But What About the Stuff I Already Own?

 Going vegan, despite my newness, has felt like a completely natural switch. I've had no cravings for meat since going vegetarian a while back (save one time I smelled chicken fingers and just.... ugghh), and the only cheese I ever really actually loved was goat cheese, but even that was rarely eaten. It feels like the hardest hurdle will be finding hidden milk.

But today I realized - what about all the stuff I've bought in the past that's not vegan? Not just food, but items normally made of leather like boots and shoes, handbags, belts, etc? I own a fantastic pair of leather driving gloves that I use all winter long. So what about that stuff?

And then there is the last of the non-vegan food I've bought myself. I've been vegetarian for a bit now, so I haven't bought meat for me to eat, but that doesn't mean everything that I've purchased is free of animal products. Most is, thankfully, but there are a few items like a box of organic squash soup from Imagine. No milk or eggs, but it does have honey, so therefor it's not vegan and I know my omnivore fiance won't touch it. Do I eat it? 

After reading a lot of different posts about this kind of thing, I'm going with the, "Don't just throw it out and waste it," path. The money has already been spent, and while if I were independently wealthy, then sure I could replace the boots I bought on sale last month with new vegan ones, but wealthy I am not and I need those boots for winter. The gloves I bought years ago? I'm pretty sure I can keep on wearing them.

But in good news - some of the items I thought were leather were in fact, vegan! Last summer I grabbed a fantastic Betsy Johnson on deep, deep discount at Marshalls and when I looked at the materials tag last night I discovered that yes, my favorite bag is in fact vegan! No need to replace it when next spring comes around.

Thankfully, very few things that I have right now in my fridge are non-vegan, and most that are my fiance will take care of for me. Until then, I'll finish off this soup and keep a closer eye for honey in the future!

via Exploding Dinosaur