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The Spreadsheet That Changed Everything

July 9, 2026 Today, we are beginning our second month of Project Money, and we recently had our second meeting with Jake. Prior to our meeting, Jake took the time to review all of our statements and debt balances. He created an Excel spreadsheet that illustrated how the snowball method could work for us—and wow, was it eye-opening!By simply rolling each monthly payment from a paid-off balance into the next balance, we could pay off all $274,000 of our debt in just eight years and nine months. Of course, that assumes nothing major breaks in our 126-year-old house and that our vehicles keep running past 300,000 miles. Even so, it showed us that becoming debt-free one day is not impossible. It also revealed that, aside from our mortgage and HELOC, the rest of our debt could be paid off in about four and a half years. Reaching that milestone would put us in a position to build our savings and begin contributing to a special needs trust for our oldest daughter, Neva.We then reviewed all of the coffee purchases and other nonessential spending we had made over the previous two weeks. While we had already made some significant improvements, there was still room to free up more money and reduce unnecessary expenses. Each coffee purchase might seem small on its own, but all of those purchases could instead be helping us pay off our smallest balance more quickly.As Jake added some of these numbers into the spreadsheet, he showed us how small sacrifices today can lead to a much bigger payoff in the future. Coffee alone was adding up to nearly $4,000 per year—and that's just coffee!
Moving forward, we have a new goal: to see how much extra money we can have left at the end of each month to put toward our smallest balance. Watching that debt shrink—and seeing the timeline shorten on our handy Excel spreadsheet—is a great motivator. We would never have had the ability to create a tool like this on our own, which is one of the many benefits of working with a financial coach.We're looking forward to meeting with Jake again in two weeks and continuing our progress.—David and Becky You might also be interested in A simple spreadsheet turned debt payoff goals into a realistic plan—and a powerful source of motivation... Cutting coffee and takeout helped David and Becky pay off a credit card and build momentum with smarter spending and better habits... From overwhelmed to hopeful, this couple faces their finances, cuts extra spending, and starts a plan to reduce debt...