Free Debt Snowball Spreadsheet

What's inside

• Up to 6 debts, each with its balance, APR and minimum payment.
• Your debt-free date and total interest, updated the moment you change a number.
• The payoff order and date for each debt, smallest balance first.
• A month-by-month schedule for up to 10 years, showing interest, payments and what's left.
• A warning when a minimum payment doesn't even cover the interest.

How to use it

1. Download the file and open it in Excel, or upload it to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets.
2. On the Debts sheet, replace the four example debts with yours.
3. Enter the extra amount you can pay each month on top of all your minimums, and the month of your first payment.
4. Pay the minimum on every debt and put everything extra on the debt marked Order 1. When it's gone, move on to Order 2.

How the debt snowball works

You pay the minimum on every debt and throw every spare dollar at the smallest balance. When it's paid off, its minimum payment rolls into the next smallest debt, so your payment on each new target keeps growing, like a snowball rolling downhill. Your total monthly payment never goes up; it just gets redirected.

The method was popularized by radio host Dave Ramsey. Research backs up the psychology: a 2012 study in the Journal of Marketing Research by David Gal and Blakeley McShane found that people who closed out individual debts were more likely to eliminate their debt overall.

Snowball or avalanche?

The avalanche method targets the highest interest rate first instead. It always costs less interest: with the example debts above, $4,494 instead of $5,096, and you're debt-free a month sooner. The snowball costs a little more but gives you your first win much faster (here, in 9 months). Compare both with your own numbers in our free debt payoff planner.

Questions people ask