Those of who you who have heard of the snowball method of debt management may be interested in learning about snowflaking. Prominent personal finance whiz Dave Ramsey devised the snowball debt management plan in order to build positive reinforcement and momentum to help you pay off your bills and debts. The idea was to pay off the smallest debts first and ignore the high interest debt (unless it was the smallest balance). This was somewhat of an unconventional debt management strategy – but for some, it works. The high you feel when you close an account for good provides ample inspiration for you to press on.  The naysayers claim that paying off high interest debt first is the only way to go because it cuts down on finance charges. But for those who need encouragement more than anything, the debt snowball works.

Snowflaking is similar to the snowball, but, as the name suggests, it’s a much smaller focus. With the snowball debt management plan, the key was to have a set amount you would pay off on your debt every month, regardless of what the balances were. The snowflaking debt management builds on that. But in order to get your monthly payment, you build it with “snowflakes.”

The snowflakes are little payments that go towards your top priority debt immediately.How do you get snowflakes? Easy – by making decisions to save throughout the day. Next time you are out for coffee, go for a simple house brew instead of the fancy latte and put the extra $3 in your pocket to apply to your debt management plan. Or get online and sell some old possessions and use the money for your debt snowball. Take surveys online. Have a yard sale. Rake leaves. Do anything you can to make just a little bit of money and apply this extra income towards your debt.

This is different than simply saving money because it’s focused on debt management. Normally, if you have extra cash, you might use it as justification to go out or treat yourself. But with the snowflaking debt management plan, you are raising the money solely for the cause of paying down your debt. Liken it to a benefit fundraiser – like a car wash or bake sale – except the cause is debt management.

Make snowflaking your hobby. Pick change out of your couch, recycle cans, sign up for Demand Studios and put all of the money into snowflaking. This simple little debt management plan can build in a few months into a massive snowstorm that blows away your debt! The idea is to focus on the small picture – not the big picture. When we focus on the big picture, we get overwhelmed, discouraged and frustrated and we give up. And giving up is perhaps the worst imaginable debt management strategy in existence! You may not always be able to take a large bite out of your debt, but if you are constantly working at it, you can, little by little, eliminate it for good.