kids LOVE to swim, and will spend days in it. We love to swim. It is healthy, great exercise, etc, etc..

Having kids that love to swim, we decided that we would rather the kids invite other kids to our house, and we would know WHERE they are, and with WHO they 'hang' with..

Having said that, there are MANY days I sigh, and wish it were quieter, as I gave birth to 2 children, and always see at least double, especially this past week, but I signed up for it, and that is the best sound to me, kids laughing...

Oh, and I buy the best floatie in town, and NOBODY touches it, it is MINE..

 

[daisyduck123]

As a teenager, my DH worked for a pool company...so we'll never have one.
He knows they're a lot of work and it's much easier to just walk a few blocks to our neighborhood pool.

 

[littleteapot]

How old do you think the kids should be, before we put one in. If ever????

Ooooh I have it bad this year. Dratted financial advisor thinks we should spend our money on stupid stuff like a college fund.

Boo, I want a pool, I want a pool

 

[mommasita]

How old do you think the kids should be, before we put one in. If ever????

Ooooh I have it bad this year. Dratted financial advisor thinks we should spend our money on stupid stuff like a college fund.

Boo, I want a pool, I want a pool

The ages are up to you. My kids are 8 and 11, and it is our 5th year..So my DD was 3, and DS 6..Yep, that is right...They were in swimming lessons since the age of 2, so it was great..

I had a deck made, with a gate for access, and locked the gate to the pool...I felt secure this way, as it takes a second. This is the first year, so far, that I close the gate, but don't padlock it...I stay with the kids, but can cook in the kitchen and see them..

 

[littleteapot]

Well we got one last year. My brother is here visiting and it KEEPS RAINING....

How many months of the year do you think you'll be able to use it? We're near Houston, it makes me so mad our neighborhood pool is only available when the public schools are out. We have at least 3 more months we could use a pool.

 

[SavvyMom]

My DB/DSIL have a pool and they live about 2 blocks from us. We go there nearly every day during the summer. My DSIL and I are buddies. Sometimes I REALLY want one of my own, but it is a lot of work...and expense. Be prepared, people drop by all the time (at least to their house). That would drive me nuts! If it's worth it to you, go for it!! We got a 4 foot above ground pool one year, and it was more work than I was willing to do. Maybe you should start there and see how that goes? Good luck!!!

 

[aprilgail2]

I got one when my daughter was 2 and we have loved every minute of it. I don't find it all that much work once it is opened. I have the automatic vacuum so that does all that work for me, I hook it up before I go to bed every few days and by morning it is clean. I just add chlorine every few days and my daughter enjoys it all summer long. I am VERY glad we have it, I am NOT a fan of public pools, like swimming in a toilet to me. They had an outbreak of ecoli in one of hte public pools around here and I am not missing worrying about that while she is swimming.

 

[marlasmom]

I see you are in Texas so having a pool makes sense to me. You usually don't get your money out of a pool if you have to sell - and much less if you live in a cold climate.

Right now I'm having so much trouble with a neighbor over use of our pool that I'm ready to fill it in. I loved it when my kids were young and through their teen-age years. All the kids were always at our house so I knew where they were and what they were doing. I still laugh at the time my son and his friend brought two really skanky girls to swim. Heavily made-up - no manners whatsoever. The power went out and the house was stifling and no air conditioning obviously. I finally gave up and took my dd with me and we went to sit in the pool. My son and his friend were soooo embarrassed by these girls. Especially as teenagers, the kids were always very well behaved and we had no problems. I didn't insist on adult supervision when they were teenagers.

 

[Kahana-ri]

We use to have pool envy until we bought one. It was a brand new above ground 15 round with attached deck. In NE we were only able to use it for barely 8 weeks. The pool is a complete pain to open and close, maintaining it everyday is a hassle, and after having children it just became a liability. We tore the pool down this season and put our sons play yard where the pool was.
Now we have a 3ft round 1 foot deep kiddy pool. That’s true pool envy!

 

[LorilieMarie]

I have pool envy also, everyone around me seems to have one and I love them. I also have pool guilt. We signed a contract to have one put in, they will have it in by October, when it is too cold. I keep feeling guilty on spending that much money ....maybe it could be put to better use .....can we really afford it ...... Oh well, I am sure I will enjoy it about a year from now.

 

[pittypat]

My DH cleaned pools as a kid and was a confirmed "I'll-never-have-a-pool" type. Then we moved on to 2 1/2 acres, had the room and put one in. Best decision we ever made. We love our pool!! It seems to keep the whole yard cooler. We spend lots of time out there, year 'round.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

I live in Florida and don't have one of the things. Every pool that isn't screened in here looks a lovebug graveyard. Run! It's L-day for the bugs. That keeps me from wanting one.

 

[ChristmasElf]

I live in Florida and don't have one of the things. Every pool that isn't screened in here looks a lovebug graveyard. Run! It's L-day for the bugs. That keeps me from wanting one.

We use our pool year round. As for the bugs, last year we put that Mosquito Mister in and have great success with no bugs, mosquitos, even no see ums, and of course no love bugs!!
Get that pool! You won't regret it!

 

[lucas]

We have a pool and never use it. Think of it as a big hole in your backyard that you keep throwing money into.

 

[karebear1]

We're gonna be building a new home in the next year or so and I really want to put an inground pool in our yard as well. Problem is we'll be living in Wisconsin and I'm not sure if it will be worth the cost or not??

Can anyone give me an idea of how big their inground pools are and about how much they cost? I have no idea! Would setting aside about $30,000 be enough for an inground pool??

 

[bettyann29]

I have pool envy too!!

We finally bought our first house last year and talked about getting a pool this year.. the actual cost of the pool wasnt a problem for us but once we looked into what we had to do to get the pool we changed our minds about getting one this year.. we have privacy fence on one side of our back yard.. we would have to put it up on the other 2 sides of the back yard and we have a large back yard.. then in order to put the fence up we have to get a permit from the city.. then we need a new gate because it has to be a self latching one.. then the other side we would have to figure out what to do because a previous owner bricked in the garage and made the living room larger and built a 2 1/2 car garage in the back so they made another driveway and we have a large gate there.. something would have to be done about that.. we wouldnt want to fence it in with privacy fence because of the garage and we would need to get a really large self latching gate for that side.. then we would have to go thru hoops with the city to put the pool in.. getting a permit.. having an electric line run out to the pool (again city regulated).. its a mess

and on top of that .. to be able to afford to do all of this we wouldnt get any vacations this year.. we decided to wait on the pool and went on a cruise instead..