Going Green to Save Some Green

I've been really inspired lately.  In large part, I owe this inspiration to my friend Lindsey.  I greatly admire and respect her and the decisions and sacrifices she makes for her family.  I would really encourage you to read and comment on her blog.  She's amazing!

It's not really a secret to ANYONE that our economy is in the crapper and really I don't forsee it getting any better.  If anything it's going to get worse.  Everyone pretty much already knows I coupon and do it as much as possible, but I've decided it's time to take it one step further.  We're going to start going green.  I don't think that we'll ever be FULLY green (but hey, we may surprise even ourselves!) but there are things that we can do to start being self sufficient.

I thought I'd make a list of the things I plan to do and ask for input and ideas as well.  Here's what I've got so far.

1. I tend to hoard soaps, shampoos, conditioners, cleaning supplies...  So the goal as of now is to use them all up and move to natural product or homemade alternatives.  There's a great guide to washing your hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar here, and a quick search on Pinterest will give you loads of recipes for cleaning products, body wash/scrubs, and the like.  The majority of these will last you 2-3x longer than what you buy in the store (if not even longer than that) and are for mere pennies.
2. Since we live in an apartment at the current time and I can't have a full garden as I'd like, we're going to start growing our herbs and spices for cooking.  That should pay for itself in a relatively short amount of time seeing as most spices cost around $3.00+.  I'm also going to invest in at least one of these since Kamden is a little tomato monster.  I'm pretty interested in growing zucchini too...I just need to get Jeff to LIKE it.
3. This could kind of go in with #1 up there, but after I use up our current laundry detergent, I'll be making our laundry soap.  Kamden has HORRIBLE excema so we are already needing to be extremely careful what his clothes are washed in.  I figure if I'm making it, I'm not only saving money, but I'm saving him pain and suffering by knowing exactly what is going into his cleansers.
4. Start having meatless meals.  I am by NO means going vegetarian or vegan, but I do think that a meal here and there with something as a meat substitute is not a bad idea.  I tend to get good deals on meat at one of our local stores, but free is even better than paying "some".  This I'll have to incorporate SLOWLY, but I think it will be good for all of us.  
5. Buying whole food and not processed.  This will also be something that I have to progress into, but I look forward to it.  The times I've made the extra effort to cook something from scratch rather than getting it boxed, I've noticed not only a better taste, but a boost to my ego!

I know there's more things I've thought of, but as of now, my brain is mush.  PLEASE comment, suggest, share links!