Animal-Friendly Advice to Give Your Home or Dorm Room a Glow-Up

Posted by Bridget on August 02, 2024

Whether you’re living with your parents, moving into a dorm room, or sharing an apartment with your bestie, here are some easy ways to make your living space more animal-friendly:

1. Buy Vegan Food

Do your parents stock the fridge with cow’s milk? Do your dormmates only know how to cook scrambled eggs? Ask them to swap these foods for their vegan counterparts—or just volunteer to do the grocery shopping yourself. Oops … did you unapologetically buy vegan versions of everything in the fridge? Go off! Then you can show the people you live with how to cook vegan dishes—before you know it, they’ll be making delicious food all of you can enjoy.

2. Furnish Faux

Tell your roomie their cow-skin couch is giving Hannibal Lecter vibes. It’s time for a glow-up with furniture that doesn’t require tormenting, killing, and skinning animals, TYVM. Faux-leather and -suede items are usually more affordable than those made of animal skins—and they look and feel the same.

3. Hang Animal-Friendly Artwork

Your high-key passion for keeping something bigger than yourself in mind should be displayed proudly on your walls, and animal rights– and vegan-themed posters will give your guests’ brains something to chew on. Adding animal-friendly messages and stickers to your dorm’s whiteboard or on your door is another way to spread compassion with ease.

4. Be Clean and Cruelty-Free

Companies that torture animals to test household product
ingredients are a hard pass. Imagine paying companies to abuse and kill animals in gruesome ways when you could shop cruelty-free. Check out our “Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide” to find out which companies pass the vibe check.

5. Rescue Animals

Don’t leave animals in shelters on read. If you have the resources to give a homeless dog, cat, or rabbit a fulfilling life full of affection, attention, exercise, and mental stimulation in a loving home, an adopted animal (not one bought from a breeder) can make a great addition to your family. Make sure you think through everything before adopting an animal—and if you don’t have the time, money, or resources needed to take care of one, buying a plant is a great option until you’re ready to adopt.

Your home is your sanctuary, so make it a safe space by doing your best to surround yourself with people, food, furniture, and products that align with your beliefs!