I am an extremely reluctant house cleaner, but I really dislike living in a dirty house! My bathrooms, especially, look dirty very quickly, because our water stains everything yellowish/brown. Vinegar and baking soda mitigate the situation, but often even bleach with lots of scrubbing only makes a slight improvement. We had a housekeeper once who managed to get the bathroom really clean looking, but I could smell the chemicals for days after she left.

I've fantasized about getting a steam cleaner for years. In my dreams the steam disinfects my home and leaves it sparkly without chemicals or tons of scrubbing. I love using the vacuum, because it seems to get things so instantly clean, and I imagine the steam cleaner would feel like that. The cost is so high, though, and I fear my fantasy is just that, and I will have wasted a great deal of money on a product that won't work or that I won't use. There's nowhere in my area to rent one, and nobody I know has one, so I'd love to hear from your experience. Will the steam cleaner work on my stained bathroom? Will it clean the floors and the kitchen? Will I still have to scrub and scrub? Since my water is weird, will it ruin the steamer or stain everything I use the steam on? Should I fork over nearly $2000 or not?