<prompt> Human: Hello PF! Today Ill be going over avalanche versus snowball debt payoff plans, and I believe each plan is an equally valid method, in its own way. Avalanche method is the one most proposed on this sub, paying down debt in order of highest interest rate. Assuming the person sticks to it, this saves the most money in the long run and is the objectively prudent choice. I recommend avalanche method to users that are confident that they will stick to the plan and wont be discouraged by seemingly slower progress. The other, equally valid method is snowball. A philosophy of Dave Ramsey, the idea is to pay down debt in order of smallest balance to give you nice psychological wins along the way. In addition, and this part is critical to its success, you must apply the minimum payment of each debt you eliminate towards the next debt thus the symbolic snowball. A huge benefit of the snowball method that many people dont consider is that it more quickly frees up minimum payments, providing an out for someone thats struggling with cash-flow problems. Even if they can only payoff some of the debt, at least theyll have less minimum monthly payments to worry about. However! One must consider that youll likely lose more money to interest. Even if theres only a small percentage difference, avalanche method is always the mathematically smarter choice. Hopefully this clears up some of the confusion about definitions and the benefits versus costs of each method. Have a good day everyone :  <response>: Generally how I advocate the methods to people is this: Are you financially comfortable with your current monthly payments? If Yes - Avalanche If No - SnowballNote Comfortable not Stable. I could be stable in my minimum payments but only having 10 extra at the end of every month, to me I would not be comfortable there.As it stands I have several hundred to upwards of a few thousand every month after all expenses are paid. So I would definitely say I am comfortable and thus am using avalanche to pay off my student loan debt according to The ChartI moonlight as a baseball umpire so my monthly supplemental income is flexible based on season. 