Debt Payoff Planner Excel Google Sheets, Snowball Avalanche Calculator (Digital Download)

DEBT PAYOFF PLANNER & BILL CALENDAR — Excel and Google Sheets, with a filled-in example inside

Smallest balance first, or highest interest rate first? The internet will tell you both, loudly. The only honest answer is what the difference is for your debts, in money and in months — and that takes a calculation, not an opinion.

This file runs both methods, month by month, for ten years, and puts them side by side.

TWO NUMBERS FROM YOU

The extra you can put in every month, and the month you start. That is the entire input. Everything else comes from your real balances, rates and minimum payments.

THE SEVEN TABS

Start Here — what each tab does, the colour rules, and the honest limits.
Your Debts — eight debts: balance, rate, minimum. The snowball and avalanche order columns work themselves out, so you never sort anything.
The Plan — both methods side by side: months until clear, the month it happens, the interest each route costs, and the difference between them.
Snowball Schedule — 120 months, calculated. Smallest balance first.
Avalanche Schedule — the same 120 months, highest rate first.
Bill Calendar — 50 bills with the day each one leaves, and a running total by day of the month.
Payment Log — 240 rows of what you actually paid, which is never quite what the plan said.

THE HONEST ANSWER

Avalanche always costs less on paper. Snowball clears whole debts sooner, and for most people that is what keeps the plan alive past March. In the worked example the gap is $223 and no months at all — which makes the choice easy, and not the one the internet shouts about.

If the difference is small, take the snowball without guilt. If it is large, take the avalanche and put a reminder somewhere you will see it. The file tells you which situation you are in.

THE LINE THAT CHANGES BEHAVIOUR

On the Your Debts tab there is a column for interest this month, and a total underneath it. It is what your debts cost you before a single pound comes off the balance. Most people have never added it up.

THE BILL CALENDAR COLUMN NOBODY BUILDS

Everything that leaves the account and the day it goes — debt minimums included, because a bill calendar that leaves out the awkward ones is a comforting fiction. Beside it, a running total by day: not what the month costs, but what has to have cleared the account by each day of it. That is a different question, and it is the one that decides whether the 28th is comfortable.

NOTHING IS CONNECTED

No bank feed, no import, no account to create. You type the balances, which is also why nothing about your finances leaves your computer.

TWO COPIES IN THE DOWNLOAD
One workbook has the worked example filled in, so you can see what every column expects before you touch anything. The second is the same file completely blank — same tabs, same formulas, same charts — ready for your own numbers from the first row. Start on whichever suits you.


WORKS WITH
Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer, Windows or Mac. Google Sheets — upload and open with Sheets; every formula works, the dropdowns look a little different, the print settings do not carry across. LibreOffice. No macros.

HONEST LIMITS — please read before buying
- It assumes you stop borrowing. Every month you add to a balance, the dates move.
- Interest is monthly and simple. Real cards charge daily on the statement balance and treat purchases and cash differently. Expect close, not exact to the penny.
- No promotional rates. A zero per cent card that ends in March is not modelled — change the rate when it changes and the plan updates.
- It is not debt advice. If you are behind on rent, council tax or other essential bills, or considering a formal arrangement, speak to a free debt charity before following any plan, including this one.
- Capacity: eight debts, 120 months, 50 bills, 240 logged payments.

ABOUT ACCESS — I never ask for shop access, bank details or a login. No password, no manager invite, no app permissions. You buy the file, you download it, that is the whole transaction.

Instant download. Two files — the spreadsheet and a written Start Here guide — on the order page as soon as payment clears.