backyard playsetsIt's that time of calendar year again: playset season. Enough time when millions of parents get ready to pay out thousands of dollars for small-scale yard jungle gyms for his or her beloved children.For years I'd managed to efficiently avert this dependence on suburban family life. And, 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 wanted one.Whenever we were outside in the back garden my kids wandered around aimlessly, invariably returning inside to the couch. I wanted to shoo them back again outside the house and shout, "Go play!" But using what? We didn't have a pool or swings or even a paved driveway to bring on. I chose for my very own sanity and their success we needed a playset.Visions of warmer summer months days 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 one thing to be correctly clear. EASILY was going to take out a second mortgage to financing a playset, my kids were going to have to go on it--literally.The playset we eyed-up had a house-like enclosure and a picnic desk and was virtually as big as my house. It was certainly a suitable dwelling for just two smallish people. They could come inside for the winter but not until then. In case we ran some electric wiring and plumbing to the fort, I would never have to see them again.But much like most fantasies, once recognized, the facts on the floor don't quite match the vision, and so it was with the playset.My research on playsets commenced prior to spring because I thought if we bought in the off-season, we would be capable of geting an acceptable price. I used to be mistaken. You can find no fair prices as it pertains to playsets. I have no idea if the hardware is sound gold or if the structure is constructed of rare, endangered hardwood, but bargains are not to be had. So I considered a choice a friend advised: used playsets. You can get a complete playset for 50 % the price. That acquired my name written around it.Unfortunately, it didn't have my husband's name written on it. He was against the complete playset idea from the beginning--it would ruin his turf. If, however, I was going to insist he recognize he has children and they require gadgets, then he determined he would desire a deluxe model worthy of being positioned atop his pristine lawn.Still, I extended in my search for pre-owned models, convinced I could satisfy us both. And I was successful in finding a used playset in relatively good condition large enough for just two school-age kids. It even experienced a rock wall. But the best benefit was it only cost about a thousand bucks. Win was mine.Then my husband described the playset was anywhere beyond your tri-state area, and we didn't have a vehicle large enough to transport it even if we did want to take the half-day drive to look get it. I nodded silently. I realized. And with much heart, I gave up on my used playset search.For those who have never had the experience of searching for a playset, it's quite a daunting task. There are lots of makes and models and levels and configurations to choose from, and all the actual playthings are extra. I suppose you can buy a fairly cheap wooden body, but all of your children would be able to do is stare at it wistfully since it would be only an large sawhorse.I continued to shop around online for weeks until the day finally emerged when I discovered my dream swing action set. It had everything I'd thought. The only real problem was I couldn't afford it. During the period of the next weeks, I visited the playset many times, hoping to occur upon a sale. Then, mid-summer, it finally took place. The company got what constituted a storewide sale in playset circles: free gangplank weekend. I was sold.Free gangplank weekend was an enormous coup for me personally, and I breathed a sigh of relief that the hunting and agonizing and planning was over. Then your sales guy hit me with the charge. Just under $2,000. And it was FREE gangplank weekend!The playset has been bought and paid for, provided and erected inside our yard for nearly a year, but it hasn't been played with much. Or possibly I should say it hasn't been played with as much as $2,000 would warrant. We haven't made our cash back on it yet, but a few items have been worthwhile their price. The swings and trapeze pub. That's really all you have to. Take it from someone whose been burned.The kids still wander aimlessly about the yard, ignoring the main one component, the priciest one, for which they lobbied so vehemently, the fort. It sits empty aside from the birds and the squirrels. But maybe if we installed a Tv set in there...