At the end of last year, I began to learn the wonders of vinegar. Have a stain on the rug? Kid peed on your couch? Pour some vinegar on it and wipe it up. I’ve seen the magic firsthand with orange juice on white carpet. After blotting…you couldn’t even tell. Since then, we’ve had a bottle with half water/half vinegar to use for carpet stains.

But…why stop there?

I’ve always been a little iffy of the “natural” cleaning products; mainly, their price turned me off. That’s great if YOU can afford a small bottle for $10, but that’s not really in the budget for me. I need something easier.

Back to the vinegar drawing board. Today, I poured some vinegar in the toilet and topped it off with a bit of baking soda. A few swishes of the brush and BAM! clean potty with minimal damage to the environment. I used my vinegar to clean off our table today. But, vinegar isn’t for everything. Sometimes, the smell gets a bit old. I went and bought Mrs. Myers All Purpose Cleaner today. I didn’t know that a cleaner could smell so good. What I liked about this was that it is a concentrate, so it is going to hopefully last me as long (or longer) than a regular bottle of cleaning solution.

I wasn’t necessarily wanting to buy any more cleaning products, but figured this one would last a while.

I’m currently considering making my own laundry and dishwasher soap, though I don’t know if my husband will get on board. I think he already feels I’m off the deep end with my “green” and “simple” ideas, though I know even he can appreciate not worrying if one of the kids accidentally sprays something in their eyes that we’re not going to be visiting the emergency room.

I’ve found on more than one occasion that I’ve brought home a box of blueberries or strawberries only to find that they’ve molded within a day. A day! At that price! Are they KIDDING me?

Turns out, that fruit obviously wasn’t very fresh. In fact, the average piece of food travels about 1,500 miles from start to your plate. No wonder those berries were rotten– they were picked quite a while ago.

There’s a lot of people out there who are doing what they can to eat local. In fact, you can check out the 100 Mile Diet or the eat local challenge to learn all about finding only local food to eat. While I’m not saying that you should stop buying those apples at the store if you really want, it can’t hurt to educate yourself.

When you shop locally, you’re helping out your local farmers. You’re keeping money in your neighborhood, instead of having it shipped out to who knows where. You’re cutting back on transporting the food, which is good for the environment. Your food is fresher and you’re getting more of a variety. Sure, you can’t get those strawberries in November, but perhaps you’ll learn to enjoy a variety of other foods.

Of course, shopping local seems like an okay idea…but where do you go? In my town, the closest we have to a farm is the broccoli section at the grocery store. But, have no fear. You can search for Community Supported Agriculture at Local Harvest. CSAs are where you pay a certain fee and you have a variety of produce given to you every week (or so). You’re not going to get the same thing in December as you will in May, which is good for variety. And, of course, there’s that whole helping out the neighbor thing.

Not in the mood to hit the farm? Next time you dine out, see if you can find a restaurant that uses local ingredients.

Why do I say “green and simple?” Honestly, I think they should go hand in hand. Yes, you can buy a “green” product, but how about one that’s already available? Or, even better, do you really need that new bamboo cutting board?

I opened Judith Levine’s “Not Buying It” with high hopes. I wanted to come out feeling inspired, which I did, to a point. It seems to me that Ms. Levine seemed a little too interested in pursuing her own personal agenda in this book and lost a bunch of her objectivity in the process.

I personally found her insights on why Americans shop quite interesting. It is true, sometimes we shop out of boredom or we shop because we want to create a life that we don’t really have. That new towel set gives you the feeling of becoming someone else. It gives you hope.

That is, until you get home. Then you just have more stuff.

Think how much more money we’d have if we just didn’t buy something everytime we needed it. What if we thought on it or looked for a used alternative? Used costs a lot less than new, that’s for sure.

Even Judith couldn’t stop herself from spending at times. She spent multiple chapters discussing how she handed over her credit card during the Presidential election. I couldn’t help but think “If you’re not buying it…then why are you buying this?” If you’re going to really not spend any money, then don’t just hand over that credit card every time you feel bad about politics.

Because, to me, that just seems like another form of depression-induced spending in disguise.

I, like millions of other people, live in the ‘burbs. We do so for a variety of reasons, mainly because housing is still somewhat “cheap” out here compared to the city. My husband also happens to work in our ‘burb, keeping his travel distance down to a minimum. Before moving to our town, it wasn’t uncommon for it to take him near an hour to get home from work.

Both time and gas wasted, that’s for sure.

Since becoming interested in living green and living simple,  I can’t help but notice the waste going on around me. Waste of money, waste of resources…the list goes on and on. That’s why I’ve decided to do something about it.

I am going to do my best to make sustainable suburbs anything but an oxymoron.