Each morning, depending on whether I’m in a rush or not, I will grab either the milk out of my refrigerator to pour into a bowl or grab a yogurt to dash out of my house with. The first thing I do is check the expiration date.

It’s this mindless instance where I don’t really think about what I am doing, but have engrained it in my habits due to many a time that I have drank spoiled milk or eaten spoiled yogurt. Trust me, taking this extra second will probably save you many stomach aches.

Pick up any random item in your house that is edible and I can almost assure you that there is some sort of expiration date on it. It is this strange reality where companies have given a shelf life to most of the products we use and consume: toothpaste, bleach, vegetables, bottled water, Twinkies (although they have a suspiciously long shelf life), alcohol, etc.

Also, it’s a little confusing: If the “Sell by” date has passed, does that mean the product is bad? What exactly does the “Born on” date have to do with anything? If I eat something where the date on the package has already passed, will I DIE?!

In a way, these expiration dates have positive and negative affects. They may save us from food poisoning, but at the same time, they will certainly make our pockets a little lighter.

Part of me is skeptical about these expiration dates due to the fact that I believe most companies are simply ensuring that I am constantly buying new products (and I’m sure this is true to a certain degree). Another part of me will go by the dates because I do not want to inadvertently eat spoiled food or use a product on my skin that may have gone bad.

Overall, I think that there is this comfort in knowing when a product has gone bad so that we do not have to play a guessing game when it comes to determining the “freshness” of the product. For instance, we won’t have to attempt to stick our noses in the milk bottle, nibble a bit of suspicious looking bread, or put on the mascara only to realize that it has clumped our eyelashes together.

Now, apply this principle to every day life. Imagine everything came with a shelf life.

You are about to start dating this wonderful person when a message pops up in your inbox from some automated life system: “This relationship will expire on 9/13/2013. Please proceed with