Debt Repayment Plan Worksheet

Ready to get serious about getting out of debt? Use my free, debt repayment plan worksheet to map out your strategy.

This worksheet has everything you need to free yourself from the shackles of debt.

After a neighbor’s tree fell on our house and landed us more than $100,000 in debt (you can read all about that here), we used this worksheet to figure out how we were going to pay everything off. And while it’s taken us six years (and counting), we’ve managed to pay off more than $90,000 of that debt.

This worksheet has hung on the wall of our home office for the past six years, as a constant reminder of what we’re working towards. Every so often, we get to take it down, and mark one of those debts as paid, which always feels amazing. Now, we’re down to the last credit card.

We’ve been so inspired by what we’ve been able to accomplish, a few years back, we actually decided to expand our original goal to include paying off our house and cabin by May 2020 (which is when our oldest daughter graduates high school). And while we’re currently facing some major roadblocks that are going to make our new goal difficult to meet (I’ll tell you all about that soon), we’ve already made good progress, and we’re just as motivated as ever.

So, if you’re facing a mountain of debt, and you’re looking for a way forward, this worksheet can give you that.

Printable Debt Repayment Plan Worksheet

Print Debt Repayment Plan Worksheet

How To Fill Out This Worksheet

1. List all your debts in the first column. Log into each account to get the actual balance (don’t just guestimate). Also record the interest rate and minimum payment requirement for each debt.

2. Add up all your minimum monthly payments. Then, go over your monthly budget to determine how much money you have available for debt repayment. If you don’t have a budget, or haven’t updated yours in a while, you can use this free budget worksheet to create one. If your budget reveals that you only have enough money to cover the minimum payments, see if you can get any of your lenders to reduce your interest rate. Then, find ways to cut your budget or earn extra money. Keep working at it, until you free up some money.

3. Pick the debt you’d like to pay off first. There’s no right answer here. Start with the one that has the smallest balance, the highest interest, the biggest monthly payment or the intro rate that’s going to expire soon. Or just pay off the debt that bothers you the most. You know better than anyone what’s going to motivate you, so don’t let anyone tell you there’s only one “right” order for tackling your debt.

4. Take any extra money you’ve freed up for debt repayment, and add it to the minimum monthly payment for your first debt. Write this figure in the “New Monthly Payment” column, so you’ll know what to pay each month.

5. Continue to make the minimum payments on the rest of your debts, until you’ve paid the first debt in full. Then, pick another debt to go after, and add the monthly payment you were making on your first debt to the minimum monthly payment on your second debt. Write this figure in the “New Monthly Payment” column for that debt.

6. Keep paying off debts in this manner, until everything is paid off. Then, celebrate your hard work, and go after your next big financial goal.