If you leave a bill long enough without paying, it doesn't transform from its brown envelope chrysalis into a beautiful butterfly, it goes red. And Push isn't talking sunsets and fireflies pretty red. What usually happens is that a few weeks after you get the first bill, you get a reminder (that often is, literally, printed in red). They don’t warn you again. After that, they cut you off. Phone, electricity, gas, it doesn’t matter – someone at head office flicks a switch and you’re powerless. Literally.

To get reconnected, you have to pay not only the original bill, but a slap-on-the-wrist charge for being so naughty. Therefore, it’s best not to let the bills go red in the first place.

It’s so tempting to ignore bills when you have so many other financial pressures on you, but the best policy is to pay up promptly. Ultimately, it’s not just a matter of being cut off – you could be evicted by your landlord for not paying utility bills, or end up with a court summons.

Decide with your housemates who is responsible for which bills. Don’t leave it to eachother on the assumption that someone will deal with it. Someone rarely does. If a red bill turns up, check what’s going on with whoever was supposed to pay it and, if necessary, work something out. But whatever you do, get it paid.

Ideally, keep the bills low in the first place, not just for your benefit but for the environment too. Switch off lights and don’t heat the house when you’re not there. That kind of thing makes a big difference. Some people like to keep a household kitty which everyone chips into and which you use to pay for communal things like bills and possibly even shopping for food (or for essentials like bread, milk, tea and coffee, at any rate).

In some households, for whatever reason, kitties don’t work – they just cause more arguments and friction. If you all have the same attitude to money, the communal approach is more likely to work and by pooling your resources you could save money and get bills paid on time. Unfortunately, it’s usually only after you’ve lived with someone for a few months that you realise what a selfish git they really are, how they never wash up and how they never pay up their share on time even though they always seem to have money for their copy of NME.

• Household bills and utilities
• Dosh drains

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