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Compare snowball against avalanche and download an Excel file with both payoff schedules.
The debt snowball pays the minimum on every debt and puts whatever is spare at the smallest balance. When that one clears, its payment joins the spare money and moves to the next smallest, so the amount going at the target grows each time something is paid off.
| Debt | Balance | APR % | Minimum | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Debt free in, on the snowball
2 years 5 months
Owed
$15,240.00
Interest
$2,421.57
Every month
$620.00
The download is a real Excel workbook with five tabs, not a comma separated list with a spreadsheet extension. Both payoff orders are worked out month by month, so you can see the whole of each rather than the summary.
1. Debts
What you owe, with the balance, rate and minimum for each, plus the position it takes in both payoff orders. The totals are SUM formulas.
2. Comparison
Months, total interest and total paid for each method side by side, with the difference as a formula so it follows if you edit anything.
3. Snowball plan
Every month until the last debt clears: what you pay, what the interest takes, what comes off the balance and which debt the spare money is going at.
4. Avalanche plan
The same months under the other order, so the two can be compared line by line rather than only at the bottom.
5. Plan details
What you owe in total, what the minimums come to, what you are adding on top and the date it was generated.
Principal and remaining balance are formulas on every row, so changing a payment after you download cascades down the schedule the way a spreadsheet should.
| Method | Pays down first | Debt free in | Total interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snowball | Store card | 2 years 5 months | $2,421.57 |
| Avalanche | Credit card | 2 years 5 months | $2,269.62 |
| Avalanche saves | $151.95 | ||
The avalanche is cheaper by $151.95 here. Whether that is worth giving up an early win is the actual decision, and it is yours.
snowball order: Store card → Credit card → Car loan
avalanche order: Credit card → Car loan → Store card
Excel
Double click the download. If Excel shows a yellow protected view bar, click Enable Editing so the formulas calculate.
Google Sheets
Upload it to Drive and open it, or use File then Import then Upload inside an existing sheet. Formatting and formulas both carry across.
Numbers on a Mac
Open it directly. Numbers converts the workbook and keeps the totals working, though the yellow header fill may shift slightly.
Formula
Interest = balance x APR / 12 | Spare money goes at the smallest balance (snowball) or the highest rate (avalanche)Minimum = Paid on every debt every month, whichever method you use
Spare = What you add on top, plus the minimums of anything already cleared
Snowball = Targets the smallest balance, so something clears sooner
Avalanche = Targets the highest rate, which costs the same or less
Worked Example
Three debts, 200 dollars a month spare
Did you know? The snowball was popularised because it works on people rather than on arithmetic. A study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that closing accounts, rather than paying down the largest balances, was the better predictor of whether someone finished. The avalanche still costs less; the question is which plan gets completed.
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