Status or state after all?

Which of them do you use and when?

This is what I've decided for myself:

"State" - is a set of attributes that define object's behavior and have a state machine of transitions. 

"Status" - is an attribute that holds a single character value.

Other options, suggested by my colleagues:

• use unthinkingly;
• use only one of them. always;

That's it, good luck!