Tool
Savings challenge and debt payoff tracker
Printable trackers to colour in, with the numbers worked out for your own goal: the 52-week challenge for any weekly amount, the 100-envelope challenge or one scaled to your goal, your goal split into boxes that add up to it exactly, or your debts in snowball or avalanche order with a bar for each. In your currency, on A4 or US Letter. Free, no sign-up; what you type never leaves your browser.
Total $1,378 — 52 weeks, rising by $1 a week. 1 page. Print at Actual size or 100%.
How the amounts are worked out
Every amount is counted in whole cents (whole yen for the yen), never in fractions, so the totals on the sheet are exact. The 52-week challenge is week number × your deposit: 1 + 2 + … + 52 = 1,378 deposits’ worth, so $1 a week rising makes $1,378 and $2 makes $2,756. The 100-envelope challenge is 1 + 2 + … + 100 = 5,050. For a goal in boxes, the goal is divided into rounding units and the units shared out by the largest-remainder method, the rule used to share seats in proportion to votes: round every share down, then give the units left over to the shares that lost the most, so nothing is lost and nothing is added.
Debts: order, not advice
The debt tracker sorts your debts into the order you choose and draws a bar for each, with a segment to colour for every step paid off. It does not tell you what to pay or when you will be free of debt: rates change, card interest is usually charged daily, and fees come and go. Where you give an APR and a monthly payment, it shows how many months that debt alone would take at that payment, with the formula on the page so you can check it. For a weekly or monthly budget, the printable calendar and the habit tracker print the days to tick.
The link carries the settings only: every amount and name you type stays on this device.
Frequently asked questions
How does the 52-week savings challenge work?
In week 1 you put aside one amount, in week 2 twice that, and so on up to 52 times it in week 52. With $1 the deposits are $1, $2, … $52 and the year adds up to 1 + 2 + … + 52 = 52 × 53 ÷ 2 = $1,378; with $5 it is $6,890. Choose Falling to start with the largest deposit and finish with the smallest, so the big weeks are not in December, or Same every week for a flat deposit (52 × the amount). The list shows the date of every week from the start date you choose and the total so far.
How much is the 100-envelope challenge?
Envelopes numbered 1 to 100 hold 1, 2, … 100: 1 + 2 + … + 100 = 100 × 101 ÷ 2 = 5,050 in all. Use a different amount per number (0.50 gives 2,525; 2 gives 10,100), a different number of envelopes (50 envelopes give 1,275), or choose Scaled to a goal: the same rising pattern, shrunk or stretched so the envelopes add up to your own goal exactly.
How do the amounts add up to my goal exactly?
The goal is counted in rounding units — 2,500 at 5 each is 500 units — and the units are shared out among the boxes: equally, rising, or in random proportions. Each share is rounded down, and the units left over go to the boxes that lost the most in the rounding, so the boxes always add up to the goal. Every box gets at least one unit. If the goal is not a whole number of units (2,503 at 5), the 3 left over is added to the largest box, and the page tells you which.
What is the seed number for?
Random amounts come from a number generator started at the seed. The same seed, goal, number of boxes and rounding always give the same amounts, on any device — so a sheet you printed can be printed again, and two people can keep the same chart. Change the seed, or press New amounts, for a different mix.
Snowball or avalanche: what is the difference?
Both pay the minimum on every debt and put whatever extra you have on one debt at a time. Snowball takes the smallest balance first, so the first debt is gone sooner. Avalanche takes the highest interest rate first, which costs less interest in total for the same payments. A 2012 study by Gal and McShane in the Journal of Marketing Research found that people who paid off individual accounts completely were more likely to clear all their debt. The tracker shows the order; which suits you is your decision, and this is not financial advice.
How is the number of months worked out?
Only when you give a debt both its APR and a monthly payment. It is the time for that debt alone to reach zero at that payment, with interest added monthly at the APR divided by 12 and nothing new borrowed: n = −ln(1 − r × B ÷ P) ÷ ln(1 + r), where B is the balance, P the payment and r the monthly rate, rounded up to whole months. Real balances also change with fees, rate changes and daily interest, so it is an estimate, not a payoff date. If the payment does not cover the month’s interest, it says never.
Which currencies can I use?
Twenty formats, each written the way its country writes money — $1,378.00, 1.378,00 €, 1 378,00 €, £1,378.00, ¥1,378 — chosen for you from your browser’s language and changeable. Yen are counted in whole yen. The rupee sign is printed as INR, because the PDF font has no rupee sign; No currency sign prints the numbers only.
Is my goal or my debt saved anywhere?
No. The amounts, your goal, the names of your debts and the heading stay in your browser and go only into the PDF you download. The link from “Continue on another device” carries the settings — the challenge, the number of boxes, the rounding, the seed, the paper — and never an amount or a name.