Vocations · Job Skills · Smart buying

The cheaper one
can cost more
every time you use it.

Type each option’s price, how often you would use it and how long it lasts. The calculator adds upkeep, takes off resale and shows what each use really costs, so the choice is about value rather than the sticker.

Compare optionsWhat you get

The price per use calculator

The worked example is made up: three ways to get winter boots worn about 100 days a winter. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Job SkillsFree

What you finish with
For each option, the total cost of owning it, the uses over its life, the cost a year and the cost per use, ranked, with a note when the cheapest to buy is not the cheapest to use. It prints as a one-page summary and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Students and young adults making bigger purchases, families, and consumer, personal finance and CTE teachers teaching total cost of ownership.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Up to eight options. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Job Skills space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Say what you are deciding about.
  2. Add each option with its price, how often you would really use it and how many years it would last.
  3. Add upkeep a year and what you could sell it for at the end, if anything.
  4. Read the cost per use and the ranking.
  5. Print the summary or download the spreadsheet.

Compare options

How cost per use is worked out

Everything it costs, divided by every time you use it.

The insulated boots in the worked exampleTotal cost$188$160 + $12 × 4 − $20Uses400100 a winter × 4 wintersCost per use$0.47$188 ÷ 400The insulated bootsTotal cost$188$160 + $12 upkeep × 4 − $20 resaleUses400100 wears a winter × 4 wintersCost per use$0.47$188 ÷ 400
Three steps for the insulated boots: what they cost in all, how many times they are worn, and the cost of each wear, $0.47.

The arithmetic

Total cost is the price, plus upkeep for every year you keep it, minus what you expect to sell it for. Uses over its life are how often you use it, times the weeks, months or years in its life. Cost per use divides the first by the second; cost a year divides total cost by years. Renting fits too: type the rent as yearly upkeep and the price as zero.

Where the estimate goes wrong

The two guesses that matter most are how often you will really use something and how long it will last. A treadmill used twice is expensive per use at any price. Warranty length, reviews about durability and your own history with similar things are better guides than the hopeful number. Cost per use also leaves out things money does not measure, such as comfort, safety and how much you like it.

Sources

  1. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Your Money, Your Goals toolkit (consumerfinance.gov): comparing purchases and planning spending.
  2. Federal Trade Commission, consumer advice on warranties and buying guides (consumer.ftc.gov): what a warranty covers and for how long.
  3. Jump$tart Coalition. National Standards for Personal Financial Education (2021): spending standards on comparing the costs and benefits of purchases.
  4. U.S. Department of Energy, ENERGY STAR (energystar.gov): estimating lifetime operating costs of appliances, one kind of yearly upkeep.

The worked example is made up. Uses and years are your estimates; this page does arithmetic on them. Your figures stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.