i usually pay early

 

Voted! Late 4 times in my life....

 

Not quite perfect but pretty close. All domestic bills ontime - all the time. On the business side we're pretty good about prompt payment but not 100%.

Would you care to know if we get paid on time?

 

I don't think once a month qualifies as 'rarely'
I think rarely is more like 2-3 times a year.
That said, I always pay the important stuff (mortgage and charge card) on time.
I rate the importance of a bill on two factors - how it will affect my credit score and how it will affect my wallet.
You never want to skip a month or pay late on a credit card or a mortgage payment - they have the highest impact on your credit score and some of the highest costs for late payment - many credit cards these days charge $30-$40 late fee.
However - some thing like the Verizon phone bill - they charge a 1.5% late fee. My phone bill is about $20-25 a month. The late fee costs less than the postage stamp!

 

FYI -- for all those paying mortgages -- give SERIOUS thought to getting a pay-off chart and then, when you pay this month's mortgage, pay the next one or two principal payments at the same time ... that way you will jump ahead on the payments . the amount of money that you will save on interest payments over the life of the loan can be huge.

As for paying bills ... they are always (expect maybe once in the past five years) paid on time or early ...

I sometimes run a surplus on payments ... it is nice to get a bill and see that you actually have a credit rather than owe money.

Eliot