How to Make a Debt Payoff Plan in a Spreadsheet

By Cedar & Ledger

A debt payoff plan is a list of what you owe, an order to pay it in, and a month-by-month table that shows when each balance should hit zero. You can build one in any spreadsheet in about an hour. This guide walks through the columns to set up, the simple interest math, how payments roll from one debt to the next, and what to do when a month doesn't go to plan.

Every balance, rate and payment below is a made-up example to show the math, not a typical debt or a recommendation. Your real balances, rates and minimum payments are on your statements, and lenders figure interest their own way (often daily). This is general information, not financial advice.

Quick checklist

• ☐ List every debt with its balance, rate (APR) and minimum payment
• ☐ Pick one monthly total for debt and find the extra above the minimums
• ☐ Choose a payoff order
• ☐ Build a month-by-month table: balance, interest, payment, new balance
• ☐ Roll each paid-off debt's payment into the next one
• ☐ Each month, swap in the real balance from your statement
• ☐ Have a plan for a month when a payment is missed

The steps below walk through each one.

Step 1: List every debt

Make one row per debt with these columns: name, current balance, APR (the yearly rate), minimum payment and due day. Take the numbers from your latest statements or the lender's app, not from memory. For cards, How to Read a Credit Card Statement shows where each of these numbers sits on the statement. Include everything you pay on, even small store cards and money owed to family if you plan to pay it back on a schedule.

Example (made-up numbers):

Step 2: Pick a monthly total and find the extra

Decide on one amount you can put toward all your debts every month, including the minimums. Pick a number you can keep paying in a tight month, not your best month. Extra = monthly total − all the minimums.

Example: a $300 monthly total. The minimums add up to $25 + $55 + $95 = $175, so the extra is $300 − $175 = $125 a month.

If your budget can't cover even the minimums, a payoff order won't fix that on its own. Behind on Bills? How to Catch Up and What to Pay First covers what to do first.

Step 3: Choose a payoff order

Every debt gets its minimum. The extra goes to one target debt at a time, in the order you pick:

• Snowball: smallest balance first.
• Avalanche: highest interest rate first.

Debt Snowball vs Debt Avalanche: How to Pick One explains the tradeoff. In this example both orders come out the same (store card, then credit card, then personal loan), because the smallest balance also has the highest rate. Write the order down as a column on your debt list (1, 2, 3) so the table knows which debt gets the extra.

Step 4: Build the month-by-month table

Make one block of columns per debt, one row per month:

• Start balance: last month's end balance (month 1 uses today's balance).
• Interest: start balance × APR ÷ 12. This is a monthly estimate; your lender's number will be a little different.
• Payment: the minimum, plus the extra if this is the target debt, but never more than what's owed.
• End balance: start balance + interest − payment.

Example, month 1: the store card's interest is $450 × 26% ÷ 12 = $9.75. Its payment is the $25 minimum + the $125 extra = $150, so the end balance is $450 + $9.75 − $150 = $309.75. The credit card gets its $55 minimum ($1,800 + $33.00 − $55 = $1,778.00) and the loan gets its $95 minimum ($3,000 + $27.50 − $95 = $2,932.50). That's $25 + $125 + $55 + $95 = $300 for the month.

Step 5: Roll payments forward

When a debt is paid off, its whole payment moves to the next debt in your order. Your monthly total stays the same; it just goes to fewer debts. In a spreadsheet, the simplest way is a "left over" cell each month: the monthly total minus everything already paid, which goes to the next debt on the list. For what to check when a debt reaches $0, see What to Do After You Pay Off a Debt (Checklist).

Example (made-up numbers, payments and end balances):

In month 4 the store card only needs $20.50 to finish, so the other $129.50 of its usual $150 goes to the credit card ($55 + $129.50 = $184.50). From month 5 the credit card gets $25 + $125 + $55 = $205.

Run to the end, the example plan pays off the store card in month 4, the credit card in month 13 and the personal loan in month 20, with about $667 in total interest. For comparison, paying $175 a month (minimums only, still rolling paid-off payments forward) takes 39 months and about $1,532 in interest. Same debts; the $125 extra is the difference.

Step 6: Update it with real numbers each month

The table is a plan, and real life drifts from it. Once a month, when statements come in, add a "Done" check for the month and type the real balance next to the planned one. If they're different (a new charge, a fee, daily interest), start the rest of the table from the real balance so the payoff month stays honest. How to Do a Monthly Money Check-In is a good time to do this.

Step 7: What to do when a payment is missed

• Pay at least the minimum as soon as you can. Late fees and credit reporting rules depend on the lender and how late the payment is, so check your agreement.
• Call the lender if you can't pay. Ask about hardship or payment plans before the due date if you can. The answer might be no, but it's worth asking.
• Skip the extra before you skip a minimum. If a month is short, cover every minimum and drop the extra for that month.
• Don't try to catch up by starving the budget next month. Restart the normal plan from the real balances.

Example (made-up numbers): if the $125 extra is skipped in month 6 only and every minimum is still paid, the plan finishes in month 21 instead of month 20, and total interest goes from about $667 to about $694, roughly $27 more. One rough month isn't the end of the plan.

Common snags

• Using the wrong rate. Some cards have different rates for purchases, balance transfers and cash advances. Use the rate on the balance you actually carry.
• Still adding to the cards. New charges push the payoff month back. How to Pay Off One Credit Card covers stopping new charges.
• A monthly total that's too high. If you miss it half the time, lower it to something you can hit every month.
• Forgetting promo rates end. If a 0% rate ends in a few months, add a row note with the date and the new rate.
• No cushion. One surprise bill on a card can undo months of progress; Emergency Fund Basics covers a small starter fund.

Paying off one loan early instead? See How to Pay Off a Personal Loan Early and How to Pay Off Student Loans Faster.

A simple way to track it

You can build this table yourself with the steps above. If you'd rather not, the Debt Snowball & Avalanche Planner ($5, Excel and Google Sheets) holds up to 10 debts and one monthly debt budget, warns you if the budget is below your minimums, and builds the month-by-month payments for both the snowball and avalanche orders with payoff rolling forward on its own, plus a "Done" column, months to debt-free and estimated interest (details). It uses one monthly budget for every month (no separate extra amount per month) and doesn't connect to your accounts, so after a missed or changed month you type in your current balances and it re-plans from there.

Honest note: I make this template and sell it under Cedar & Ledger, so I'd earn from a purchase. General information only, not financial advice.

Try the free debt payoff calculator (snowball vs avalanche) →

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Related template: read about the debt snowball template

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