Join the pool or buy a pool?

How many kids are nearby to help share the experience of the backyard pool? If you're trying to recreate last year's happy times in this year's social environment then how closely do the environments compare?

How much time do you have to spend at the club pool vs being at home to enjoy the pool in your back yard? Would you drop Mo off at the club pool or stay there with him? Would you enjoy the social environment at the club?

It's really funny you should bring this up right now boom.

Are there any public pools in your area?

After all these years I realized that on my way home, through a swanky part of town, there is a pool literally yards away from an exit I have to pass by to get home.

On the internet it said the city pools were $3 a day.

I stopped there today, there were moms and kids and some older ladies with their middle age daughters. Not crowded though.

I walked up to 1 of the 2 lifeguards and asked her where I'd go to pay in I wanted to stop by for a dip.

She said "there's no charge, it's a neighborhood poor"

I just came home from buying some swim trunks and a top.

This one was really nice. Clean, in a beautiful area.

Nothing like that around you?

There are a lot of kids in this neighborhood so I think the pool would be used quite a bit by Mo and our neighbors and his friends.

And yes, I would have to stay with Mo at the racquet club pool. I don't know about the social enviornment and whether I would enjoy it but I do like D and his wife R so that's something. It isn't a country club, more of a neighborhood tennis/swim club so I'm thinking it might be okay.

Just looking at the economics for a minute...

The benefit of trying the club pool is that you can try it for one year and decide if it's something you want to do again next year --- but that would mean another $400. If it isn't for you then you could get the backyard pool next year for another $400. Looks like a $800 total outlay either way if you join the club this year.

If you buy the pool this year then you've got it next year without additional outlay -- unless there are maintenance costs associated with an above ground pool beyond your time and energies. Time and energies are probably a wash either way. Well.... maybe not. Would you have to restrict Mo's time at the club based on your availability?

If you join the club and only can get there on weekends but think Mo would use the pool daily with his friends if it was in the backyard then I'd probably go with the yard pool.

Absolutely there is nothing like that here.

Swimming in Oregon is a premium product.

The park department pools have maybe 90 days to recoup the expense of operating the pool. That means that the pool has "open swim" for about 1.5 hours in the afternoon and 1.5 hours in the evening. With a membership you pay $3.00 per person, per session, to swim in an extrodinarly crowded pool for 90 minutes.

we have two municipal inside pools and the annual cost for a couple is less than $400 - quite a bit less for kids . mind you , they couldn't be hanging out there all day .
there is an outside municipal summer pool for the kids - with slides and other stuff - i believe it's about a dollar a day for kids and they can stay all day - until they are wrinkled .

Don't forget the other major downside - safety. Can't leave 'em to play about alone anymore.

yes , that's for sure : kids playing in your yard are YOUR responsibility -
particularly if they have been invited .
in ontario a fence and locked gate are required for all private pools .

do you , by chance, get a discount on your second, third..( and so on) membership to this elite puddle of water?

also be sure to check out the insurance requirements - and costs - for a home pool

$400 buys a family membership so there isn't a need for additonal memberships.

Like I said, we had a pool at our old house so we are well aware of the legal ramifications of pool ownership.

And we are talking about an inexpensive above ground pool -- 4 feet max.

Outdoor swimming is an expensive proposition here.

I'm really just trying to decide what is the best bet to keep Mo busy and happy and fit through the summer.

Most private pools allow members to bring a guest or two on occasion, sometimes for a small fee. (It's good marketing...they get new members that way.) Could your friends D & R bring you and Mo for a day so you could try it out before deciding?

I'd get the pool and get my friends over in addition to my son's.
Then I would have a big party.

I am not paying $400 for a few weeks in a public pool!

I wouldn't neither .


[You pay here 36€ ($56) for one person and 96€ ($149) for a family card for the saison, entry to five (slightly heated, 23°C) public pools (with whirlpools, slides, playgrounds, etc etc), as well as to a sand beach on a lake, all watched by life guards, entry from 6/7/8am to 8/9pm (depending on place and weather).
(You can buy all season cards including the indoor pools as well.)]

We have been using our neighbors pools for the last couple of years. She and her husband worked and they had no kids so I would clean the pool and skim it and such to trade for us using it. It was wonderful.

This past winter, someone we all know had a child slip into the backyard and fall into their pool and drowned. They had the proper latches and such...the little boy had just figured them out. Regardless of who was at fault or what they did right or wrong it was a major heartbreak for them. They filled the pool in.

My friends had a baby this past winter (the ones whose pool we used) They checked into getting it childproofed and it was so exhorbitant that they had to fill it in. We were sad...but we certainly understand.

We joined a club close to us - just for the summer. The cost is about the same as yours Boomer but it is open from 9:00 until 9:00 at night. I thought about getting an above ground pool like you but keeping it cleaned out and from my animals from destroying it (6 month old Black Lab and a 1 year old Australian Shepherd) we just decided to cough up the money.

It is nice. When we leave the pool - we don't worry about anything. I don't have to clean or skim or nuttin'.

And there are all kinds of Moms just like me that I have enjoyed talking to. Plus others that I know that I didn't know were there.

Good Luck with your decision.

Would Mo be happier being a genial host or being a guest at a place that might have standards of behavior?

when squinney and i were in our big house we had a pool... nothing like it. buy one. You'll always know where everyone is. Just figure in the cost of feeding these kids snacks and drinks and water.It's worth it. And, even at 4 feet..... the grown ups can chill in it in the evening with a glass of wine or a cold beer.... or whatever else you Oregon hippies twist up to relax.... :wink:

Buy your own pool.

No one will be pooping or peeing in it except your own. :wink:

And you can enjoy it when you want without having to lug everyone and everything down to the public pool.

And it is much less expensive, even with maintenance.

And you can always pay a neighborhood kid to come and clean it every week.

Yeah, I'd go with with home pool.

I was once a member of a swim/tennis club that was very laid back, very nice people, didn't push too hard to join this event or that -- worked out great. That was decades ago in a previous life.

Mr B and I were invited by some neighbors here to be "sponsored" for membership at their private swim/racquet club. They gave us the member's booklet which described how in order to become a member one is invited to a social gathering by the sponsoring member to meet the membership committee (a cocktail party or dinner at the sponsor's home was suggested). After the gathering the membership committee would determine the suitability of the prospects for inclusion into the club.

I know my neighbors were well-intentioned, and they had no idea that "join" and "club" are both four-letter words in my estimation, but you can imagine my response to wanting to be inspected for consideration of worthiness to rub elbows with the chosen few. GACK!!!!!

So --- there are all kinds of clubs meeting the needs of all kinds of people. I'd do a lot more checking before you plunk down $400 because one family joined the club.