Throw away everything not vegan?

When I went vegan, and everything in my brain clicked, I immediately freaked out, and pitched all the nonvegan food items that I had bought before. I then took inventory of my stuff, and started culling out the leather and wool. It was an arduous process, but because I've always had good fashion sense, I found new homes for most of those clothes. Finally, I got to the shoes.

I used to have a LOT of shoes. Many of them were hard to find, and fairly unique. For me, it was a complete freak out thing to wear those leather shoes. Every time I'd slip on a pair, I'd hear calves screaming for their mothers. It was a visceral thing for me. I couldn't escape from the knowledge. Because of that deep, emotional reaction to the situation, I got rid of the leather shoes as well. I physically was incapable of wearing something that came at the cost of such cruelty.

Meanwhile, like I said, I had (and still have) a lot of shoes, clothes, bags, etc. I'd built up my wardrobe over many years, and still had plenty of things to fall back on. I didn't need to replace very much, because I still had more than enough to work with. Remember this as you read the rest of the entry, because I'm about to get to the important part now.

GOING VEGAN DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO SUPPORT CAPITALISM.

Just because you're a vegan doesn't mean that you have to run out and spend a lot of money. Frankly, not everyone can afford to buy these things. Because I had a good foundation for my wardrobe, I was able to pitch pretty close to everything nonvegan within a month, tops. If you can't afford it, deal with what you have, and use it up. Frankly, if other people have something snarky to say about it, you let them know that they're more than welcome to replace it for you. :)