Bills are an unfortunate part of life. Often, your standard of living is entirely dependent on how well you handle your financial obligations. As a child or even a teenager, bills have an abstract feel. However, as you enter into adulthood, suddenly they become much more concrete, much more annoying, and much more anxiety-inducing. Suddenly you recognize that there is a water bill and an electricity bill and a sewer bill. Right when you move out of your parents’ house, the world comes crashing down on you in the form of bills.

Because of the integral role that they play in your life, there are a few bills that you should never get behind on. Often, there is a threat associated with delinquency. High up on the list would be your medical bills. If you get behind on those, you can have bill collectors knocking on your door. Other ones that are bad to get behind on are your education bills. 

Even though you aren’t going to get people with guns knocking down your door for it, the further you get in debt, the less likely you’ll be able to get out of it. Third, is your rent or mortgage bills. You have to have a home base. You need somewhere to live. Get behind on your rent, and the authorities will try to take that away from you.

Medical Bills

What happens if you get in a car accident and you are injured? At that point, you’re going to have some medical bills. And as much as you might not want to pay them because they seem exorbitant or you believe that the accident was not your fault, nonetheless, those bills are your responsibility. You need to pay them off as quickly as you can using the right ratio of money from your income and your savings so that you don’t fall behind.

Education Bills

When you take out a student loan, you expect that whatever job you’re going to get will ultimately be able to pay back the amount that you owe. Unfortunately, especially these days that turns out not to be the case. So you want to be very careful taking out your initial loans respecting the fact that interest rates, even though low, can be extremely cumulative over time.

Rent or Mortgage

Another thing worth mentioning is that you don’t want to get behind on rent. It is going to be your primary living expense. Wherever it is that you live, you need to pay for that on time every month. Getting behind on your rent can destroy your credit and your credibility, and you certainly don’t want to be a statistic that has to deal with homelessness.

Ideally, you should never get behind on any bills, but there are a few that deserve particular attention.