Book AnthonyIn the Black

Phase 2 of The Escape Plan

Get out of debt for good.

Debt is the thing standing between you and everything you want. This is the phase where you clear the ground — smallest balance first, one payment at a time, until every consumer debt is gone.

How it works

Four rules that get you out.

You don't need a bigger paycheck to get debt-free. You need a sequence, followed in order, until it's done.

01

Get stable. Get on a budget.

You can't attack what you can't see. Before one extra dollar goes at debt, you need a written budget and one month of net pay saved. Give every dollar a job before the month starts — that's a Monthly Money Vision, not a spreadsheet you abandon in March. Skip this and the next flat tire puts you right back on a credit card.

02

List every debt, smallest to largest

Everything except your mortgage. Car notes, student loans, credit cards, medical bills, and the buy-now-pay-later balances people forget — Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay. All of it, on one page.

03

Snowball it

Minimums on everything, every extra dollar at the smallest balance. When it's gone, roll that payment into the next one. You're not chasing interest rates, you're chasing momentum.

04

Find more money

Give yourself a raise by cutting what you don't need, then add income on top. Every new dollar goes at the debt, not at your lifestyle.

The In the Black app showing a monthly budget with income, expenses and spending categories, beside a Phase One lesson

Rule 1 · Start here

Create your first budget.

Getting out of debt starts with seeing where your money is actually going. In the Black gives you a Monthly Money Vision — every dollar assigned a job before the month begins — then hands you a daily assignment so you always know the next right move. It tracks your payoff as you go, so Phase 2 stops being a feeling and becomes a number that moves.

Budget, payoff tracking and coaching in one place — built to walk you through every phase of The Escape Plan.

Run your numbers

See your debt-free date.

List what you owe, add whatever extra you can find this month, and watch the date move. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Your debts

Everything except your mortgage — credit cards, car notes, student loans, medical bills, buy-now-pay-later.

Free resources

Start with these.

Calculator

Debt Calculator

Put in your balances and see the exact date you'll be debt-free. Seeing the date is what makes people start.

Run my numbers

Free guide

The Ultimate Guide to Debt Payoff

50+ pages of practical steps, reflection questions and a bonus budget workbook to walk you through the whole phase.

Get the guide

The app

In the Black

A daily money assignment for Phase 2, and accountability that keeps you going after the motivation wears off.

Get started

Where this fits

Getting out of debt is Phase 2 of five.

Each phase builds on the one before it. Do them out of order and the whole thing wobbles.

You are not doing this alone

Real people. Real payoffs.

Every week on The Table with AO I sit down with people who were exactly where you are. Some were six figures deep. They got out, and they'll tell you how.

Get out of debt with me.

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