# Purchase Assistant

A decision workspace for comparing considered purchases, testing assumptions and keeping track of costs and outcomes. Guest mode works without an account; cloud storage and AI features are optional.

Canonical: https://www.jonathantipper.com/projects/purchase-assistant
JSON: https://www.jonathantipper.com/projects/purchase-assistant.json
Status: building
Started: 2026
Tags: personal-tools, finance, calculator, dashboard

## What it is

Purchase Assistant is a small decision-support app for personal purchases. It helps compare the price of an item with lifespan, usage, depreciation, and retained value.

The core workflow turns purchase assumptions into cost per use, cost per hour, cost per week, cost per month, and value retained.

## What it changes

The useful shift is from "can I afford this?" to "will I actually use this enough for it to make sense?"

## Current status

Building. The prototype covers the main comparison model and needs more reliability before it becomes a repeated-use tool.

## Launch

[Open app](https://buyornot.jonathantipper.com/)
Public app; some features have separate access requirements.

## Links

- [Open app](https://buyornot.jonathantipper.com/)