backyard playsetsIt's that point of time again: playset season. The time when millions of parents get ready to pay out thousands for small-scale yard jungle gyms because of their beloved children.For years I'd managed to effectively avert this requirement of suburban family life. And then, one day something happened.I cracked.I can't even blame my kids. They never badgered me or complained. I'm not sure they wished a playset. No. I needed one.If we were outside the house in the back garden my kids wandered around aimlessly, invariably returning inside to the couch. I needed to shoo them back outside and shout, "Go play!" But using what? We didn't have a pool or swings or even a paved driveway to draw on. I determined for my very own sanity and their survival we needed a playset.Visions of summer time times whiled away over a swingset or in the fastened fort with children's laughter floating by on the balmy breeze, danced in my own head. But I needed a very important factor to be properly clear. EASILY would take out another mortgage to fund a playset, my kids were heading to have to go on it--literally.The playset we eyed-up possessed a house-like enclosure and a picnic table and was pretty much as big as my house. It had been certainly a suitable dwelling for two smallish people. They could come inside for the winter however, not until then. In case we ran some electric wiring and domestic plumbing to the fort, I might not ever have to see them again.But as with most fantasies, once recognized, the facts on the ground don't quite match the vision, and so it was with the playset.My research on playsets commenced prior to spring and coil because I thought if we bought in the off-season, we may be able to get a reasonable price. I had been mistaken. You will find no affordable prices when it comes to playsets. I don't know if the hardware is sound silver or if the structure is made of rare, endangered wood, but bargains are not to be enjoyed. So I considered an option a friend suggested: used playsets. One could get a complete playset for fifty percent the purchase price. That possessed my name written all over it.Unfortunately, it did not have my husband's name written on it. He was against the complete playset idea from the beginning--it would harm his lawn. If, however, I was going to insist he recognize he has children and that they require toys, then he driven he would need a deluxe model worthy of being placed atop his pristine yard.Still, I prolonged in my search for pre-owned models, persuaded I could meet us both. And I was successful in finding a used playset in relatively good shape large enough for just two school-age kids. It even had a rock wall membrane. But the best benefit was it only cost in regards to a thousand bucks. Triumph was mine.Then my hubby pointed out the playset was somewhere beyond your tri-state area, and we didn't have a car large enough to move it even if we did want to take the half-day drive going get it. I nodded silently. I grasped. And with much heart, I gave up on my used playset search.For those who have never had the knowledge of searching for a playset, it's quite a daunting task. There are numerous makes and models and heights and configurations to choose from, and all the actual playthings are extra. Perhaps you might buy a fairly cheap wooden shape, but your children would be able to do is stare at it wistfully since it would be nothing more than an oversized sawhorse.I continued to comparison shop online for weeks until the day finally came when I noticed my dream swing action set. It got everything I'd imagined. Really the only problem was I couldn't find the money for it. Over the course of the following weeks, I seen the playset several times, hoping to happen upon a sales. Then, mid-summer, it finally occurred. The company experienced what constituted a storewide sales in playset circles: free gangplank weekend. I had been sold.Free gangplank weekend was a huge coup for me personally, and I breathed a sigh of pain relief that the hunting and agonizing and planning was over. Then your sales guy struck me with the costs. Slightly below $2,000. And it was FREE gangplank weekend!The playset has been bought and payed for, shipped and erected in our yard for almost per annum, but it was not played with much. Or maybe I should say it was not played with just as much as $2,000 would warrant. We haven't made our cash back onto it yet, but a few items have been worthy of their price. The swings and trapeze bar. That's really all you need. Take it from someone whose been burned.The youngsters still wander aimlessly about the backyard, ignoring the main one component, the priciest one, that they lobbied so vehemently, the fort. It sits empty except for the wild birds and the squirrels. But maybe if we installed a Television in there...