My husband thought it would be romantic to get me a steam cleaner for my last birthday. (Okay, okay. I may have planted the idea in his head.) I’d first heard of this miraculous cleaning contraption in Raising Baby Green by Dr. Alan Greene. A woman wrote a testimonial about how great this thing was: It uses no chemicals—just steam—and kills germs and bacteria. It improves the air quality of your home and is essential for sufferers of allergies.

I would have rushed out to buy a steam cleaner right then and there, but she said she paid $400 for it! With a price tag that high, it would really never pay for itself. One of the advantages of the product is that is eliminates the need for cleaning potions.  Although the average family supposedly spends $600 a year on cleaning supplies, I’m sure I don’t spend even $20.

Anyway, years later I discovered that there are many steam cleaners for around $100—much more reasonable! They have nozzles for steam cleaning grout and attachments for mopping the floor, washing windows, and removing wall paper. I just had to have one.

I settled on the Wagner power steamer and cleaner (now on sale for only $75!). The verdict? I do enjoy using the steam cleaner once a week in the bathroom for the grout and floors–it completely removed some mold on the grout I hadn’t been able to get rid of, and it made the fifty +-year-old grout white again. I’ve tried out the various attachments on other cleaning adventures, and I’ve been impressed with the results.

However . . . I guess I feel a little guilty for justifying the steam cleaner as a green purchase! If you are a stickler for germ-killing (and I confess that I am not) or need to sterilize things for health reasons, the steam cleaner has to be better than chlorine bleach. For my cleaning needs, I could have survived using old fashioned ingredients such as vinegar and baking soda. But now that I own the steam cleaner, I will enjoy it and make good use of it.

Does anyone else have a steam cleaner? Do you recommend it—or not?