What can you try before you buy? We think of driving a new car around the block, of enjoying a free food sample, or of 30-day money-back guarantees. Those are only the tip of the trial iceberg.

How large of an experiment can you perform? If you’re thinking of moving to a new city, how long could you live there before making the commitment? A day, a week, a month? Renting for thirty whole days is far cheaper than moving to the wrong city. Perhaps you want to scale up or down. Can you rent a residence of the size and shape you want before you put down for a mortgage? Even six months of rent and moving expenses costs so much less than just the interest on thirty years of mortgage payments for the wrong house. Perhaps you could lease that car you want to buy, that couch, or even that computer. You could purchase a single serving of that new food or drink before paying full price for the 100-count “value” set. You could borrow that book from the library before giving Amazon still more money. It’s only a waste if you don’t learn enough from the experiment.

We are inundated with choices and at a loss for decisions. Marketers want us to buy now-now-now before we know what we really want. But you can wait. You can be deliberate. And if you wouldn’t pay for a taste of it, what are the chances that you would want it in full?