Once the statement cuts, that's what will be reported.
Welcome, @Anonymous. 
Paying the statement balance before the due date is what causes you to avoid interest. The statement date comes a few days after the due date. You should be able to find it by looking at your previous statement or somewhere in your online account.
For most cards, bringing your statement balance down to your desired number before the statement date will control what goes onto your credit report. Just to be sure that we're telling to to do the right thing, which bank is this card with? Do you have other cards?
Someone's going to ask why you want to "micro-manage" your balance, so I'll bite. It's something you might want to do before applying for important credit or while testing to see how your score reacts to various behaviors. But for most people, it isn't necessary on a month-by-month basis. Most of the time, keeping the reported balance below 28.9% of your limit should be fine.
But if you do want to optimize, you want a single card reporting a small balance (at least $5, but not much more than that), with the rest of your cards reporting zero. If you only have one card, report a small balance rather than zero.
Whether or not you use the card after your pre-statement paydown depends on how high the balance might run and what's acceptable to you.