Snowflaking Basics

1) Determine a set amount to pay toward debt, without fail, every month that is above your minimum payment due (even if it is just $10.00).

2) keep paying that amount, even as your debts shrink and your minimums get smaller. The extra become some of your snowflakes.

3) Collect all little bits of money wherever you can and apply those to your top priority debt as quickly and often as possible.

4) Keep a very strict accounting of

1. all the money that comes in every month
   
2. what is spent
   
3. everything left over at the end of the month not earmarked for future expenses
4. All leftover money = snowflakes.

Pay snowflakes immediately! The faster a balance is reduced, the less interest accrued.

Like this idea? Want to start off strong and organized? Want laser focus?

1. make a list of all your debts
2. order them from either smallest to largest or highest interest to lowest interest (that is a debate in itself),
   
3. focus all extra money above the minimum payments on a single debt (either the smallest total or the highest interest).

Snowflaking is a spinoff of the Snowball approach to debt reduction popularized by Dave Ramsey. I cannot take credit for this idea. Many personal finance gurus and bloggers have used this method. I first read about this at I Paid For This Twice Already.