This weekend I was pulling my cell phone out of my pocket and then it slipped out of my hand. As I saw it making its way to the concrete parking lot all I could do was pray that it didn’t land face down. However it did. It landed in the kiss of death position for cell phones. The screen shattered so bad that chunks of the iPhone glass were dangling from the phone. Not only did the glass shatter, but for a period of time even the home button stopped working, and the only thing that I could do was text because my phone froze on the text screen.

You may be wondering if my phone was in a case. It was. However, I realized that although cases do provide some protection, many cases are more for aesthetic purposes. As I thought about what I could have done to keep my phone safe and to avoid the unexpected replacement cost, I thought about the top things that I wish that I knew before my phone cracked.

1. Buy a screen protector.  I read that “30% of owners will break their phone within 12 months, [and] if you’re under the age of 35, the rate is closer to 50%.” For $30 I could have protected my screen from damage without impacting the beauty of the phone. If I had a screen protector on my phone the glass wouldn’t have shattered.
2. Make sure that you have a good grip on the phone – especially outside. Sometimes we are in so much of a hurry that we stop doing the basic things that make sense. I was waiting for an uber driver so I couldn’t go anywhere, but yet I was in a rush to check the status on my phone. That rushing ultimately resulted in me dropping my phone.
3. Think about how rough you are on the phone when you are buying a case. All cases are not created equally in terms of protection. I kept my iPhone 4 for over 2 years because it was in a heavy duty case. I put that iPhone 4 in that case because I was so rough on my previous indestructible blackberry phones. I knew that I needed a strong case to keep my iPhone safe. When I replaced my iPhone 4 with the 5c I opted for a more stylish case. That would have probably been ok if I had the screen protector.

If I knew those things I may have been able to save myself the replacement. I did have the option to fix my screen for about $80, but given the fact that my home button wasn’t working for about 4 hours and I could navigate anywhere else other than my text screen I didn’t know how damaged the internal function of the phone was damaged so I opted for a new phone.

When I replaced the broken 5c, I did purchase a new case that offered a bit more protection and most importantly a glass screen saver. However, the biggest thing that I can do is slow down and pay attention to avoid dropping this phone in the future.

Aisha Taylor is a #1 Amazon Best Selling Author of the book “5+5 FNPhenomenal Ways to Save $100 This Week Without Killing Your Lifestyle”, the Founder of FNPhenomenal (Frugal –n- Phenomenal), and creator of The Live Phenomenal Program. The Live Phenomenal Program is a program designed to give you the tools that you need to totally transform your finances, and stop living from paycheck-to-paycheck. It’s time for you to be Financially Phenomenal! Join now at www.FNPhenomenal.com/live.

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