I have hard water too so I know how ya feel. The most effective way to deal with really hard water and laundry is to get some sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP). If you do not want to use phosphate, your only alternatives are Washing soda, Borax, or Oxi Clean.

You said your son had sensitivities and you were trying to convert your home to less chemicals. You also said your husband likes scented laundry. Your only solution for that may be something like Seventh Genration Laundry detergent or some other natural brand that has a scent. You can also buy natural fabric softeners that have scents if that helps. If you can not get a hold of natural fabric softner, your only alternative would be vinegar in the rinse. However, I have no idea if that would take the perfumed smell out of the laundry.

Personally, if it was me. I would buy an all natural unscented detergent to wash my clothes. Go buy some febreeze and hand it to my husband and inform him, "Your son has sensitivities. You want scented clothes? Here ya go. Just don't spray it by him." (I have a husband that can be a big baby too, as I like to term it. HA! He had a fit when I got our new front loader and I couldn't use his favorite detergent anymore. I basically told him if he didn't like it he could take the laundry to a laundry mat and wash it there. Of course he said no...so I told him to shut up about it then. Not a complaint since. HEE! HEE!)

As for the shower here are some things you can try that have worked for me. Buy some Charlies Soap All purpose Cleaner. You can get it at www.charliesoap.com . If you do not want to do that then get a scrubby sponge and some Ivory or Lye bar soap. Rub the scrubby side of the sponge on the soap and scrub the glass doors and get it good and sudsy. Do a small section at a time so the soapy suds do not have time to dry. Then rinse in hot water. Then go over it again with full strength white distilled vinegar. This works well on greasy stove tops too.

Actually you can use Ivory or Lye soap to wash everything and anything if ya know what you are doing. I had to when I was first married and my hubs and I bought and moved into our first home. Didn't have money for fancy cleaning supplies so I washed everything with ivory soap. LOL! It worked.

I also have very hard water ranging between 10.5 - 19 gpg.
I have been using a powder detergent called SUN with color safe oxygen bleach.
It's a bargain brand usually found at dollar type stores. It's quick dissolving and very low sudsing and has a very, very light clean scent. I also use Sears HE powder detergent free of dyes & perfumes, but began to notice fading on some of our darker clothes & towels, so now I only use that on lighter colors or whites.
I also use white vinegar in the FS dispenser to help soften and reduce static.

Although the SUN detergent isn't really considered "natural", I does not contain a lot of additives and is very economical and cleans well.
As for adding scent to your clothing, someone has suggested getting some essential oil and add that to your vinegar rinse. Might be worth a try.

Janet

I'd tell your husband to use deodorant or cologne if he wants to smell. I agree if the kid is sensitive, eliminate as many problems as you can but find out more of what he's actually sensitive to.

Hard water on the shower doors comes off quite well with vinegar. the trick is to keep it on there. Spray the vinegar onto paper towels and let it sit on there or take the doors off and lay them down and clean. Vinegar acts quite quickly from my experience. Another option: put up a shower curtain liner. Let the crud go on that, throw it in the washer until it falls apart and replace it. Get them at the cheap stores and it'll save a lot of frustration. I have one up on my wall in the shower since the grout is giving out and I haven't had a chance to find someone to fix it or try to fix it myself. But the liner works perfectly fine for me.

As cynic said, white vinegar does the trick. My water is extremely hard at 20 gpg. I just take a towel and wipe it on an area, then another area, then go back to the first area. From there, it is just a matter of always having one area soaking while wiping down another. My shower glass comes clean super easy.

If you have a crusty area, saturate a paper towel and place it on the spot to hold more vinegar on it and let it soak even better.

Schutzhund

thanks for all the great tips! I am going to try the vinegar!