For anyone paying down debt who wants a plan instead of a pile of minimum payments: this kit sequences the debt tools in the order a payoff actually gets built — see the whole picture first, set the guardrail that keeps a surprise from undoing the plan, pick the payoff method on your real balances, price the minimum-only path the plan replaces, and model the mortgage separately where one is in the picture. Every asset already exists on TallyUp; the kit is the order.
The sequence
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Net Worth Calculator
A one-page balance sheet: everything you own on one side, everything you owe on the other, and the difference — plus a debt-to-assets ratio. The calculator runs privately in your browser. This is the baseline the rest of the kit moves: a payoff plan judged against a snapshot can be re-measured, while a plan judged by feel cannot.
You walk away with: a dated snapshot of what you own, what you owe, and the difference — the picture the plan has to change.
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Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator
Most calculators give one blended number; lenders read two. Enter your gross income and monthly payments and this calculator returns your front-end and back-end ratios, each with its own guideline verdict. Run it after the snapshot: it shows what share of your gross income is already spoken for by debt payments before any extra payment is planned.
You walk away with: your front-end and back-end debt-to-income ratios, each read against its guideline.
The ratios, explained: What Is a Good Debt-to-Income Ratio? covers the 28/36 convention, what counts as a debt payment, and how a ratio actually moves.
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Emergency Fund Calculator
The guardrail step, deliberately before the payoff method. Size the fund from the bills that would continue if your income stopped — essential expenses, not your full budget — and the calculator shows the gap and how long saving closes it, with and without interest. A payoff plan with no cushion behind it sends the next surprise expense straight back onto a card.
You walk away with: a target fund size built from your essential expenses, and the gap between it and what you hold now.
Sizing and sequencing, explained: How Much Emergency Fund Do You Need? covers picking the months of coverage and sequencing the fund against debt.
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Debt Snowball vs Avalanche Calculator
Enter up to five debts with their balances, APRs, and minimum payments, add your extra monthly payment, and see both strategies side by side — months to debt-free and total interest for each. The snowball targets the smallest balance first; the avalanche targets the highest APR first; every other debt gets its minimum, and freed minimums roll into the target as debts fall away. The modelling goes further than a single extra payment: the extra payment can start in a chosen month, a one-time extra payment — a bonus, a tax refund, a windfall — can be placed in the month it lands, and a yearly extra payment can be set with the month it first lands, repeating every 12 months after that.
You walk away with: both strategies priced on your real balances — the payoff timeline and total interest for each — and the order you will actually follow.
The methods, explained: Debt Snowball vs Avalanche works a three-debt example through both orders and covers how to pick the one you will finish.
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Credit Card Minimum Payment Calculator
Enter a card balance and APR and see what paying only the minimum really means — how long it takes and how much interest it costs — and what changes if you simply freeze the first payment and keep paying that amount. This step prices the path the plan replaces: issuer minimums are recalculated from the balance each month and shrink as the balance falls, which is what stretches a balance across years.
You walk away with: the minimum-only timeline and interest cost for the card, next to the frozen-payment version of the same balance.
The formula, explained: How Credit Card Minimum Payments Work covers how issuers build the minimum — interest plus a percentage of the balance, with a dollar floor — and when a minimum never pays a card off.
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Extra Mortgage Payment Calculator
Where a mortgage is in the picture, model it separately from the consumer debts: enter the loan and see what extra monthly payments — or one lump sum — do to the payoff date and total interest, side by side with your current path. Interest is charged on whatever balance remains, so principal removed early is never charged again for the life of the loan. Skip this step if there is no mortgage; the kit is complete without it.
You walk away with: the mortgage's own payoff picture — months shaved and interest saved by the extra payment you are weighing.
The mechanism, explained: How Extra Mortgage Payments Work covers how a payment is split and why principal-only money early in the loan saves the most.
You're done when…
…you hold a snapshot of everything you owe, you know what share of your gross income those debts already claim, your emergency-fund target is sized, and one payoff order — snowball or avalanche — is chosen with its timeline and total interest computed from your real balances, including any windfall or yearly extra you placed in the model. From there the plan is execution: minimums on everything, the extra payment on the target debt, and a re-run of step 4 whenever a balance, a rate, or a windfall changes.
Estimates for planning only — not financial advice. The calculators in this kit provide estimates for planning purposes. Payoff simulations hold the figures you enter as entered — real card minimums usually shrink as a balance falls, and rates can change. If you are struggling with debt, consider speaking with a nonprofit credit counselor.