✦Debt · 11 recordsPay off debt

The first task is the hard one: listing every balance and rate in one place. Most of the stress of debt comes from not knowing the total, and most of the progress comes from a fixed payment that is not renegotiated every month.

Install this templateSee the others

Free on any plan. You will see this list again in the app, and nothing is created until you press install.

✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

Clear the expensive debt Month 12

A fixed payment that is not renegotiated every month.

See the whole thing Week 3

Every balance and rate in one place. The hard first step.

  • List every balance, rate and minimum paymentDo firstDay 5
  • Choose the order and write down whyDo firstDay 12
  • Set the fixed monthly paymentDo firstWeek 3

Clear them in order Month 12

One at a time, everything spare going at the top of the list.

  • Clear the first balanceMonth 4
  • Clear the second balanceMonth 8

Routines

  • Check the balancesweekly
  • Review the month's spendingweekly
✦ It comes with a note

Order, then a payment that does not move

Highest rate first costs less. Smallest balance first is more likely to be finished. Either works — switching halfway is what costs the most, which is why the reason gets written down.\n\nA bad month is a bad month. Pay the minimums and keep the plan rather than starting again later.

✦ Questions

Pay off debt, answered.

Avalanche, highest rate first, costs less. Snowball, smallest balance first, is more likely to be finished. This plan asks you to choose deliberately and write down why, because switching halfway is what actually costs the most.
Because most of the stress of debt is not knowing the total, and most people are carrying a slightly different number in their head than in reality. It is also the only way to decide an order rather than paying whatever shouts loudest.
Pay the minimums and keep the plan. The point of a fixed extra payment is that it is not renegotiated monthly, but a bad month is a bad month rather than a reason to abandon the schedule and start again later.
✦ More templates

Other systems you can install

Debt

Pay off student loans

Understand the terms before overpaying, then decide whether clearing it early is even right.

Debt

Fix your credit score

Check the report, correct what is wrong, and then wait — because most of it is time.

Debt

Overpay the mortgage

Check the terms and the arithmetic first, because overpaying is not always the best use of the money.

Property

Save a house deposit

A real target based on where you are actually buying, and a transfer that gets there.

Install it and start this evening

It takes one press. Everything it creates is tagged, so if it turns out not to suit you, it is easy to find and remove together.

Install this template