Well my kids are waterdogs in the summer, two years ago we bought one of those Intex easy set pools, they swam in that thing all summer! We loved it, having been around pools all my life, I took good care of it even with its subpar filtration system.
Last summer one of our neighbors was moving, they had an above ground pool and didn't want to take it with them and we approached them about buying it, they said $200 and its' yours!! We wrote them a check as fast as we could then got to work!! We took their advice on how to get the ground prepared, mind you this is the middle of July in Texas, it was HOT~! Our problem was we had to take it down at the old place and put it back up at ours... It went smooth and it really helped to see how it went together as we took it down. We told our boys that it would be their birthday present(they have summer birthdays) and they were thrilled. All total we spent about $500 total by the time we purchased all the needed materials and did all the work ourselves but we have a beautuful AG 18ft round pool that we love!! It was the best $500 we have ever spent.
I found this site a week ago and I truly believe it saved my sanity!! I was spending $$ at the pool stores to avail, I read everything here and paid close attention and it has paid off! My pool was cloudy and green a week ago and my son swam in it today thanks to the BBB method. I went yesterday and bought 2 boxes of Borax, a gallon of bleach and a 4 lb box of Baking soda, I have muratic acid already ( pool store purchase, in search of an answer~) I spend less than $10!!! My husband is much happier that I have a blue pool now and it's clearing of the cloudiness, slowly but surely, I will vaccum twice a day to clear it. My neighbors have had problems with theirs this year, I am going to recomment the BBB method to them as well!!!
I can come here with a question and get an answer very quickly. I am going to continue to take my water in for testing once a week or so just to be on the safe side.