Debt Payoff Tracker Printables: Snowball, Avalanche and Color-In Charts

Paying off debt is mostly a motivation problem, not a math problem. The math is simple: pay every minimum, put every spare dollar on one target debt, and roll that payment forward when the debt is gone. What is hard is staying with it for two years. That is why this pack pairs the worksheets with charts you color in.

You choose the method. The snowball pays the smallest balance first for quick wins. The avalanche pays the highest interest rate first to cost less. The pack has a worksheet for each, filled in once with real numbers so you can see exactly how the roll-over works.

What is inside

• A one page guide: snowball or avalanche, which to pick and the words you need to know
• Debt Inventory: blank and filled in
• Snowball and Avalanche worksheets, each blank and filled in, with a roll-over plan
• Payoff Order Sheet: blank and filled in, with a reward for each payoff
• Debt Balance Log: a filled-in example plus two blank pages for 24 months
• Payoff charts to color in: 100 coins, a ladder and a staircase, with one filled example and six blank charts
• A found-money log and celebration page
• 21 printable pages

Three pages from the pack

The comparison. The example has four debts totaling $14,250.00: a $850.00 store card at 24.9 percent, a $2,400.00 credit card at 19.9 percent, a $4,800.00 student loan at 5.5 percent and a $6,200.00 car loan at 7.5 percent. With $400.00 in minimums and $150.00 extra, both methods clear everything in 29 months. The avalanche pays $1,496.14 in interest and the snowball $1,521.21, a $25.07 difference. On these debts the order barely matters, and the pack says so honestly.

The roll-over plan. Once the store card is gone, its $185.00 payment moves to the credit card and becomes $245.00. When the credit card is paid, the avalanche sends $455.00 to the car loan. You can see every handoff on one page.

The coin chart. The store card chart gives each of 100 coins a value of $8.50. After three months of payments the balance is $337.42, so 60 coins are colored in. It is a surprisingly satisfying way to watch a balance shrink.

How to use it

1. Fill in the Debt Inventory with every balance, rate and minimum.
2. Pick a method and complete its worksheet, then copy the order to the Payoff Order Sheet.
3. Each month, log your new balances and color in the chart.
4. When a debt hits $0.00, write the date and take the small reward you chose.

Interest in the examples is estimated with monthly compounding, so your statements will differ by a few dollars.