slip and slide

You are not wrong on this. Besides the cost, you need to not have them out in the sun all day. It is nice of you to let her kid come play at your house. I am not sure how to get her to offer the same to you.

OK, when I was a kid, we used town water and when the power went off, we could still flush the toilet. I now live in the country and we have well water. Yes it does take electricity to pump up the water...so when the power goes off we cannot flush the toilet or use the taps. Another thing that is not so great with well water is that it is soooo cold. Slip and slides, sprinklers etc are great but not with freezing cold well water. I hoped this help a little.

I think you are right, it's not FREE. AND even if it was you have to have some limits. 3 hours is plenty. When I was growing up I think we'd use the slip and slide for like an hour max and then got bored of it :) If you are looking for cheap ways for your kids to cool off, I would also suggest this pool from Intex. It's only 30$ at Target and we LOVE IT!! It's a blow up and about 12'x6' so plenty of room for kids. We use it for my 16 month old daughter (I have to get in there with her). I love that I can sit in there and cool off while she plays. Since she's still a toddler, we only fill it up less than half. Then to conserve water, I use a bucket to pull water out of the pool and water my plants before I empty it completely. As for the neighbor - I'd just write her off as a nosy neighbor. I have a couple of those too :) Always making snide little remarks about the way we do things. Just ignore her and you'll feel better! http://www.target.com/p/intex-blue-120in-swim-center/-/A-13800360

When I was growing up we had well water also and yes you had to use electricty for the well and I also remember when I was a young girl we could not afford a slip and slide so my dad took plastic and we took some dish soap and made our own slip and slide.

I was going to say that she would have probably felt differently if the kids were all in her yard using her stuff. People don't care if it doesn't cost them.

Perhaps you could ask your neighbor if you can hook your hose to her water supply? This way y'all can share, especially if her children are over at your place. I used to love the ol' slip and slide with my children. We made our own out of giant pieces of plastic because we found that the ones you buy are just too short and not wide enough, either. Hope your children continue to have a blast!

I agree with the other posters its a fun activity. In my area, kids don't use them, as water is really expensive and we can't water our lawns until 8:00pm. Most of us in this area have a small pool that you set up or an in ground pool. Water is conserved because of our low rainfall.

I count things up like this as well and have earned a reputation for it. People seem to almost kindly judge me for it until they need a deal on something then they ask me. I know it might just be a few cents but being mindful of the pennies adds up to dollars very fast. Its easy to miss the trickles of change that sneak out and cost us heart ache later.

Isn't that the way to goes? If they see a way for them to use your stuff why not! I was one of those everyone's kids came to my house...but now they all still call me mom after 30 years so I guess in the long run it was worth it....but when they were all here all the time eating my groceries etc I certainly remember how you must feel!

You are right that if the entire neighborhood was using only your yard that you were spending more money that you would have typically been spending on electricity. However, you are also very lucky to have well water and not have to pay for the cost of water to operate the slip and slide. One of the things that I really don't like about slip and slides is the fact that the water has to constantly be running in order for the toy to be functional. Given the choice, I would much rather have a pool in my yard since you fill those up once and they will last for the entire summer.