Keep Above
Cheap to buy or cheap to run
A plug-in heater against a heat pump, a budget printer against a laser — some things are cheap at the till and dear at the wall. This calculator counts both options over the same years, buying each again whenever it wears out, and lands both on a cost per year. Name the options yourself; no winner is ever declared.
Not counted while this is $0
Not counted while this is $0
Put in what each one would cost to buy and to run. Nothing here is read from your accounts, and nothing is saved.
| Option A | Option B | |
|---|---|---|
| Paid up front (one unit) | — | — |
| Times it would be bought | — | — |
| Buying, all-up | — | — |
| Running, all-up | — | — |
| Total over 10 years | — | — |
| Cost a year | — | — |
This is one of the tools built into Keep Above
Keep Above is a budgeting app where you enter your bills and income and it works out the balance you need to keep — so you can see what's safe to spend. No bank connection, no ads on your data.
About this calculator
Why are replacements counted?
Because a cheap thing that lasts 3 years inside a 10-year window is bought 4 times, and that is usually the whole story. Every replacement is counted at the price you entered, as a step in the cumulative total — only the first unit is money paid today.
What is the crossing year?
The first year the two cumulative totals would cross, replacements included. It is phrased symmetrically and names no side — a position in the arithmetic, nothing more.