I keep my equipment hooked up so I can continue to circulate and chlorinate as needed until we start getting freezing night time temps which is usually sometime late November. I clean my pool and get the leaves out. I take my pH up to around 7.9 or so to give it some wiggle room to drop some during the winter. (We have acid rain.) Then, I shock the pool. (I used to add some Polyquat, but don't even do that anymore.) Then, I drop the water level below the skimmer and return and unhook the equipment. That's it. (I don't even cover my pool anymore.)

I do hook everything back up fairly early in the spring -- like mid-April. I want to start chlorinating before algae can get started and we typically get hot weather early in the spring. My pool will have a little dirt on the bottom but that is easily vacuumed up. The water is always clear though.

If you have specific questions about the stickies, please feel free to ask.