Tallyfold · quick-start
How to list, order, and pay down your debts
A one-pager to keep next to your printer. Print it once, slip it into the binder with the debt pages, refer back each month.
List every debt — including the small ones
The seven-column right shape — Creditor, Balance, Min pmt, APR, Target, Paid this mo., Remaining — carries over to the Canva template. Listing honestly is the first move: without every debt down on the page you cannot order them, and without an order you cannot pick a strategy.
- Walk the household once: every credit card, store card, personal loan, auto loan, student loan, medical balance, buy-now-pay-later plan. Use the eight default rows or rename to match exactly what you owe in the Canva template.
- For each row, fill Balance (the current number before this month's payment), Min pmt (the minimum required), and APR (annual percentage).
- Anything that does not make the eight rows can go on next month's refreshed page — debt payoff rewards completeness, not selectivity.
Decide your order — avalanche or snowball
The tracker does not choose for you. It gives you the columns to act on either strategy (APR high-to-low for avalanche, Balance low-to-high for snowball). Most buyers spend a weekend deciding and then run that order every month.
- Avalanche: list the APRs in decreasing order. Pay extra above the minimum on the highest-APR row first. Mathematically the cheapest.
- Snowball: list the Balances in increasing order. Pay extra above the minimum on the smallest balance first. Quicker "wins" for motivation.
- Pick one and stick with it for at least three months before judging. Both methods reach zero; the difference is which one your household will keep doing.
Set the monthly target
The Target column is what the household agrees on; Paid this mo. is what actually happened. They will not always match — that is the tracker speaking. Use the difference honestly when you reset your Target next month.
- Target = the number you plan to pay on this creditor this month. The minimum plus whatever extra you can afford above all the minimums.
- Tally the Target column in your head once a month. If the total is bigger than the household can afford, pick one creditor to defer and note it in the side margin.
- On payday, write the actual amount you sent in Paid this mo. The difference from Target tells you whether you are ahead, level, or behind on this creditor.
Recalc and carry forward every month
Debt payoff compounds over many months, not one. After three months the totals bar will start telling a story — which creditor is shrinking fastest, where the household is ahead, where the next extra payment should go. The page earns its keep when the story becomes visible to the whole household.
- Each row's Remaining = Balance minus Paid this mo. Write it at month end. If it is going down, the plan is working.
- On the 1st of next month, open the same PDF, set a new month name, print fresh. Carry last month's Remaining into this month's Balance.
- Resave the file as a dated copy if you prefer — the file itself does not change; you just print fresh pages.