Hello! Ericka from @Crafteinated here with a functional financial tool to help you create a spread to track and take control of your debt payoff.

Using the Snowball Method, you can organize your journal to become debt-free. Check out the free worksheet that you can utilize to jump-start your journal spread! We will also briefly review the difference between the Snowball and Avalanche Methods. I hope this helps you pay off some of your outstanding debts!

Supplies used for Snowball Method Spread:

Any size Archer & Olive journal will work for this project! (I am using a traveler's size!)

Pens: I used a couple of microns and a grey Tombow

Calculator 

Ruler

Printable Guide

You can use code Crafteinated10 for 10% off most Archer & Olive products!

What is the Snowball Method?

The Snowball Debt Relief method is a simple yet powerful financial tool you can utilize to organize and make the most of the funds you have available to pay your debts off! Dave Ramsey coined the Snowball Method.

The first step will be to look at your budget and identify your available opportunities to start putting towards the amounts of money owed. Once completed, list your bills/payments by outstanding balance, lowest to highest. This exercise will be the base of your snowball, and soon, it will gain momentum and get larger and larger!

We build the snowball by rolling payments of paid debts to the next highest unpaid debt. So as we pay one bill, we take the total of the monthly fee and add it to the following highest outstanding principal. You will continue to do this until you take huge chunks out of the overall totals owed, feeling triumphant and relieved.

Even if you are not at a point where you have additional funds to funnel into your snowball you can continue making your minimum payments until something is paid off and use that as the opportunity to start building your snowball! 

What is the difference between the Snowball Method and the Avalanche Method?

In the Avalanche Method, one would start similar to the Snowball Method. However, after identifying the additional funds, you would sort by the highest APR, not the lowest balance.

While the Avalanche Method can be even more powerful, it can feel slower to start. It feels slower because the totals may be higher, taking a long time to see the result and building the monthly payment up. Instead of fully paying items off and seeing results, you can potentially save more over time by cutting out the higher percentage rates accruing less interest.

The Snowball Method gives you more frequent wins and helps keep you motivated to pay off the next bill and then the next, growing your confidence. 

In this example, which I fully explain in the video, you can pay your $500 medical bill in two months, making the victories real and tangible.

The printable provided can help you organize your thoughts before transferring them into your journal.

Completing the spread 

The first thing I did to start my spread was to write 'Snowball Debt' at the top. 

I then started to draw my grid using the entire two pages of the journal.

I then delineated space to organize how we could get the snowball rolling for all of our different debts.

Finally, I used the grey Tombow to highlight the top row and wrote what each column would represent.

Finished product 

Now the spread is complete and ready to be filled in! You have taken a massive step in recognizing the need to get your debts under control and are on your way to financial health.

Whether you use the Snowball Method, Avalanche Method, or another idea out there, you have to do what works for you!

Printable 

The worksheet that you can download and print can be a helpful tool as you move forward! You can use this to map out your journey or get ready to put it into your favorite journal. 

Download and print the worksheet here:

Video 

Please check out the video below if you want to see me create the spread and talk through the different methods:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you recreate this tutorial or use the printable, please share your creation using the #archerandolivecommunity hashtag! I'd love to see how you start your savings journal! Happy Planning!