Have you ever been to a grocery or farm stall where there are free food samples? Working from one end of the sample to the other is great. But after that, have you purchased these products?
My wife and I have just returned from the strip of Idaho. One of our stops is a fruit and vegetable stall that offers a large number of free homemade jam samples. When I looked at the samples, I remembered an old study I had read about providing so many free samples, and people didn't buy anything. When we drove home, I carefully considered what it has to do with people who want to get out of debt but never really start planning.
"Jam Research" was completed in 1995 by Columbia University Business Professor Sheena Iyengar. She set up a booth in the gourmet market and sold jams with free samples. She provides samples of six jams and 24 jams, alternating every few hours. She noticed the number of samples and purchases each customer had tried.
On average, each customer samples the jam twice. There are 6 types or 24 types on the table. Therefore more samples will not lead to more taste tests.
The key finding in the study was that when there were only six samples on the table, more people bought jam. Professor Iyengar's conclusion is that "the existence of choice may be an attractive theory, but in fact, people may find that more and more choices actually make people weak."
Will the number of choices and options prevent you from starting to plan to get out of debt? View only the two basic parts of the debt plan and the number of choices available:
Establish a contingency fund:
- What type of account should I use? Check, savings, money market, CD?
- Do I use a physical bank or an online account?
- How much should I invest in the contingency fund? One person said $1,000. The other said $2,000. Others say spending for three months.
Determine the order in which debts are repaid:
- One person said to pay the minimum balance first. Others said that if I pay the highest interest rate first, I will save more money.
- Do I apply for a 0% APR credit card and merge other credit cards onto this credit card?
- Then which card do I choose? How much is the balance transfer fee? How long does the 0% promotion period last?
We spent a lot of time analyzing these options and trying to figure out the "best" plan. Unfortunately, we spent all our time researching and never really started planning.
We learn and learn, but we have never taken the first step. This is called "analysis."
If you want to move on to get out of debt, make a decision and implement it. There is no perfect way! If you decide that $600 is the contingency fund you want and later decides that $1,000 is better, then make a change. But if you don't start saving at $600, you will never reach $1,000. So don't worry about having to choose the "perfect" amount. Determine the amount and start using it.
Remember, you can change your plan at any time. And no plan is perfect! Don't be afraid to make mistakes, except for the mistakes that don't start planning.
As Professor Iyengar learns with blocking, more choices lead to fewer decisions. Use her jam research course to get out of debt. Don't give in to the embarrassment of analysis.
Orignal From: How can free jam samples get you out of debt?
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