The Ledger · Oct '25 – Jun '26

The state of the debt, reconciled from every statement.

Nine months of balance data, every credit card, every payment Stephen sent, and where — dollar by dollar — every dollar went.

—
Total Revolving Debt · June 2026
vs Oct '25
Current Revolving Debt
—
Interest Burn — Period
—
avg $316/mo · 21% of card payments
Stephen's Zelle
—
7 payments · Mar–Jun 2026 · net $7,200
CC Payments — Period
—
debt down $1,893 in 9mo · interest eating 21% of payments
01
Chapter 01 · The State

Debt over nine months — stacked and seen.

Every card's balance at statement close, carried forward month-over-month — and June is the first month every card reported. The shape tells the story: Amazon grinding down, Citi cracked, Apple finally under $5K, but Capital One 0623 still parked past its $2,000 limit at $2,145.

Total Revolving Debt — Stacked
Oct '25 to Jun '26 · carry-forward per account
Account Health — Radial Gauges
APR burden + utilization + trajectory = composite score 0–100
Payments vs. Interest
Red = wasted on interest · green = principal killed
Composition — Current Debt
Where the $12.5K lives right now
Across nine months, $16,245 in payments hit the cards. The needle finally moved: total debt is down $1,893 — $1,147 of it in the June close alone.
— The bottom line
① Clear win
Amazon still grinding down
From $4,891 to $2,495 — a 49% cut. June's $293 payment kept it moving. The Samsung purchase ($209) slowed progress but didn't reverse it.
② Breaking through
Citi Simplicity finally cracked
$2,851 → $2,680. June's $268 autopay outpaced $64 in interest for the first time in the period. Principal is actually moving.
③ Over the limit
Capital One 0623 is in crisis
$556 → $2,145 — past the $2,000 limit. Cash advances ($536), a returned autopay ($29 fee), and a past-due fee. Available credit: $0.
④ The biggest
Apple Card · $4,988
June's $805 in payments broke it under $5K ($5,574 → $4,988). Lowest APR (25.49%) but still the largest exposure — $115/mo in interest.
02
Chapter 02 · Money Flow

Every dollar that entered, and where it went.

The Sankey diagram below traces $18,206 in inflows through checking to CC payments and spending. Thickness = dollars. The answer to "where did my money go" is literally drawn here.

Money Flow — Sources → Checking → Destinations
Sankey · all figures period totals · hover flows for amounts
Of every inflow dollar, most went straight to a credit card. Balances are down $1,893 — but $2,841 was consumed by interest alone.
— The cost of revolving debt
Monthly Cash Flow
Green/gold in · purple/orange out · per checking cycle
Account Pressure Map — APR × Balance × Interest Paid
X = APR · Y = current balance · bubble size = interest paid this period
03
Chapter 03 · The Attack

Avalanche ranking — kill what bleeds fastest.

Accounts sorted highest APR first. Small balances on high-APR cards get killed first (free wins). Then attack the largest drags. Sparklines show each card's 9-month trend.

The three highest-APR cards are down to $45 combined — PayPal Cashback is at zero, US Bank autopays in full on 06/28, PayPal Credit's minimum clears it. The free wins are banked. The fight is now four balances at 25–29%.
— Free wins first

The Deck — every card as a card.

Balance, APR, utilization, and recommended action. Hover to lift.

Balance Trajectory — Full Table
04
Chapter 04 · Stephen
Partner Contribution · Mar – Jun 2026

Stephen has funded a meaningful share of the debt attack.

Total Zelle In
—
Across 7 payments
Net (after return)
—
$175 returned to Stephen 03/12
CC paid · Mar/Apr
—
—
Own Income · Mar/Apr
—
Almost zero · Stephen was the engine
The 7 Zelle Payments
Every inflow from STEPHEN AVRO · JPM / CTI
Timeline · Stephen's Money Across the Calendar
Gold markers = Stephen Zelle in · Purple bars = CC payments (combined all cards)
Reconciliation — Stephen's money → CC payments
Every credit from Stephen, followed by CC payments made within 14 days
Allocation — Stephen's $7,375
Reality check · Why balances didn't drop more
05
Chapter 05 · The Interest Trap

$2,841 vanished into APRs. Here's exactly where.

The waterfall shows month-to-month total debt changes. Red bars = debt went up (interest + new spending outran payments). Green bars = real progress.

Debt Change Waterfall — Monthly Deltas
Running total with each month's Δ · red = increase, green = decrease
Apple Card alone burned $973 across the period — roughly a full monthly rent payment, up in smoke. The heaviest drag in the deck.
— The highest-APR card isn't always the worst
Interest Heatmap — Per Account, Per Month
Darker = more interest · rows sorted by total burn
Interest Stack · Who bleeds what, when
06
Chapter 06 · Spending Patterns

Every day, every dollar of non-CC outflow.

The calendar below lights up on days money left the account. Gold dots mark days Stephen's Zelle arrived. Purple = CC payment days. Orange intensity = spending intensity.

Daily Activity Calendar · Oct '25 – Jun '26
Each cell = one day · hover for detail
Spending $1–50 $50–150 $150–400 $400+ CC payment day Stephen Zelle day
Top Outflow Payees
Spending by Category
CC Payments by Card — Where the $12,140 went
Aggregated from every Citi Checking debit labeled as CC payment
07
Chapter 07 · The Raw Log

Every transaction, reconciled and categorized.

Citi Checking Transaction Log
183 transactions · filter by category, month, direction
Date Description Category Debit Credit