House water supply very hard. What are my options for our situation?

Slinky

Since having our water softener my hair and skin feel so much nicer - softer. Soft water is much more slippery than hard, we use way less shampoo, soap, washing powder etc and cleaning is so much easier. My OH rinses the cars in softened water which don't have calcium spots on them when they dry.  No way would I live in a hard water area without one now.

cajef

We moved from a soft water area to a hard water one, dreadful unable to get a decent lather using soap in the shower or washing, utensils getting coated and needing constant descaling, as Slinky says leaving watermarks when washing car, sorted in the end by fitting a water softener.

Just pleased that after twenty years we have now moved back to a soft water area.