Pay your bills on time and avoid late fees.
Get organized about your regular bills.
If possible, automate the payments.
Most utilities and other recurring bills can be set to be charged to a credit card or deducted from a checking account these days.
Also, many banks offer free bill pay programs.
So there really is no excuse for forgetting to pay a bill on time and forking out the late fees.
Say, by chance you do forget a bill, if you are a first time offender, call the company and request politely to waive the late fees, and more likely than not, they will oblige.