Debt Calculator from Trees Full of Money

One of the most challenging issues most of us face in our personal finance lives is paying off debt. There are many different methods of debt management and reduction, from debt consolidation to various programs for debt negotiation to do-it-yourself solutions. One of the most popular do-it-yourself solutions is the debt snowball.

With the debt snowball, you order your debts, keep paying the minimum on all, save one. You take an extra payment — whatever you can afford by re-doing your budget so that you are spending less (or earning more) — and apply it that debt, on top of the minimum payment. Then, when that debt is paid off, you move on to a new debt, applying the whole amount on top of that minimum payment. As you might guess, the amount you are paying off snowballs, and you pay down your debt a little faster.

Using the debt snowball program from Trees Full of Money

Trees Full of Money has created a debt snowball program that makes this a little bit easier to take care of. It’s an Excel Spreadsheet program that is easy to use. And it is free. You plug in your debts, add your extra snowball payment, and then watch the amortization schedule. This can give an idea of how long it will take you to pay off your debt. Play around with the extra payment amount to figure out whether adding a little bit more can mean being out of debt even faster.