It's gone!

[scottish]

My swimming pool that is.   Subtracting the cost of a new liner, I estimate payback time is 4 years.   Mostly I feel a large sense of relief - no more swimming pool to look after.

[Slee_stack]

How much are you saving on homeowner's insurance?

If you rarely used the pool, you must be incredibly ecstatic now, congrats!

Isn't it funny how the great unwashed masses would be congratulating someone for putting a pool in, not taking one out?

[scottish]

Ooh, homeowner's insurance.    Hadn't thought of that.  Thanks!

[HAPPYINAZ]

nice!

[TVRodriguez]

Happy that you're happy and free of what was a burden to you.

Coincidentally though that it was just this past week that DH fixed the leak in our backyard pool, and we are SOO happy to have it back in working order!  We're in that sucker daily many months of the year.  But then, we live in South Florida.

[Guses]

OMG.  The happiest day of my life was the day I sold my house that had a pool.  The second day I owned the house the pump died.  From that point forward, it was a chore.  Clean the skimmer, fish all the leaves out of the bottom, scoop out the dead snakes/frogs/mice/skunk(!), scoop out the live snakes/frogs/mice/possum(!), raise the pH, lower the pH, open it for summer, close it for winter, etc., etc.  Not to mention the crazy electricity bills from running the pump and the constant array of chemicals I had to dump into it.

I think I swam in it 10 times in the 5 years I owned it.  It probably cost me $2000 and 20 hours of effort per swim.  Just looking at it pissed me off too much to ever enjoy it.  I'm pretty sure that house and pool are a significant factor in why I am divorced.

You can't just drop this and leave, tell us more!

Also, what arguments can I use to convince my dear SO that a pool is a bad idea?

[h82goslw]

I've had a pool for 12 years.  Living in the northeast we only get about 4 months of use and it's been worth every penny.   Our kids have spent hundreds of hours swimming with friends, not to mention all the time I've been with them swimming.  Best thing I did was put in a salt generator few years ago which greatly reduced the maintenance and cost of chemicals...paid for itself in 3 years and many hours saved in work. 

  Not saying it's cheap to install one, but the amount of quality time we have spent as a family has made it worth it. And save the face punches in responses.....I know the vast majority of people on this site would never dream of getting a pool.  🏊🏊🏊🏊

[ketchup]

Nice!  I removed the pond from our back yard this spring, and it was a much smaller project but also quite satisfying.

We have a neighbor two doors down trying to sell their house... everything inside is completely remodeled and wonderful looking, they even repainted the exterior.  But they have a pool in the back yard with a cover on it that has a bunch of standing water on it that has been there for who knows how long and looks filthy and horrible (plus mosquitoes!).  A pool could be a selling point, but not like that I'm sure.

[Drifterrider]

.  I'm pretty sure that house and pool are a significant factor in why I am divorced.

So, which one of you tried to drown the other?  Inquiring minds you know........

[zephyr911]

In general, I vastly prefer friends with a pool to owning one of my own... kinda like boats, ATVs, jet skis, etc....
I had a small above-ground pool last summer and got lots of great use out of it for very little $$$, but was ultimately too busy to do a good job of cleaning and care, so DW grounded me from pool ownership and we junked the nasty green remnants in the fall (I was sad but didn't fight it, as much as I love pools and hate waste, because she was right... I couldn't hack it with my schedule like it was/is). Maybe post-FIRE, we'll revisit this topic.

[GuitarStv]

Congrats!  My dad hated his swimming pool, but the costs to break up the concrete and fill it were exorbitant.  He was overjoyed to sell the house after 20 years of putting up with it.

[fattest_foot]

We live out in the desert and the first place we rented (about 3 years) had a pool. We were so excited. By the time we left, I hated it. Just the amount of electricity and water used infuriated me. We even had pool maintenance included in our rent, but it still wasn't worth the trouble.

It's been in the 100's this past week, and although the idea of a pool sounds great to cool off, I'm glad we don't have one. I agree with the idea that it's better to have a friend with a pool.

[Murr]

Congrats on getting rid of the sink hole!!! We have an above ground pool and I hate it. Kids love it but I loath every time I look at. We've already tossed about $50 of chemicals in it this year in addition to the time spent vacuuming, cleaning, etc. As someone else mentioned, best pool to have is your neighbors.

[Fishindude]

Removed ours a few years ago and haven't missed it.   It was great when the kids were at home and it got used all the time, kind of like having a mini vacation right in the back yard all of the time.  Had countless parties and cook outs around the pool with our friends and their similar aged children.   

When they grew up and moved away it was a lot of work and got very little use.   
Replaced it with a hot tub on the deck, it sees quite a bit of use.

[abiteveryday]

We had a pool growing up, in a climate where us four kids used it probably seven months a year, for several hours a day all through summer vacation.     I asked my parents about the expense as an adult, and they said they never regretted it once.    I can see how it ends up being an albatross, and I'd certainly never get one where now, but it sure was great growing up.    If life took me to another climate where it made sense, I'd not think twice about giving my kids that same experience.

[scottish]

The kids are (mostly) grown up now, so it has had very little use recently.   It was fun when they were small though.

As a bonus, I save $70 on my homeowners insurance every year.   Whoot!

[ambimammular]

We bought our house despite its pool. The first thing we invested in was an expensive strap down cover. I believe they show a baby elephant standing on it in the pictures. Unless it was locked down, I dreamed of our kids drowning until they were old enough to swim.

Other than that ;) I now see it as a great way to keep our kids occupied all summer. I'd rather have their friends come to our house where I know what their up to. The kids are in it from morning til late. We go through a lot of sunscreen.

[acroy]

Congratulations OP
A pool 'north of the Mason-Dixie Line' has never made much sense to me, as the pool season must be very short....
We love ours, get about 8mo/yr of use out of it (depends on your cold tolerance - builds character!)
I enjoy operating it in a Mustachian manner :) But apparently i am weird that way, most folks seem to hate things involving work.....

[Syonyk]

In general, I vastly prefer friends with a pool to owning one of my own... kinda like boats, ATVs, jet skis, etc....

:D Working on that.  I helped a friend drop 7 yards of concrete in around their pool base the other day (chuteman while they mucked around and got it where it needed to be).  I'm excited it's there, and I'm excited it's not mine!

[partgypsy]

Everyone is different. My parents in law bought a house with an above ground pool and used it pretty much every day in the summer. When they moved they again tried to find a house with an in ground pool, but surprisingly there were few to be had and they couldn't find one with the kind of house they wanted. Once they purchased, they even considered putting in a pool in their backyard. But as the lot was shady and they didn't want to cut down trees, decided against it. So they both have memberships to places they can swim. Some people love the water. MIL was lifeguard and also waterskied when she was young. Hubby in addition to swimming also knew how to scuba dive. 

[Goldielocks]

Congratulations OP
A pool 'north of the Mason-Dixie Line' has never made much sense to me, as the pool season must be very short....
We love ours, get about 8mo/yr of use out of it (depends on your cold tolerance - builds character!)
I enjoy operating it in a Mustachian manner :) But apparently i am weird that way, most folks seem to hate things involving work.....

We had a pool growing up in Winnipeg.  Everyone else had cottages, we had a pool.   Compared to a cottage, much less time and effort.

Re the mason-dixie line.   Yes, it was only active for 3 months of the year... and there was a seasonal set up (a few days effort), weekly cleaning (that's 12 cleanings per year), light weight chemical treatment in the season, and then a day for shut down. One water top off at the start of season, one partial drain below the lines at the end.  That was it for maintenance for the year..   If you have snow on the ground for 6 months a year, you don't even see it otherwise.