Debt payoff is a long-term commitment and one that requires organization to stick with. And if you’re ready to get out of debt, you may be looking for a strategy to help keep you organized. Here’s how bullet journaling can help your debt snowball plan by keeping you on track every step of the way.
What Is Bullet Journaling?
The bullet journal method, commonly referred to as BuJo, is a popular journaling strategy started by Ryder Carroll. It’s a versatile strategy that allows people to track important things, like debt repayment, while leaving room for creativity.
The bullet journal revolves around creating spreads that help you track projects. For example, in the case of attacking your debt, the bullet journal can help you organize your financial goals, outline why paying down debt is important, track where your money is going, and plan your debt payments.
Using Bullet Journaling for Your Debt Snowball Plan
The beauty of the bullet journal is that it’s highly flexible. And you can create as many pages as you need to help keep track of your finances. But before you think about which pages to build for your debt snowball, let’s first break down how to create a debt snowball.
- List out all your debts (except your mortgage) along with the current amount owed and minimum monthly payment.
- Order your debts based on the amount due from smallest to largest.
- Figure out how much you can afford to pay on debt after accounting for all minimum payments.
- Begin putting the extra amount you determined toward your first debt while making minimum payments on all other debts.
- After you quickly pay down the first debt, you’ll have a small victory under your belt and hopefully some serious motivation to keep going. You’ll then roll the money you put toward the first debt into quickly paying down the second debt.
Now, let’s look at how those steps might translate to pages in your bullet journal. You may consider setting up:
- A goals page: Create images of why you want to be debt-free in the first place. For example, you may want to pay off debt so you can start savings goals like sending a child to college or finally taking that dream vacation.
- An income tracker: Outlining all your income means you’ll know how much you can afford to put toward your debt payments.
- A debt tracker: This is the page where you’ll list your debts and put them in the proper order for your snowball, smallest to largest.
- A payment tracker: Use this page to track debt payments over time. This will help you understand how much you’re paying toward each debt and how long until they’re paid down completely.
Of course, these are just ideas to kick up some creative dust for your bullet journal pages. And as you get into setting up your debt snowball, you may find other pages that make sense to create next.
The Bottom Line
Paying down debt can be a lengthy process. But bullet journaling can help your debt snowball plan by keeping you organized. The creativity and freedom of the bullet journal also mean you can use artistic expression to keep your debt payoff motivation high.
Brooke Joly
Brooke is a freelancer who focuses on the financial wellness and technology sectors. She has a passion for all things wellness and spends her days cooking up healthy recipes, running, and snuggling up with a good book and her fur babies.
