Replacing items after going vegan

[BennieAndBert]

I am thinking of becoming vegan (currently an omnivore).

I have a houseful of things bought over the years which are absolutely not vegan- shoes, jackets, jumpers, even a leather sofa, and probably lots of things I haven't thought of.

I just wondered what other people did when they made the switch? Chucking things out seems really wasteful.

I didn’t replace anything, I just bought others as they were used up (except for a handful of non vegan things in the freezer, I think). Been vegan 5 years and still have a (second hand in the first place) leather sofa, it doesn’t bother me although I’ll be pleased to have a new one when it’s eventually replaced. I didn’t have any leather shoes or bags or anything. Very gradually replaced things like make up and cleaning products. If there was anything I especially didn’t want to use I might have donated it

Agree with pp. Don’t feel you have to get rid of anything to live up to a ‘Vegan ideal’. In my view there would be nothing less in line with the ‘Vegan ideal’ to waste these resources.

Don’t feel you have to pander to the kind of idiot that might say ‘ @BennieAndBert isn’t a real Vegan because she has a pair of Nike Air Max from 2014.’

Just be led by your conscience in your future purchases.

Thank you, both- that’s really helpful.

I'm currently 'transitioning' from veggie to vegan.
I'm not being hard on myself, so finishing off non vegan food that's still in the house etc I only buy cruelty free make up etc but I have the odd ancient product that I figure is better used up than wasted and chucked out!
I've not worn leather for years and gave up milk a long time ago too. The thing I'm struggling with is cheese and chocolate!
Any recommendations massively appreciated

Please don’t throw out perfectly useable things!
Also be mindful of the fact that a lot of these products are replaced with plastic and materials that do not degrade naturally (or take a very long time). Synthetic fleece versus wool-look into micro plastics when you wash them. Wool is biodegradable an can even be used in compost and gardening. You can’t do that with a synthetic fleece.

I’m aware I posted that in the vegan section btw and have no “beef” (sorry for the pun-I’ve had wine) against vegans. Just wanted to say think through options carefully before throwing out things that still have a fair bit of life left in them.

I've been plant based/vegan for about a year, I still have some feather duvets and pillows and some leather trainers. I won't get rid of them but will make sure I buy vegan when the time comes to replace them.

Definitely not! I hate idea of throwing stuff out and replacing with vegan (mostly plastic!) alternatives. Just be mindful of what you buy in the future. I say I'm vegan but really I'm not - I just have a plant based diet. I still have non vegan things that I use. I did sell my leather jacket though - I really went off that!

PS others might disagree but I think buying second hand, even if it's non vegan, is better than buying new! In terms of sustainability...