No Tchotchke Rule

My family has a combination of rule and private joke - the "no tchotchke rule". Meaning no useless cutsey bric-a brac that collects dust and shelf space. We're a bunch of hopeless markdown table, garage sale, and thrift shop addicts,so we had to enact it to keep from wasting money and hoarding more junk then we have space for, and It's worked very well. For one of us to be "alllowed" to buy an item, no matter how cheap/free it is, we have to answer the following questions:

1. Do we need it?
2. Is it useful?
3.Is this need already being met by something else we own?
4..Do we have space for this in our home?
5. Is this object good enough to merit getting rid of whatever we already have?

That set of questions shoots down almost 95% of the stuff we want to buy on impulse ,saving money and hassle of dealing with it later It's also great fun to enforce it on each other.WHAT ON EARTH DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH WEIGHT LOSS, right? I'm sure the fitter people on this board ask themselves the same questions before they stick a piece of food into their mouth that wasn't in the food plan for the day, but applying this rule to my diet was a real A-ha moment for me :

1. Do I need this? ( (Am I actually hungry, or just in need of a big drink of water, a walk around the block and something to do?)
2.Is this useful? ( For my body- does this food have some kind of nutritional benefit that will make me healthier and help me get more fit, or it it empty calories?)
3. Is this need being met by something else ? ( yeah, a milkshake has calcium in it but so does unsweetened yogurt- or broccoli, you get the idea)
4. Do i have space for it in my body? My calorie count? On my backside? (Hmmm, probably not)
5. Is this food worth taking things out of my plan for the day? Will that help me meet my goals?

If it's half as effective on calories as stuff this should be a great strategy.

posted by Andrea on the My Fat Spouse Social Network