Good question and I think you’ll find that it’s different not only between different aircraft, but also between different pilots.
I’ll give you some examples from general aviation as that is where all of my real-world experience is.
A general rule of thumb that my CFII taught me was that you should be configured for approach by the time you’re about 1 mile before the final approach fix (FAF). We were flying a Cessna 172 at the time, so definitely not a fast mover. Because of this, we would only use one notch of flaps until we were basically crossing the fence, then put the rest in and land. We held off on flaps to keep speed up on the approach since it was a rather busy airport, and there’s no real benefit to being extra slow and dragging it in with full flaps.
When I did my multi-engine training in a Beech Baron E55, I was taught to leave the airplane clean until glide slope intercept, then as the glide slope is just about to be captured, drop the flaps to approach and drop the gear. Then fly it all the way down at around 120 knots until you’re certain of the landing before putting in landing flaps.
Overall, a good rule for light GA seems to be keep approach configuration until you’re certain of the landing, and then get fully configured for landing. For faster aircraft like jets, it definitely needs to be done further in advance.