hi amanda
My name is gardengail and i work for the home depot in the garden center.
There are a lot of beneficial insects out there, make sure you only spray the bad guys.Some of the good guys don't really look like a good guy,so it might help to do a little research.
Insecticidal soap is a good way to keep your stuff organic, and is less harmful to the good guys,like ladybugs and aphid lions.
I plant a section of my yard for just the good guys.Plant dill, fennel, cilantro and chamomile to attract the ladybugs that eat small, soft-bodied insects.
leave the the paper wasps with the small umbrella shaped nests alone, they are not aggressive and keep caterpillars down to a minimum, they also will leave at the end of the year and start a new nest somewhere else.
use a rolled up moist newspaper to get rid of earwigs naturally, dump it in a trash can in the morning, you will able to get rid of them.
However ugly opossums are, they are your friend and if they are in you back yard they are eating roaches and snails, and there has only been one recorded instance of rabies in one in the last 100 years, their body temperature is just too low. They will not eat your ripe fruit[like rats do], they only like rotten fruit.
hope this helps,
Gardengail