If you’ve created a debt payoff strategy, you’re probably familiar with the debt snowball and the debt avalanche. But there’s another winter-themed debt paydown tool you need to know about, the debt snowflake. The debt snowflake is a supplemental way to boost your debt payoff strategy. And successfully implementing it can help you reach debt freedom even quicker.
What Is the Debt Snowflake?
Before we dive into the debt snowflake, let’s explore the two debt repayment strategies it plays off of.
- Debt snowball: With this debt-repayment strategy, you’ll attack debts starting with the lowest amount due, disregarding the interest rate. By design, the debt snowball boosts motivation by giving you a quick win by paying off the smallest debt fast.
- Debt avalanche: This debt payoff strategy relies on starting with the highest-interest debt first, regardless of the amount due. The debt avalanche is designed to offer the maximum possible interest savings over the period you’re paying off debt.
The debt snowflake can be used to supplement either of these debt payoff strategies. When you snowflake, you’ll grab any extra money and immediately put it aside to use it toward debt paydown.
The money you capture to snowflake your debt may include:
- Gifts
- Unanticipated rebate checks
- Bonuses
- Income from an unexpected side hustle like babysitting or pet sitting
Snowflakes are found money that’s not accounted for in your budget. So the extra cash needs to come from savings or income that goes above and beyond your everyday budgeting.
How Does the Debt Snowflake Help Boost Debt Payoff?
As with any repayment strategy, the more money you can throw at your debt, the faster it’ll be paid off. So the debt snowflake tries to capture those tiny influxes of cash and quickly put them toward debt instead of spending them on something unnecessary.
The secret to a successful snowflake strategy is setting the money aside as soon as possible before it disappears for use on another purchase. You can start a money jar and take it to the bank at the end of the month, transfer funds to a dedicated savings account, or make payments directly on your debt.
Of course, you’ll want to read the fine print to check for any transfer or excessive payment fees from your bank or lender before you decide to send snowflake money directly toward your debt!
For example, let’s say you saved $5 by skipping your morning coffee. Transfer $5 from your checking to your savings account right now. Then, you can either wait to make a larger transfer at a set date or put a $5 payment on your lowest balance or highest interest loan right now.
The snowflake’s power comes from putting several small payments throughout the month toward debt, thereby creating a much larger force for reducing your debt balance come month’s end.
The Bottom Line
The debt snowflake offers a speed boost for your debt payoff to get you to the finish line quicker. When used in conjunction with the debt snowball or debt avalanche, the snowflake can help you use found money to become debt-free far sooner than when you originally planned.
Author’s Bio: Brooke Joly 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.
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