diff --git a/include/Datastore.h b/include/Datastore.h
index 5809ed8348..6ccd8b79a1 100644
--- a/include/Datastore.h
+++ b/include/Datastore.h
@@ -174,15 +174,11 @@ public:
     {
         string err;
 
-        monitor_data.get("TOTAL_MB", total_mb);
-        monitor_data.get("FREE_MB", free_mb);
-        monitor_data.get("USED_MB", used_mb);
-
-        monitor_data.erase("TOTAL_MB");
-        monitor_data.erase("FREE_MB");
-        monitor_data.erase("USED_MB");
-
         obj_template->merge(&monitor_data, err);
+
+        erase_template_attribute("TOTAL_MB", total_mb);
+        erase_template_attribute("FREE_MB", free_mb);
+        erase_template_attribute("USED_MB", used_mb);
     };
 
     /**
diff --git a/include/PoolObjectSQL.h b/include/PoolObjectSQL.h
index 4b3ea70a0b..60e7c170af 100644
--- a/include/PoolObjectSQL.h
+++ b/include/PoolObjectSQL.h
@@ -381,6 +381,21 @@ public:
         return obj_template->erase(name);
     }
 
+    /**
+     *  Gets and removes a boolean based attribute (single)
+     *    @param name of the attribute
+     *    @param value of the attribute (a boolean), will be false if not defined or
+     *    not a single attribute
+     *    @return the number of attributes erased
+     */
+    int erase_template_attribute(
+        const char * name,
+        bool&        value)
+    {
+        obj_template->get(name,value);
+        return obj_template->erase(name);
+    }
+
     /**
      *  Gets an int based attribute (single)
      *    @param name of the attribute
diff --git a/src/host/Host.cc b/src/host/Host.cc
index d87b69b5b5..0973237fea 100644
--- a/src/host/Host.cc
+++ b/src/host/Host.cc
@@ -341,8 +341,7 @@ int Host::update_info(string          &parse_str,
     // Correlate VM information with the list of running VMs                  //
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------------- //
 
-    get_template_attribute("VM_POLL", with_vm_info);
-    remove_template_attribute("VM_POLL");
+    erase_template_attribute("VM_POLL", with_vm_info);
 
     obj_template->remove("VM", vm_att);