Resources & guides

The playbook, written down.

Tools and guides from the rebuild, added as I finish them. Selling what you don't need, getting the debt moving, fixing things yourself, and keeping it all on track.

Free tools

The 5-Minute Budget.

One sheet, sixteen shaded cells, and a number that tells you what's actually left over each month. It's the same one I use. Fill it in once and you'll know more about your money than most people do.

  • Five minutes, honestly. Sixteen numbers you already know roughly. Round to the nearest $10.
  • It talks back. Tells you if you're spending more than you make, how much your subscriptions really cost per year, and what you can throw at debt.
  • Debt attack built in. A second tab ranks your balances two ways, highest rate first or smallest first, so you can pick a plan and stop debating it.
  • Yours, privately. Download it and it lives on your computer. Nobody else sees your numbers, including me.

No sign-up, no email, no account. Opens in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets. Prefer to work in Google Sheets? Make your own copy (needs a Google login) or grab the PDF to print.

Free tools

The Debt Snowball Plan.

List your debts, pick how to prioritize them, add what extra you can pay, and it tells you the order to attack them, when each one dies, and your debt-free date. Then it shows how many months sooner you'd finish with a little more per month.

  • Up to eight debts. Name, balance, rate, minimum. That's all it needs.
  • Four ways to prioritize. Snowball (smallest balance first), Avalanche (highest rate first), largest balance first, or highest payment first. Pick from a dropdown and watch the order, the date, and the interest change.
  • Answers "how much faster?" A compare table shows minimums only, your plan, and your plan plus any extra amount you type in, with months saved and interest saved for each.
  • A real month-by-month schedule. Fifteen years of balances on the second tab, so you can see the snowball roll. Interest is estimated monthly from each APR, so the dates aren't a fantasy.

No sign-up, no email, no account. The preview is look-only; to use it, download the file or make your own copy in Google Sheets (needs a Google login). Opens in Excel or Google Sheets with the method dropdown; in Apple Numbers just type the method name.

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