Another tool for paying off your debt, especially if you don't develop a budget, is to create a simple Debt Elimination Calendar. You can use a spreadsheet or a piece of paper and create a column for each loan or credit card that you have. List the debts in the order in which you will be paying them off. For example, if you are using the Highest Interest Plan, list the debt with the highest interest rate in the first column, the next highest rate in the second column, etc. If you are using the Pyramid Plan, put the loan or credit card with the lowest amount owed in the first column, the next lowest debt in the second column, etc.

Now create a row for each month beginning with the month that you plan to start your plan. In the row for each month list the payments that you intend to make in each column for the debts. Add some extra to the payment of the debt in the first column to accelerate the time to pay off the debt, even if this is only $5 per month. Continue on filling in the payments for the upcoming months. As you pay off the debt in the first column add the amount that you were paying on that debt to the payment you make in the next column to the right and so on. Here is an example of what this spreadsheet might look like: