Snowball or avalanche — see the difference in money and in months before you pick one.
Pay the smallest balance first, or the highest interest rate first? Every article online answers this confidently and none of them know your debts. The honest answer is a number, and a number needs a calculation.
What is in it
- Both methods run side by side, month by month, for ten years
- Your real balances, rates and minimum payments — not a worked-up average
- One input from you: the extra you can put in each month
- A payoff date, total interest, and what switching method actually saves
- A bill calendar so nothing gets missed while you are paying down
Who it is for
Anyone with more than two debts and an opinion to settle.
How it works
Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, and Google Sheets — upload the file and open it with Sheets, every formula works. LibreOffice too. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create and nothing to install.
The download is instant. Every workbook ships twice: one with a worked example already filled in so you can see what each column expects, and the same file completely blank for your own numbers. A plain-English Start Here guide comes with it as a PDF.
Sold through my Etsy shop, ThePlainLedger, so the download, the payment and the buyer protection are all handled by Etsy. I never ask for access to anything — no password, no manager invite, no app permissions. You download a file; that is the whole transaction.