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The important thing to know is your statement date.
From the day they print your statement to be mailed to you (the statement date), you have 21 days to pay off the balance in full.
If you do pay it off, you don't get charged any interest.
If your statement date is the 10th, any purchases you make on the 11th will be on your next statement, and need to be paid off on that statement date's 21 day expiry.
If you pay 22 days or more after your statement date, they charge you interest on all 22 days going back to the date you made the purchase.
Also, watch out for balance transfers. They're counted as cash advances, which have no 21 day grace period, and need to be paid off in full for the interest to stop accruing. For example if you did a $5,000 balance transfer to a lower % card on January 1st, and then paid off $1,000 on Feb 1st, $1,000 on March 1st, etc, you'd still be paying interest on the *whole $5,000* the *entire time*. Not until every last dollar (and interest) is paid off does the interest stop.
If you use a credit card properly, you'll never pay a nickel in interest, get some advantages, have the convenience, and get to borrow their money interest free for up to 50 days or so.
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