Buying Local: 31 Days on Capitol Hill

As promised, from today until the end of July I’m conducting my very own social and financial experiment: doing all of my shopping, eating and playing in my Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Here’s how it will work: I am committed to spending the next month getting everything I need from the local area. When I started thinking about doing this, the first question I had to answer for myself was: What is Capitol Hill? That’s a big question but, seeing as how this is a buy local initiative and not an existential discussion, I had to make some choices. So, here are my boundaries:

West: North/South Capitol Street; East: RFK stadium
North: Florida/Benning Avenue; South: Southeast waterfront

It will be my goal to get anything and everything I need within these parameters. Sound easy? We will see. Looking prospectively at my calendar, I have a couple of lunches, some work meetings and a baseball game lined up already, which should be a breeze. There are a few trips to the beach on the horizon so I’m working out a plan to get all the food, drink and other necessary supplies for a weekend in the sun from my friendly local businesses ahead of time My challenges: avoiding a restaurant rut and finding good hostess gifts for those ubiquitous summertime backyard BBQs that are sure to pop up. So, if you have some suggestions that will help out in those areas, please share!

At this point you may be asking yourself “why bother”? One reason is simply the challenge of finding new ways to get what I need. Another is to get to know this area again — I’ve lived here for 8 years, but the neighborhood has grown and changed dramatically, especially in the last couple of years so its time to take a look with fresh eyes. Last, but not least, is that I’m a big believer in supporting my local community. There’s a statistic that buying locally keeps your money circulating three times longer in the local economy. If I’m investing my resources already, I should see more of a benefit by spending those resources locally.

Follow my experiment via daily updates on Twitter (@SCLinDC) and weekly recaps on the blog. Check in, tell me how I’m doing and share your favorite spots on the Hill!