One can turn off e.g. EC2 instances when one isn't using them, and even the nano/micro instances are perfectly capable for most dev tasks, so "accounting" for this cost might be a waste of time.
If I'm using a nano or micro, I might as well code directly on the Chromebook, which at least has 2GB of RAM. The point of using a cloud box, from what I understood it, was avoiding the need for an expensive/powerful laptop, and for that you need at least a t2.medium, in my opinion.
You're incredulous that some software stacks might need more than 2GB of RAM to run?
In any case, those 40c/day come to ~$130 extra/year, with which I instead bought a used Thinkpad X220, which comes with a decent CPU, supports 8GB of RAM and weights about the same anyway. I simply don't get Chromebooks.
Well sure there systems requiring any particular resource level. Long before the requirement is 2 GB ram, one might wish to get that on a server if for no other reason than to minimize installation hassles. Clearly, preferences vary.
Do you develop on any particular project 325 days a year? That's hardcore.
Are you accounting for the cost of the cloud dev box?