DIY Pool Maintenence

When we bought our house last year we also became pool owners.
We weren't looking for a house with a pool, but the perfect one happened to have one, so we knew we needed to learn how to do it ourselves because hiring a pool guy was not in the budget.
At first we went to Pinch A Penny and spent ... uh, WAY more than a  penny last summer.  We did it Pinch a Penny's way for about 4 months.
Then we had a really tough go of it with mustard algae-- we just could not keep it gone.  We'd follow PAP's instructions, buy a ton of specialty chemicals, it would seem to be gone, and a week later, we'd see a faint hint of it.

I finally found the site Trouble Free Pools--- this site is a godsend.  Get on there ASAP.  I used info from there and ordered a test kit (Taylor K-2006) and made myself a little waterproof Pool Manual.  They even have a calculator which is an amazing tool to figure out exact amounts for your specific pool.  The community on there really helps you out as well-- they stuck with me through 2 weeks of mustard algae hell and really held my hand--- pool problems can get very frustrating.

The other bonus is it's a bit less "chemical" than the pool store way.  Their method is called "BBB" which stands for "bleach" (did you know chlorine and bleach are the same thing?), "baking soda" (alkalinity), and "borax" (optional).  They keep it really simple and it makes for a healthier and cleaner pool.  It also makes it easier to fix a problem when you get one.  We were frustrated to find out how much those "chlorine tablets" that float in the pool screw with your entire balance and keeps you very reliant on the pool store.

We have been using this method for 8 months and not only is it way cheaper--it's really empowering to learn all about your pool chemistry and take control of it.  After the learning phase, it will take about a daily 5 minute commitment and then one day a week maybe an extra 30-45 minutes-- in the winter it's less, summer is a bit more.

Now that we have our kit ($50), it just costs about $20 a month in chlorine to maintain our pool (less in winter).  We do have to refill the testers when they run out, but they last a pretty long time--I've only run out of two so far and it comes with maybe 12 different test bottles.  Also, Trouble Free Pool community has a site they use that's less expensive for refills.  I have ordered from there twice.

Go learn your pool!

Some pictures of my pool before and then after I started using the BBB method.  Also-- my pool manual and kit. :)

October 4 , 2014 was when we finally abandoned the pool store and started trying the BBB method:

We figured out the normal levels for our pool and printed that, put it in the manual.  Also put stuff about SLAMing (you'll learn about that there), and other useful info-- and also pages to fill in the test results.

Our pool today!

Routine Flip Chart

Oh my goodness. I have tried so many thing to get y kids to self-start... And finish.

I came up with this idea and so far it seems to be working with all 3 kids... Though the oldest is most enthusiastic.  They are supposed to wake up and start flipping through the tasks as they do them.

They wake up and start with "Get dressed" and flip and flip until they have completed all morning tasks.  If it's a school day, they pick up the chart whe. They get home with "Unpaxk Backpack" and go from there.  They also have hooks upstairs so it can come up for bedtime routine.

The goal is for them to move through all the necessary tasks in the morning and at night so they are prepared for the day WITHOUT any prompting. The pictures are for be two little ones who cannot read yet.

So far, so good... Just print up the tasks, cut, laminate, hang.