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I was paying almost $1,900 a month in interest. Then I found a way to get out of debt in under 7 years without paying a dollar more.
Same debts. Same monthly payment. A different order. Here's the spreadsheet that showed me the difference.
I'm going to be honest with you, because I wish somebody had been honest with me.
I left my career in food service so I could stay home with my son. That was the plan. Then I became a single mom, and the plan fell apart.
The bills didn't care that I wanted to be home with him. They still showed up every month.
So I opened a licensed daycare in my home. It was the only way I could pay the bills and still be the one raising my own child. The days are long and full, and I get to be home with him. That part matters more to me than anything.
And the debt kept sitting there. Three credit cards, a debt consolidation loan that was supposed to fix everything, a second consolidation loan, a home improvement loan after the basement flooded one year, and my mortgage. All in, about $258,000.
I was paying around $3,900 every month across all of it. You'd think that would make a dent.
Then I added up the interest. Almost $1,900 of that $3,900 went to interest each month. Nearly half of every payment gone before it touched a single balance.
Most of the advice I found said some version of the same thing: find extra money and throw it at your debt.
What extra money? I'm a single mom with a daycare. My "extra money" is whatever's left after the electric bill, and it's usually a granola bar.
And the methods everyone talks about, the snowball and the avalanche, each give you one way to do it. Nobody showed me how to tell which one actually fit my debts.
Then something clicked.
When you only pay the minimums, your credit card minimums shrink as your balance shrinks. What sounds really nice is actually a trap, because the smaller payment means the balance lingers for decades, and the interest keeps coming.
But there's a smarter way to use the exact same money, and almost nobody sets their payments up this way. Once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it. And the order you pay things in? That turned out to matter more than I ever expected.
So I built a spreadsheet to test it. I put in every debt I had and ran it through 11 different payoff strategies, using the same monthly payment I already make.
These are my real numbers, mortgage included.
Paying only the minimums the bank asks for
Paying the same $3,900 a month, in the right order
Interest I don't have to pay
My three credit cards: gone in about 3 years.
Same money. Same debts. Thirty years sooner.
I'm not debt free yet. I'm at the beginning, same as you. But for the first time, I know exactly when this ends, and I know exactly what to pay every single month to get there.
I called it my Freedom Date. Now you can find yours.
A spreadsheet that takes the debts you already have and the payments you already make, and shows you the fastest way out.
You enter a few things for each debt: the balance, the interest rate, the minimum payment, and what kind of debt it is. The planner does the rest.
You won't find a "skip your morning coffee" lecture in here. No side hustle homework. Nobody's asking you to sell the minivan.
You'll still buy birthday presents. You'll still order pizza on Friday sometimes.
The money you already send out every month can probably do a lot more work than it's doing now. The planner shows you how to put it to work.
Those are 2 of the 11 strategies inside. The planner runs all 11 strategies on your real numbers and shows you which one is the best and fastest for your exact debts. For a lot of people, the winner isn't the one they expected.
No. It's an Excel file, but you can upload it to a free Google Drive account and open it in Google Sheets on your phone, tablet, or computer. The steps are on your download page.
If you can find your balance, interest rate, and minimum payment on your statement, you can use it. Fill in the yellow cells and everything else updates by itself. There's a Start Here tab that walks you through it.
Yes. Just enter the principal and interest part of your payment, without escrow (taxes and insurance). The Start Here tab explains how.
Fair question. I'm a single mom who built this for my own debt and then decided to share it. The price is low because I know what it's like when every dollar is already spoken for. It's a one-time purchase, and you get it instantly.
No. The planner doesn't change your loans. It shows you the smartest order to pay them in, using the money you already pay. (The free Hidden Money Finder has a script for asking your card companies for a lower rate.)
Yes. The spreadsheet lives on your own computer or in your own Google account. I never see your numbers.
That's exactly who this is for. Mine is about $258,000. The planner handles up to 25 debts.
Right away. As soon as you check out, you'll get a download page and an email with your files.
I kept the price low because I know how it feels when every dollar already has somewhere to go. Another $40 bill is the last thing you need.
Launch price: $19 for the first 100 buyers. After that, the price goes up to $27.
One-time payment. No subscription. No monthly fee. You keep it forever.
That's less than my three credit cards were charging me in interest in a single day.
Try the planner for 30 days. If it doesn't give you a clear payoff plan and your Freedom Date, email me at hello@earnyourfreedomlife.com and I'll refund you.
You make your payments. You show up. You're doing what you're supposed to do.
You didn't need more discipline. You needed a plan that tells your money where to go.
For $19, you can find out exactly when your debt ends. For me, the answer was 30 years sooner than the bank's plan.
Amanda
EarnYourFreedomLife.com
P.S. The $19 launch price is only for the first 100 buyers. After that it goes up to $27.
P.P.S. If you found even $50 a month with the Hidden Money Finder, put it in the planner's extra payment box. It's the most satisfying thing you'll do with a spreadsheet all year.
© Earn Your Freedom Life · hello@earnyourfreedomlife.com
The Debt-to-Freedom Planner is a planning and educational tool. It is not financial, legal, or tax advice, and it is not a debt relief or credit counseling service. The results shown are the author's own numbers and are not typical. Your results will vary based on your debts, interest rates, payments, and whether you follow the plan. Payoff dates assume on-time payments, no new charges, and interest calculated monthly.