What you get for USD 12
- 3 Excel-format workbooks (.xlsx): one each for the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
- A PDF guide that explains each tab with a worked example.
- Price: USD 12, one-time payment, sold on Gumroad. Licence: personal use. Refund on request within 14 days. The Gumroad listing carries the same terms.
Worked example: three debts and an extra $100 a month
These are example debts used on this site. The rates are illustrative, not official and not current; replace them with your own figures. Amounts are in USD.
| Debt | Balance | Annual rate | Minimum payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debt A | $5,000 | 5.5% | $150 |
| Debt B | $12,000 | 6.8% | $250 |
| Debt C | $2,500 | 19.9% | $100 |
The three minimums add up to $500 a month. The calculator figures below use an extra payment of $100.00 a month, so the total budget for debt is $600 a month. Each month the interest is balance times annual rate divided by 12, and the payment is made at month end.
What the workbook does: one chosen debt gets the extra payment
The Payoff Plan tab has two inputs: the extra monthly payment and the number (1 to 6) of the debt that receives it. It then shows a 120-month schedule per debt, once without and once with the extra payment, with the payoff month and total interest for each. The extra amount goes to the chosen debt only and stops when that debt is paid off. Nothing is carried over to the other debts when one is paid off. The workbook does not sort your debts and does not apply the snowball or the avalanche method by itself.
The table below is a different calculation from that tab: it shows results of the free in-browser calculator, not of the spreadsheet. Inputs, stated in full: the three debts above and an extra payment of $100.00 a month, up to 600 months. Example figures for the example debts shown; your results depend on your own numbers.In the snowball and avalanche rows the extra goes to the target debt and, when a debt is paid off, its whole payment moves to the next one.
| Method | Months to debt-free | Total interest | Total paid | Debt A paid off in month | Debt B paid off in month | Debt C paid off in month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimums only | 57 | $3,239.13 | $22,739.13 | 37 | 57 | 33 |
| Snowball (smallest balance first) | 37 | $2,273.75 | $21,773.75 | 24 | 37 | 15 |
| Avalanche (highest rate first) | 37 | $2,249.69 | $21,749.69 | 37 | 37 | 15 |
These are calculator figures. Separately, a script that builds the files compared the workbook's example schedules with a closed-form calculation, and the two matched.
The debt snowball method
The debt snowball method is a way of ordering payments. You pay the minimum on every debt, then put all the extra money on the debt with the smallest balance. When that debt is paid off, you add its whole payment (minimum plus extra) to the next smallest balance, and so on. The payment grows like a rolling snowball, and each payoff is a visible milestone. The related avalanche method does the same but orders debts by the highest interest rate first, which usually costs less interest. Which one suits you is a personal choice; this page does not advise either.
In the example, the smallest balance is Debt C ($2,500), then Debt A ($5,000), then Debt B ($12,000). Debt C also has the highest rate, so snowball and avalanche give the same order here. That is not true in general.
Order of payoff under the snowball method, with the total of $600 a month kept constant until the end (calculator figures; the last payment on each debt is smaller because only the remaining balance is paid):
| Months | Debt receiving the extra | Payment on that debt | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 15 | Debt C | $200 | Debt C is paid off in month 15. Debts A and B get their minimums ($150 and $250). |
| 16 to 24 | Debt A | $350 | Debt A is paid off in month 24. |
| 25 to 37 | Debt B | $600 | Debt B is paid off in month 37. |
With the extra $100 a month, the snowball ordering finishes in month 37 instead of month 57 and saves $965.38 of interest against minimums only ($3,239.13 minus $2,273.75). The avalanche ordering also finishes in month 37 and saves $989.44 ($3,239.13 minus $2,249.69), which is $24.06 less interest than the snowball ordering. These rows are a method illustration from the free calculator; they are not a tab of the workbook.
Doing the first stage of a snowball by hand in the workbook
The workbook applies the extra to one chosen debt, so you can see the first stage of a snowball directly: put the extra amount on the smallest-balance debt and read its payoff month. To look at a later stage you would change the chosen debt number, the balance and the extra amount yourself (for example, the extra amount becomes the old extra plus the paid-off debt's minimum). The tab does not do this for you; the free calculator does.
What is in each workbook
- Start: how to use the workbook, notes on the calculation and the disclosures.
- Monthly Budget: planned, actual and difference columns for income, fixed and variable expenses, with totals and leftover.
- Debts: up to 6 debts (name, balance, annual rate, minimum payment), plus a Loan rules block left blank on purpose so you fill it from the official source for your country.
- Payoff Plan: the 120-month schedule per debt with and without an extra payment, payoff month, total interest, interest saved and months saved.
- Term Plan: spreads a lump sum over up to 26 weeks into a weekly allowance and a week-by-week balance.
The US, UK and CA workbooks share this structure; they differ in currency and in the named official source on the Loan rules block. How it was checked: a script verified the structure, cell references and honest-copy rules of each file and recorded the result in a report. No claim is made that the files were opened in any particular spreadsheet program; spreadsheet programs recalculate the formulas when you edit an input.
Price, refund and licence
USD 12, one-time payment, sold on Gumroad: 3 workbooks (US, UK, CA) and a PDF guide. Licence: personal use. Refund on request within 14 days. These are the same terms as on the Gumroad listing.
Get the debt payoff spreadsheets, USD 12 on Gumroad
Other pages
See the United States edition, the United Kingdom edition and the Canada edition. Also: the free debt snowball calculator, debt payoff planner, budget planner template and student loan payoff spreadsheet. For background on the methods, see Debt snowball method on Wikipedia.