If you’re using the debt snowball method to pay off your debt and curious how long it will be before you are debt free, this simple debt snowball spreadsheet calculator may help!
Last year I released my free Excel based checkbook registry spreadsheet and the response has been overwhelming. The program has been downloaded 1253 times (as of this post), and I hope this new debt snowball program is equally successful!
I created this spreadsheet to help my own family as we successfully paid off over $90,000 of consumer debt in two years!
Instructions for Downloading and Using My Free Excel Debt Snowball Calculator Spreadsheet:
If you haven’t already, you first need to download the program here (don’t worry, it’s FREE!) and then save it locally to your computer.
Step 1)
List your debts in the pink area by the order you plan on paying them off following the examples provided (remember, you must delete the example loans first before you can continue!).
You must also fill in the current balance, interest rate (APR), and minimum monthly payment.
Step 2)
Enter the number of the current month in the blue box (July is the 7th month, etc…)
Step 3)
Enter the current year in the red box.
Step 4)
Any extra money you can squeeze out of your budget each month should go in the bright green ”Extra Payment” box below.
Step 5)
Click the “results tab” at the bottom of the page to see the amortization of your debt snowball and your projected DEBT FREE Day!
The Results Page:
When you click the results tab, you will see the screen above.
The first 4 lines across the top show the date of each payment, each month’s growing ”snowball payment”, your ongoing extra payments, and any additional “bonus payments” (see below) you intend to make. No matter how far down you scroll, this information stays fixed at the top of the display.
Next you will see balance information for each loan you have made, interest paid, the amount available to pay on the debt, the actual amount paid on the debt, and the new balance after the payment is made.
To determine the day you will be debt free, simply scroll down to the last debt ( if you have listed your debts smallest balance to highest) and follow the “balance” line over until the balance says “Paid Off”! Congratulations this is your debt free day!
***Bonus Payments***
On the “results tab” you can enter an additional bonus payment (on the yellow line) for any individual month you wish.
In the example below we’ll assume you are getting a one time “Christmas Bonus” in December which you intend to add to your debt snowball payment. Just enter 2000 in the “one time bonus payment” box for Dec-09 (or whatever month you expect extra cash) and the spreadsheet automatically updates.
It’s as easy as that! I hope you found this program helpful! If you have any question or comments, please fill out the form at the end of this post and I will try to respond as quickly as I can!
Disclaimer: The program is provided for entertainment purposes only and no warranty is given about it’s accuracy. To be sure your financial concerns are fully addressed, you should seek advice from a professional finance guru of which I am not!
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Very cool debt snowball calculator!
Thanks! I tried to make it as simple as possible, the only problem is, it currently only calculates out 20 years (the spreadsheet gets cut off).
Oh well, hopefully most people can work their snowball down in less time than that!
I bet you recognize the “header” as well
!!!
Wow, this is great! When I saw how much time would be shaved off of my mortgage I was amazed!
All of the values were off on my result page. It just stated “#value” in all of my boxes past the current month. Traced error back to cell B2. Suggestions?
Thanks, Ben! This is just what I needed to see exactly how my debt snowball was going to work out over the next several months. I’m going to be striving to make as many extra one-time payments as possible and knock this debt out ASAP. Thanks for taking the time to put this together and share it with others.
You’re very welcome Erica! I’m glad I was able to help! This debt snowball spreadsheet was too good to keep all to myself!
Hmmm…without having access to your computer Brandy, I can’t begin to understand what the problem is. I would try downloading the excel spreadsheet again and starting over! Good luck!! Let me know if you get it working, or figure out what the problem is!
Cannot thank you enough for this, Ben. What a useful tool. So easy to use… It would have taken me hours to put this together myself, and it is exactly what I was looking for. Well done!
Can this snowball spreadsheet work for those who have CC debt in collections? I can
not enter interest rate or minimum payments. However, I can enter the balanced owed on
the debt. Will I still get a calculation? will I still get results on the “results page?”
How can this snowball program work for me?
I would not “snowball” your credit card collections. Instead, I was save up some cash and when you have about 2/3’s of the balance of the collection, I would offer that to the collection agency as “paid in full”. If they accept your offer, make sure you get it in writing they are accepting the payment as “paid in full” BEFORE you send them any money!!!
Good luck!
Thank you so much for the spreadsheet. You have helped me sleep at night. I will be adding any extra money I receive to my snowball debt. The game is on. These credit card companies will not win. Thanks a million!
Good Luck in all you do.
Vanessa, you’re very welcome! I’m glad my debt snowball calculator helped you out! I know it was a valuable tool for my family and I as we worked our way through $90,000 of consumer debt in less than two years!
THANK YOU!!! This is the best debt snowball calculator I have found in months of searching. I really appreciate you posting this, I’m sure it will help many many people! There just something about being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Thank you so much for this! I’m hoping that using this will encourage us to press onward toward our goal of being debt free!
Thank you very much! This is a great tool and I really appreciate you making it available. To see the real numbers, and the effects that extra payments can have upon things is so motivating. Your hard work is appreciated!!
THANK YOU for creating this! I had just spent an hour in Excel attempting to create this on my own and thought “GOOGLE” and here you are. I just plugged into this and WOW this is ART!
Thank you!
Alethea
Thanks for the debt snowball calculator. It is very simple & easy to adjust to see which path will get us to debt free the quickest!
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you find my debt snowball calculator excel spreadsheet so useful!!
Thanks for reading! and if you haven’t already, read my families debt freedom story (there is a link in the navigation bar at the top of the page)!
Also, please consider signing up for my free email updates!
Ben,
Inspiring articles to say the least! We are just starting the process of ridding ourselves of debt. Do you recommend debt settlement and/or credit counseling services? I’m wary of debt settlement, but am considering the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
Thanks, Paul
Another great free debt snowball calculator can be found at: http://apennyforchange.org/resources/
Thanks for a GREAT and EASY snowball calculator ! I love the ability to add a “one time BONUS payment” – really neat and useful feature.
This is by far the best debt snowball calculator I have found online (and far better than the ones I attempted to develop on my own!)
Just wanted to let you know I linked to this on my own site, http://houseinorder.wordpress.com/ Hopefully even more people will be able to put this to good use and become debt-free!
Thanks a bunch for posting the calculator. I was contemplating putting one together this morning and decided to search first. We too are doing the Dave Ramsey plan, and have a long ways to go. I had to modify your spreadsheet to handle the number of accounts we had. I also added a couple of running totals to the bottom, such as, total debt paid off, debt paid per month, and a running balance of remaining debt to be paid. If you would like the expanded copy I’d be glad to send it to you. BTW, Kudos on your work. I was quite impressed with how you accomplished the task of the snowball calculator. Thanks again, this tool really motivated me!!!
Robert
Thank you so much for your efforts in posting this! I just started the Dave Ramsey plan and I want to be successful. I however have more accounts that I need to add to the list and there isn’t enough room. ROBERT – would you be willing to send me a copy please?? Thanks!!
Thank you for creating this wonderful spreadsheet. It is exactly what I need to stay on track and keep motivated. According to the informaiton I entered, I hope to be debt free in about four years. Thanks again!!
Robert, thank you!
Holy moly! This is SO motivating! I was just about to purchase Dave Ramsey’s software, but I already have a cash flow/budget spreadsheet that I really like. So this Debt Snowball Calculator is EXACTLY what I wanted. I think Dave would be proud that I got it as a free download.
According to your calculations, my husband and I may be mostly debt-free including two new-to-us used cars, our student loans, and a partial mortgage by the beginning of 2014! Include a 3 to 6 month emergency fund, and the primary mortgage, and we’ll be ENTIRELY debt-free by the end of 2018! Less than 8 years! And that’s not including any potential raises!
You my friend are definitely “paying it forward!” It’s 3 minutes to midnight and you have made my day! Just wait ’til I show my hubby! Many, many sincere thanks!
Whoops! The thanks should go to Ben, I believe! The creator of the site and free calculator!