Mariner, closing it yourself is a good way to go. As John pointed out, most of us, myself included, don't have a 'handle' on the chlorine alternatives for chem advice. I know you've been around a while so you'll understand it when I say that it's the Softswim that has hurt your cash reserves, and left you with a green mess. A solid cover should ~ halt the 'swamping' of your pool, but the water tubes tend to leak and need to be replaced every few seasons (... not all at once, but expect to replace 2 - 5 every year). You are going to open the pool to the same 'swamp' that you closed it, next spring will be the perfect(!) time to change over to BBB (read, like you haven't ) the 'Baq' section of the forum.
Next spring, ditch the expensive 'stuff' and convert to BBB - the water draining required to clean the pool will help with the conversion (and bleach is a lot less expensive than the Softswim cr*p), work the conversion and spring cleaning to get yourself to the point that soooo many people here have had sucess with. Cover it soon, and prepare yourself for a 'week of H*LL' next spring, when you pull the cover.
I'm only trying to give you a realistic forcast of what to expect, not scare you
Best of luck, we are here for you!!