How to pay off your loans using the 'debt snowflake' method (2024)

If you’re one of millions of Americans struggling to pay off loans, the “debt snowflake” method can help you save big by saving small.

Student Loan Hero writer Kat Tretina says she used the method to pay off $35,000 in student loans four years early.

“The debt snowflake focuses on very, very small amounts,” Tretina tells NBC News BETTER. “Like a dollar or two even at a time that will help you pay off your debt a lot faster.”

While strategies like the “wealth snowball” can be effective for paying off debt, they require you to pay more than what is owed on your minimum monthly balance, and that can be expensive, Tretina says.

But with the snowflake method, you apply small savings directly to your debt every day, which adds up over time, she says.

For example, let’s say you have a credit card balance of $5,000 with an APR of 15 percent and your minimum payment is $150. It will take you over three and a half years to pay if off, and $1,509 will go to interest.

But if you start saving just $5 a week grocery shopping with coupons and you applied that extra $20 a month to paying off your credit card, your repayment would take about 3 years and you would pay only $1,272 in interest.

“With that you could actually save a significant amount of money,” explains Tretina.

Tretina stresses that the snowflake method is not a replacement to other strategies like the wealth snowball — it’s just a useful way to help you find extra money. How you use the savings to pay off your loans is up to you, she says.

“Just a tiny bit of extra savings can actually have a huge payoff,” she says.

This debt calculator can help you see how adding small amounts to your monthly payment can pay off your loans faster.

Small ways you can save

To save in small ways, Tretina ditched cable and money-eating subscriptions like Netflix and Amazon.

“The money I spent on cable, I automatically applied that to my loans,” she says.

She also used coupons when she went grocery shopping and cooked most of her meals at home, which allows her to add about $60 to her monthly payments.

“I started doing batch cooking on the weekends,” she says. “So that way I would have my lunch and dinner for the week, and wouldn’t have to worry about spending more money on groceries. So that freed up an extra $15 a week that I would apply to my loans.”

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Tretina also made extra money through side hustles like pet sitting and online surveys that paid $5 per survey.

“None of them were bringing in tons of money a month, but even those little bits helped me pay off those loans so far ahead of schedule,” she says.

As soon as you save it, repay it

At the end of each day, Tretina would calculate the money she saved and apply that amount directly to repaying her loans.

For example, if she calculated saving $4 on groceries on a particular day, she would transfer $4 from her online bank account towards her loan payment.

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“My policy was I wanted to put that money towards the debt as soon as I got it so that way I wouldn’t be tempted to find another use for it,” she explains.

Stay motivated by tracking your payments

When you are saving tiny amounts each day, it can be hard to see their impact. To keep yourself motivated, you can track the amount of money you’ve paid off in a spreadsheet, for example, or anything that works for you.

Tretina kept herself motivated by pinning a large picture of a thermometer to her wall. Every time she paid off $50 worth of loans, she would shade in a section.

“Just seeing that as things went by helped keep me motivated,” she says.

Invest your savings

Now that Tretina has paid off her debt, she invests her savings in mutual funds and ETFs through online investment management tools like Betterment. The writer says repaying her loans with the debt snowflake method changed her attitude about money.

“I used to be a lot more open to debt — like thinking of debt as good debt, especially with education loans,” Tretina says.

“Now I’m so debt adverse,” Tretina says. “It just makes me feel like I have more freedom.”

How to pay off your debts using the debt snowflake approach

  • Small amounts add up: With the debt snowflake method, you apply small savings directly to your debt every day, which adds up over time. Cutting back on expensive subscriptions, using coupons, and batch cooking your meals all examples of how you can cut back in small ways.
  • Repay it as soon as you save it. Calculate the amount of money you saved each day and apply it directly from an online savings account to your debt.
  • Implement a tracking system. It can be difficult to see the impact of small, incremental savings. Tracking the amount you save each day in a spread sheet can help you visualize the amount you’ve saved and keep you motivated.
  • Invest what you've saved. Once you’ve paid off your debt, contribute your savings to an investment tool like an IRA that will help you increase your wealth.

More Savings Hacks

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How to pay off your loans using the 'debt snowflake' method (2024)

FAQs

How to pay off your loans using the 'debt snowflake' method? ›

Small amounts add up: With the debt snowflake method, you apply small savings directly to your debt every day, which adds up over time. Repay it as soon as you save it. Implement a tracking system. Invest what you've saved.

What is the snowflake method of paying off debt? ›

One method you may consider using to repay debts is the snowflake method, where you find small ways to save your funds and put them towards your debt. Like snowflakes, small changes on an individual scale may not appear to be much, but accumulated over time can make a huge impact.

How do you pay off debt using the snowball method? ›

The "snowball method," simply put, means paying off the smallest of all your loans as quickly as possible. Once that debt is paid, you take the money you were putting toward that payment and roll it onto the next-smallest debt owed. Ideally, this process would continue until all accounts are paid off.

What is the snowflake method of payment? ›

The debt snowflake method is a repayment strategy that involves paying down debt using small savings you find in your everyday life. While each "snowflake" may not have a significant impact on your debt, they can accumulate over time, turning into big savings.

Is the debt snowball a good idea? ›

May not save maximum interest: The debt snowball method is not necessarily the best choice for saving money on interest. Because you're prioritizing balances over interest rates and only making minimum payments on debts that are low on the list, you could end up paying considerably more in interest over time.

What is a trick people use to pay off debt? ›

Once your highest interest rate account is paid off, focus on paying off your card with the next highest rate and continue to do so until all of your debts are paid off. This strategy, known as the debt avalanche payment method, could save you significant amounts of time and money in the long run.

What is the best strategy for paying off debt? ›

Consider the snowball method of paying off debt.

This involves starting with your smallest balance first, paying that off and then rolling that same payment towards the next smallest balance as you work your way up to the largest balance.

How long will it take to pay off $30,000 in debt? ›

If you only make the minimum payment each month, it will take about 460 months, or about 38 years, to pay off that $30,000 balance. And, you'll pay a staggering $54,359.80 in interest charges along the way, which means the interest you pay will be well above the original principal balance you started with.

How long will it take to pay off $20,000 in credit card debt? ›

It will take 47 months to pay off $20,000 with payments of $600 per month, assuming the average credit card APR of around 18%. The time it takes to repay a balance depends on how often you make payments, how big your payments are and what the interest rate charged by the lender is.

How do you pay off all debt using the debt blank? ›

What Is the Debt Snowball Method?
  1. Step 1: List your debts from smallest to largest.
  2. Step 2: Make minimum payments on all debts except the smallest—throwing as much money as you can at that one. ...
  3. Step 3: Repeat this method as you plow your way through the rest of your debt.
May 31, 2024

What are the payment methods for Snowflake? ›

Payment methods. Snowflake supports a variety of payment methods, including credit card, electronic funds transfer (EFT), purchase orders, and Marketplace Capacity Drawdown Program funds.

What does the Snowflake method look like? ›

The idea of the Snowflake Method is that you pen first the heart or core of your novel, so the rest can expand from here. From here, you flesh out, building out to key milestones in plot, profiling how each main character views the story, and so on, and so on – until you're ready to start.

What is the Snowflake rule? ›

The Rule: Whenever you see a straight line, like the one on the left, divide it in thirds and build an equilateral triangle (one with all three sides equal) on the middle third, and erase the base of the equilateral triangle, so that it looks like the thing on the right.

How to pay off debt with no money? ›

How to get out of debt when you have no money
  1. Step 1: Stop taking on new debt. ...
  2. Step 2: Determine how much you owe. ...
  3. Step 3: Create a budget. ...
  4. Step 4: Pay off the smallest debts first. ...
  5. Step 5: Start tackling larger debts. ...
  6. Step 6: Look for ways to earn extra money. ...
  7. Step 7: Boost your credit scores.
Dec 5, 2023

How to pay off debt using the snowball method? ›

The debt snowball method is a debt-reduction strategy where you pay off debt in order of smallest balance to largest balance, gaining momentum as you knock out each balance. When the smallest debt is paid in full, you roll the minimum payment you were making on that debt into the next-smallest debt payment.

Which debt should be paid off first? ›

Prioritizing debt by interest rate.

First, you'll pay off your balance with the highest interest rate, followed by your next-highest interest rate and so on. As you work your way down the list, be sure to continue making the required minimum payments on all accounts.

What are the payment methods for snowflake? ›

Payment methods. Snowflake supports a variety of payment methods, including credit card, electronic funds transfer (EFT), purchase orders, and Marketplace Capacity Drawdown Program funds.

What is the debt snowball format? ›

Step 1: List your debts from smallest to largest regardless of interest rate. Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest. Step 3: Pay as much as possible on your smallest debt. Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full.

What is the debt snowball method how can it help you get out of debt Ramsey? ›

The debt snowball method is a debt-reduction strategy where you pay off debt in order of smallest balance to largest balance, gaining momentum as you knock out each balance. When the smallest debt is paid in full, you roll the minimum payment you were making on that debt into the next-smallest debt payment.

What is the key to successfully using the snowball technique to eliminate debt? ›

Start by paying off the debt with the highest interest rate until it's eliminated, then move on to the one with the next highest interest rate, pay it off and repeat until all debts are eliminated. Find a solution that offers a lower interest rate and monthly payments that you can afford.

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