Should you buy an above-ground ‘pool in a box’ this season?

So there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have owned a stand-up, above-ground “pool in a box” type of pool, and those who contemplate it every season. So this is the time of year when anyone who hasn’t had one considers buying one of those pools.

You know the ones I’m talking about, the ones that have the photo on the outside that makes your backyard look like a veritable summer oasis. My husband and I definitely gave in one summer and bought one. And yes, there’s something about it that is fun. It’s a relatively easy set up, and for a fraction of the cost of an in-ground or even an above ground pool you’ve got yourself a sparkling, cool backyard paradise.

But there’s more to it than that. Sometimes the filters get funky, the water is hard to keep clean, we started to notice a little funky smell, a funky color, they can break and leak and collapse and destroy your grass, but for the most part, they are pretty fun for the one or two seasons that you actually have the patience to refill them and set them up all over again. But as far as inviting the whole neighborhood over for a swim? Now that is going a bit too far. Look at what I noticed about the photos on the boxes in the video above.

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