I hope you checked the expiry dates on those Chromebooks.
So I use a tool called
Turtle Saver, which is a simple psychologically-driven financial savings system I created a number of years ago. It starts with this:
1. You pick something you want to buy
2. You figure out how much it's going to cost
3. You figure out when you want to purchase it
Then:
1. You divide up the savings payments into weekly or monthly or whatever payments
2. You setup an online FDIC-insured bank account (ex. Smartypig, Capital One, Simple, etc.)
3. You setup auto-withdrawls to go into that bank on a scheduled basis, which prevents you from easily spending it (digital piggy bank concept)
The results are:
1. You automate your savings plan
2. You can make the majority of things affordable this way (computer parts, kitchen gadgets, car equipment, home theater gear, etc.)
3. Because you don't have easy access to it (i.e. online savings bank - no debit card or quick-transfer or anything), it's much harder to spend it
So the idea is that it's kind of like a wind-up toy...you wind it up & then let it roll! I started this concept approximately 20 years ago. I was working at a minimum-wage job at the time & had just graduated high school & wanted to save up for a nice computer. I sunk allllll of my savings into it, and was broke after that lol. I thought about it over time & realized that I really only needed to do a full upgrade every 2 years, and that a full upgrade for a loaded computer (monitor, gaming parts, etc.) would cost about $2,000. So:
1. $2,000 target goal
2. 2-year timeframe (24 months), or 104 weeks total
3. $2,000 divided by 104 weeks = roughly $20 a week
I've been using the Turtle Saver method for close to 20 years now. My last big purchase was my HTC Vive VR headset & gaming rig for it. Sometimes I recoup additional costs by selling off the old PC, or sometimes just donate it to a family member (ex. a nephew who is getting into PC gaming).
As far as the Chromebook AUE date goes, you can check your device's EOL directly from Google:
ChromeOS devices—including Chromebook, Chromebox, and Chromebase—receive automatic updates that enhance both the device and its software. Automatic updates provide the latest features, keep the device
support.google.com
So to get nerdy about it:
1. Assume the purchase date of the Chromebook is within 6 month so manufacture, as online sources say ~6.5 years to end-of-life the hardware, so we should get about 6 years of usage from the date of purchase.
2. Assume a cost of $199 per device, times say 12 users
3. Factor in say a dozen Chromebooks at $200 a pop, or $2400 for the total nugget
4. Divide that by 6 years, or 312 weeks, then your automatic weekly pull into your online piggy bank would be about $8 a week.
Thus the end result is that I have an $8 weekly fee to maintain my family & extended family's computer systems. Family tech subscription service! lol. That's pretty manageable, especially as I have a lot of older, non-technical people in my family who (1) need a computer that works, and (2) need a lot of online security & safety (2FA, no downloading of viruses, cleaning out their Chrome homepages & plugins & Facebook plugins on a regular basis, etc.), and (3) aren't necessarily in the best financial positions (ex. fixed retirement incomes) to keep up-to-date on everything. And since I'm going to be stuck with the job anyway whenever I visit them or they visit me, might as well make it easy on myself!
So that's a nice big wall of text for a simple explanation of "setup your savings plan & stick it somewhere that isn't easily accessible" haha
