Pay Off Debt Faster — Snowball vs Avalanche

The debt snowball method: List all your debts from smallest balance to largest, regardless of interest rate. Pay the minimum on every debt except the smallest one — put every extra dirham or pound you can find toward that one until it is gone. Then take the full amount you were paying toward the cleared debt (the minimum plus your extra) and roll it into the next smallest. The 'snowball' grows as each debt is cleared and its payment is added to the next. The psychological benefit is significant: early wins keep motivation high, which matters because most debt payoff takes months or years.

The debt avalanche method: List all your debts from highest interest rate to lowest. Pay the minimum on all debts except the one with the highest rate — direct every extra payment there. Once it is paid off, roll that full payment into the next highest-rate debt. Mathematically, the avalanche always costs less in total interest than the snowball for the same debts, because you eliminate the most expensive debt first. The trade-off: the highest-rate debt is often not the smallest, so it may take months before you see your first 'win' — which can be demotivating for some people.

The math vs. psychology trade-off: Studies show that people who feel early progress are more likely to stick with their payoff plan. If you have strong financial discipline and the math matters most to you, choose avalanche. If you have struggled with motivation in the past or your debts are spread across many small amounts, the snowball's early wins may keep you in the game long enough to succeed — which the 'perfect' avalanche never achieves if you abandon it after two months. An honest self-assessment is more valuable than a rigid rule.

How to actually start — five steps: (1) List every debt: creditor, balance, monthly minimum payment, and interest rate or instalment amount. (2) Add up all minimums to find your baseline monthly debt obligation. (3) Identify how much extra per month you can realistically direct toward debt (even 200–500 EGP/SAR makes a difference over time). (4) Choose snowball or avalanche and apply your extra payment to the target debt only — everything else gets the minimum. (5) When a debt clears, immediately redirect its payment to the next target — do not let it dissolve into spending.

Tracking multiple debts and instalments with Masareefi: In Masareefi, log each debt's monthly payment as a separate fixed expense category — for example 'Phone Instalment', 'Loan Repayment', 'Buy-Now-Pay-Later'. This gives you a clear picture of your total monthly debt obligation. When a debt clears, update your expense list to remove it and you will immediately see the freed-up cash in your monthly budget. Use Masareefi's expense view to confirm that your 'extra' payment is actually going to the target debt every month and not quietly getting absorbed elsewhere.