Consumerism in Conflict

I am perhaps a bit too obsessed with Subway. As a mostly vegan vegetarian, Subway's veggie sandwich is just the best meal I can have. Whenever I choose or am forced to spend money on something else, I set that in relation to Subway: for every five dollars I spend, I think "this could have got me a sub." If I ever manage to save money, or choose not to spend a certain amount of money, I divide that number by five and announce "I am now entitled to X subs."

And that's not a bad thing. While a cheap person doesn't want to pay five dollars for a meal too frequently, a healthy person can be very pleased with a veggie sub. It's a filling meal with few calories and loads of fresh vegetables: I'm pretty sure just writing that talked me into getting a sub today.

But now I have Caribou Coffee's soy latte's chasing after Subway as my consumer obsession. I'm afraid every day I will at some point think "When and how can I get Caribou Coffee today?" When my alarm goes off and I'm tired, I think "Caribou Coffee will rescue me from this exhaustion." I'm just chasing after that beautiful espresso. But as a cheapskate, I can't really have both Caribou Coffee and Subway that often.

From a frugality standpoint, I have to choose Subway. No matter what each day we must get meals, and a sandwich is itself one of those meals; if I have a soy latte, I still need to seek out (and pay for) a meal. But now I have two consumer obsessions trying to separate me from my money.