Debt-Free Journey Planner Spreadsheet

About this template

This debt payoff tracker gives you dated milestones on the way to zero, not just one end date years away. It is for anyone paying down several debts who wants to see progress every few months and know exactly what comes next.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

The dashboard

Nothing on the dashboard is typed. Pick your plan, snowball or avalanche, and the whole page follows.

• Debt-free in: the months left, and the month you owe nothing at all
• Milestones passed, and when the next quarter mark comes
• The road to debt-free, with the date of each quarter mark
• Still owed: your balance on its way to zero, with the quarter marks across it
• Every debt in the order it clears, the finished ones ticked off
• Paid so far: every payment logged, ahead of or behind the plan
• What comes next: the next milestone and the next debt to go, with dates
• The rolling payment that moves onto the target debt as each one clears
• Snowball against avalanche: dates, months, interest and total paid, side by side

Milestones with dates

A quarter gone, halfway, three quarters, done: each date is read off the amortization schedule rather than guessed. Beside it sits the month every single debt disappears and what its payment frees up. In the demo that is 43,050 across eight debts, a quarter gone by September, halfway in May of the following year, and clear in 31 months. Change the extra payment on Setup and every date pulls forward.

Eleven connected tabs

Everything recalculates from your debt list, so nothing is typed twice. As a debt snowball and debt avalanche payoff calculator, it works both strategies out in full from your own numbers:

• Both snowball and avalanche calculated in full, month by month
• Freed minimums roll onto the next debt automatically
• A payoff date per debt, and the month you are done
• 400 payments logged, split into principal and interest
• Charts that redraw from your own numbers, not pictures

The balance chart is your debt free chart, and the payment log makes it a loan tracker for every card and loan you hold.

You get a filled-in copy as well as a blank one: a full demo you can click through and a blank ready for your own numbers, in Excel and Google Sheets. There are no dynamic arrays, no macros and no add-ins, and the Google Sheets version is a real workbook, not a PDF with a link in it.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365, on Windows and Mac, and LibreOffice. No Microsoft 365 subscription required.
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. No Google account is needed for the Excel files.
• No add-ins, no macros, no subscription and no bank connection

What you download

• The Excel workbook filled with a worked example, and the same workbook blank and ready for yours
• The instruction guide, which has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. The files are for your own use; please do not share or resell them. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work in Excel or Google Sheets?

Both. You download Excel workbooks for Excel 2016 or later on Windows and Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank).

Can I compare the snowball and avalanche methods?

Yes. Both are calculated in full, month by month, and the dashboard sets their dates, months, interest and total paid side by side.

What are the milestones?

A quarter of the debt gone, halfway, three quarters and done, each with a date read from the amortization schedule.

What happens when I pay extra?

Change the extra payment on Setup and every milestone and payoff date recalculates and pulls forward.

Can I log my actual payments?

Yes. Up to 400 payments, each split into principal and interest, and the dashboard shows whether you are ahead of or behind the plan.