How do you track your debt reduction?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
How do you track your debt reduction?
7
Sun, 05-01-2005 - 12:20pm

I have been enjoying participating in the snowflake sessions so far this year, but I find that I am a very visual person, and I need something concrete to track my debt reduction. Now, I use Quicken, and that helps with the whole "Hey, I have it on my computer and isn't that cool" thing, but I need more.

I'm thinking, something on the fridge.

So, I need ideas. We have just under $9400 in cc debt that we are targeting. There is also an extra large student loan and a mortgage, but the cc is the main thing. Do you have a chart that shows how much you've paid down, etc? Do you have a graph? How do you do it?

I want something cool that will help me stay focused...like on nights when I'm so tired I don't feel like cooking, but seeing something there, in big, bold color, may help me just throw together something rather than go out to eat.

Ideas?

:)
Thanks!

Kris

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-01-2005 - 9:39pm

Hi Kris - I absolutely have a chart - and I love updating it each month!

All my best,
Danni

Avatar for mrslove2000
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-01-2005 - 11:24pm

Hi Kris,

This is what I have. On BRIGHT colored paper I print off my excel spread sheet that has the Creditors, Balanced owed, Minimum payment and a box for the amount I paid. So every time I pay a bill, I write in the amount I paid and calculate my snowflake to the side. To *see* the extra, really helps me to resist picking up the phone and ordering a pizza when we I cook something out of the freezer. So it would like something like this:

ABC CC $1000 $15 $25pd $10+
Visa $750 $25 $30pd $ 5+
JCPenny $200 $10 $50 $40+
MBNA $4500 $105 $105 $ 0
_____
$55 snowflake :0D

The colored paper really catches DH attention too. I don't worry about taking it down when other people see it because it gives me an opportunity to tell them about our Snowflake challenge and send them to our board, here.

Best of luck,
Susan

Sorry, I couldn't keep the columns aligned. I can email you a copy if you'd prefer.




Edited 5/1/2005 11:25 pm ET ET by mrslove2000

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 05-02-2005 - 7:55am

Great question!

I used to keep just my target debt--the one I was sending all my snowflakes to--on the fridge. I'm a numbers person, so I didn't worry too much about it being visually appealing.

But what about doing something like non-profits do when they're trying to raise money. Draw a big hourglass, or thermometer, or something (or how about a symbol that represents something you're working toward--until last year, when we finally bought this house, it would have been a house for us). At the top, write the credit limit (or the largest balance you ever had) of your target debt. Mark checkpoints along the body of the graph--so if your target debt has a credit limit of 10,000, you could divide it into tenths and mark each section, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, etc. Each time you get a statement, color in the graph up to the amount of credit available, and then write the exact amount next to it. When you've colored the chart in up to the top, that means all your credit is available which means, of course, that that debt is completely paid.

Don't know if that will work for you, but thought I'd throw it out there.

Blessings,

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
Mon, 05-02-2005 - 1:51pm

Thanks, everyone! Those are some good ideas...they're making me think. I like the excel on bright paper...but the countdown sounds good, too...

Now I just have to make a decision! I finally got the numbers on the fridge so I can see them, but it's nothing exciting. I'll work on more.

Anyone else?

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 12:09pm

You know - I just realized that I can attach an Excel spreadsheet here, so I thought I would attach something that is like what I use.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
Wed, 05-04-2005 - 8:14pm

That is so cool! thanks for sharing, Danni!

Kris

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-12-2005
Thu, 05-12-2005 - 3:41pm

I'm new here but wanted to share my debt elimination plan spreadsheet. I took out my personal info and made it super generic. You can just download it and plug in your info to get your payoff date.

You can email me at lakeskymom @ hotmail.com (take out spaces) and I'll be happy to forward it to you. Here's an idea of what it looks like... The spreadsheet has all 5 debts and the monthly totals. When I snowflake, I just add it to the box. So, if I come up with an extra $10, I add $10 to that month's payment for the first card. My end date at this point is 10/07, but when I have good months and can send an extra $100, it's nice to see that end month shift upward.

Monthly
Debt Balance interest Minimum interest
Visa #1 2000 16.74% 40.00 0.46%
Visa #2 3000 17.65% 60.00 0.48%
MasterCard #1 4000 16.74% 75.00 0.46%
MasterCard #2 5000 11.50% 25.00 0.96%
Store Card 8000 10.99% 100.00 0.03%
Totals 22000 660.00

Visa #1 Visa #2 MasterCard #1 MasterCard #2
payment balance payment balance payment balance payment balance
Jun-05 2000.00 3000 4000.00 5000.00
Jul-05 400.00 1609.20 60.00 2954.40 75.00 3943.40 25.00 5022.92
Aug-05 40.00 1576.60 60.00 2908.58 75.00 3886.54 25.00 5046.05
Sep-05 40.00 1543.85 60.00 2862.54 75.00 3829.42 25.00 5069.41
Oct-05 40.00 1510.96 60.00 2816.28 75.00 3772.03 25.00 5092.99
Nov-05 40.00 1477.91 60.00 2769.80 75.00 3714.38 25.00 5116.80
Dec-05 40.00 1444.71 60.00 2723.10 75.00 3656.47 25.00 5140.84
Jan-06 40.00 1411.35 60.00 2676.17 75.00 3598.29 25.00 5165.10
Feb-06 40.00 1377.84 60.00 2629.01 75.00 3539.84 25.00 5189.60
Mar-06 40.00 1344.18 60.00 2581.63 75.00 3481.13 25.00 5214.34
Apr-06 40.00 1310.36 60.00 2534.02 75.00 3422.14 25.00 5239.31
May-06 40.00 1276.39 60.00 2486.19 75.00 3362.88 25.00 5264.52
Jun-06 40.00 1242.26 60.00 2438.12 75.00 3303.35 25.00 5289.97
Jul-06 40.00 1207.98 60.00 2389.82 75.00 3243.55 25.00 5315.66
Aug-06 40.00 1173.53 60.00 2341.29 75.00 3183.47 25.00 5341.61
Sep-06 40.00 1138.93 60.00 2292.53 75.00 3123.11 25.00 5367.80
Oct-06 40.00 1104.17 60.00 2243.54 75.00 3062.48 25.00 5394.24
Nov-06 40.00 1069.25 60.00 2194.31 75.00 3001.56 25.00 5420.93
Dec-06 40.00 1034.17 60.00 2144.84 75.00 2940.37 25.00 5447.88
Jan-07 40.00 998.93 60.00 2095.13 75.00 2878.90 25.00 5475.09
Feb-07 40.00 963.52 60.00 2045.19 75.00 2817.14 25.00 5502.56
Mar-07 40.00 927.95 60.00 1995.01 75.00 2755.10 25.00 5530.29
Apr-07 40.00 892.22 60.00 1944.58 75.00 2692.77 25.00 5558.29
May-07 40.00 856.33 60.00 1893.92 75.00 2630.16 25.00 5586.56
Jun-07 40.00 820.27 60.00 1843.01 75.00 2567.26 25.00 5615.10
Jul-07 40.00 784.04 60.00 1791.85 75.00 2504.07 25.00 5643.91
Aug-07 40.00 747.65 60.00 1740.46 75.00 2440.59 25.00 5673.00
Sep-07 40.00 711.08 60.00 1688.81 75.00 2376.81 25.00 5702.36
Oct-07 40.00 674.36 60.00 1636.92 75.00 2312.75 25.00 5732.01
Nov-07 40.00 637.46 60.00 1584.77 75.00 2248.38 25.00 5761.94
Dec-07 40.00 600.39 60.00 1532.38 75.00 2183.73 25.00 5792.16
Jan-08 40.00 563.15 60.00 1479.74 75.00 2118.77 25.00 5822.67
Feb-08 40.00 525.74 60.00 1426.84 75.00 2053.52 25.00 5853.47
Mar-08 40.00 488.16 60.00 1373.69 75.00 1987.96 25.00 5884.56
Apr-08 40.00 450.41 60.00 1320.28 75.00 1922.11 25.00 5915.96
May-08 40.00 412.48 60.00 1266.62 75.00 1855.95 25.00 5947.65
Jun-08 40.00 374.38 60.00 1212.70 75.00 1789.49 25.00 5979.65
Jul-08 40.00 336.10 60.00 1158.52 75.00 1722.72 25.00 6011.96
Aug-08 40.00 297.64 60.00 1104.08 75.00 1655.64 25.00 6044.57
Sep-08 40.00 259.01 60.00 1049.38 75.00 1588.26 25.00 6077.50
Oct-08 40.00 220.20 60.00 994.42 75.00 1520.57 25.00 6110.74
Nov-08 40.00 181.22 60.00 939.19 75.00 1452.56 25.00 6144.30
Dec-08 40.00 142.05 60.00 883.70 75.00 1384.24 25.00 6178.19
Jan-09 40.00 102.70 60.00 827.94 75.00 1315.61 25.00 6212.39
Feb-09 40.00 63.18 60.00 771.91 75.00 1246.66 25.00 6246.93
Mar-09 40.00 23.47 60.00 715.62 75.00 1177.40 25.00 6281.79
Apr-09 23.58 0.00 76.42 642.63 75.00 1107.81 25.00 6317.00
May-09 0.00 0.00 100.00 545.71 75.00 1037.91 25.00 6352.53
Jun-09 0.00 0.00 100.00 448.33 75.00 967.68 25.00 6388.41
Jul-09 0.00 0.00 100.00 350.49 75.00 897.13 25.00 6424.63
Aug-09 0.00 0.00 100.00 252.17 75.00 826.26 25.00 6461.20
Sep-09 0.00 0.00 100.00 153.38 75.00 755.06 25.00 6498.12
Oct-09 0.00 0.00 100.00 54.11 75.00 683.53 25.00 6535.40
Nov-09 0.00 0.00 54.37 0.00 120.63 566.05 25.00 6573.03
Dec-09 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 175.00 393.66 25.00 6611.02
Jan-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 175.00 220.47 25.00 6649.37
Feb-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 175.00 46.48 25.00 6688.10
Mar-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 46.70 0.00 153.30 6598.89
Apr-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200.00 6462.13
May-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200.00 6324.06
Jun-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200.00 6184.66
Jul-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200.00 6043.93
Aug-10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200.00 5901.85