Debt Payoff Dashboard
Type in your cards. Get your payoff order, monthly plan, debt-free date and interest saved, automatically.
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Keep the plan updated as you pay
The Debt Payoff Dashboard does this math in Google Sheets and updates as your balances drop. The bundle adds Budget by Paycheck, Sinking Funds and two more.
Money Spreadsheet Bundle (all 5)
Debt Payoff Dashboard, Budget by Paycheck, Sinking Funds, Seller Profit Tracker and Expense & Invoice Log. $54 bought separately.
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How the debt snowball and debt avalanche work
Both methods start the same way: list every debt, keep paying every minimum, and find one fixed extra amount you can add each month. The only difference is which debt gets the extra money first.
- Debt avalanche: the extra goes to the debt with the highest APR. You pay less interest overall, because the most expensive balance disappears first.
- Debt snowball: the extra goes to the smallest balance. You close accounts faster, which is motivating when you have several cards.
In both, when a debt is paid off you don't get to keep its minimum payment. It rolls into the next debt on the list. That roll-over is why the payoff speeds up near the end: by the last debt, you're throwing every freed-up minimum at it.
How to use this calculator
- Enter each debt with its current balance, APR and minimum payment. Your statement or banking app has all three.
- Add the extra amount you can pay every month. Even $50 makes a visible difference.
- Press Calculate to compare your debt-free date, months to payoff, total interest and payoff order side by side.
The month-by-month table shows what you'd pay, how much of it is interest and how much you'd still owe after each month, plus the month each debt is gone.
Getting more out of the plan
The biggest lever is the extra payment, not the method. Try raising it by $25 or $50 and watch how many months drop off. If one card has a much higher APR than the rest, asking for a lower rate or using a 0% balance transfer (watch the transfer fee) can beat either method. Once you have a plan, write the debt-free month somewhere you'll see it, and check your balances once a month so the plan matches reality.
A calculator gives you the plan once. If you want it to stay up to date as you pay (balances, interest saved, progress bars and next month's payments), the template below does that in Google Sheets.
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Questions
Is the avalanche or snowball method better?
Avalanche (highest interest rate first) always costs the same or less in interest, so it's the better deal on paper. Snowball (smallest balance first) clears a whole debt sooner, and that early win keeps a lot of people going. If the interest difference this calculator shows is small, pick the one you'll stick with.
What does the extra monthly payment mean?
It's anything you can pay on top of all your minimum payments combined. The calculator sends it to one focus debt at a time. When a debt is paid off, its minimum rolls into the next one too, so your total monthly payment stays the same until everything is gone.
Why does it say a debt will never be paid off?
If a minimum payment is smaller than the interest that debt charges each month, the balance grows instead of shrinking. Raise the minimum or the extra payment until the calculator shows a payoff date.
How accurate is this?
It compounds interest monthly at APR ÷ 12 and assumes your rates, minimums and extra payment stay the same and you add no new charges. Real statements calculate daily interest and minimums that shrink, so treat the dates as a close estimate, not a quote.