How to fill in the worksheet
Get your latest statement or app screen for each debt. For each one, enter the balance, the interest rate (the APR) and the minimum monthly payment. Then enter how much more than the minimums you can pay each month. That extra amount is what does the work.
Choose snowball or avalanche, check the order on the sheet, and print it. You can also print a blank worksheet and fill it in by pen, which is handy if you would rather not type your balances into a website or you are handing copies out in a class.
How the worksheet tells you what to pay
Every month you pay the minimum on every debt, and you send the extra to one debt: the first row that is not checked off. That is your focus debt. The focus payment column shows the total to pay on it, its own minimum plus everything rolled down from the rows above.
With the example debts filled in above, using the snowball order and $200 extra:
- The store card has a $25 minimum. Its focus payment is $25 + $200 = $225.
- When the store card is gone, the medical bill gets its own $50 minimum plus that $225: $275.
- Next, the Visa gets its $85 minimum plus $275: $360.
- Last, the car loan gets its $260 minimum plus $360: $620, which is the whole monthly amount.
Your total payment toward debt never changes. It just gets pointed at fewer debts, so each one goes faster than the one before. That is the snowball. The avalanche works the same way and only changes the order.
The Est. paid off column is worked out month by month with interest included. It assumes no new charges and that rates and minimums stay the same, so treat it as a target, not a promise.
Snowball or avalanche?
The avalanche pays the highest rate first, so it always costs the same or less in interest. The snowball pays the smallest balance first, so you check off your first debt sooner, and many people find that is what keeps them going. The boxes under the inputs compare both orders for the debts you entered, so you can see what the choice costs in your own case. Often it is a small amount.
For a longer look at the trade-off, including a hybrid approach, see debt snowball vs. avalanche.
The monthly check-in
Once a month, after your payments go through, fill in one line of the log: the month, what you paid on the focus debt, what is left on it, and the total left on all your debts. It takes a couple of minutes. The last column is the one that matters most over time, because it should fall every month even while the focus debt changes.
If you like to color something in as you go, the printable debt payoff tracker turns a single balance into a grid of boxes. Some people print one for the current focus debt and keep it next to this sheet.
When to redo the sheet
- You take on a new debt or move a balance to a new card.
- A rate changes, for example when a 0% promotional period ends.
- Your extra amount changes for good, up or down.
- You put a windfall, like a tax refund, toward a debt.
Enter the current balances and print a new one. If you have no savings at all, it is worth building a small cushion first so one surprise bill doesn't go back on a card. The printable emergency fund tracker has a line for a $1,000 starter fund for that reason.
For classes and workshops
If you teach personal finance or run a money workshop at a library, school or community program, you are welcome to print and photocopy the worksheet. The blank version works well as a group exercise: give everyone the same made-up list of debts, have half put them in snowball order and half in avalanche order, then compare the results with the debt payoff calculator.