I am when it comes to spending money on essentials essentially Cheap. I use this as a bad term as it implies that I ignore essentials to spend money on non essentials (such as hobby books and video games) When it came to buying a new cell phone (the antenna fell off my old one because it was old and during a snow storm... damn Canada) I used a paper clip and some tinfoil to prolong the length of my old cell phone. THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT FIX! After about two weeks it had damaged the cell beyond the repair of a cheap tinfoil and paperclip solution but it held in place almost long enough to get a new cell and O definitely suggest it (especially for college students) for people who rely on the their cell for alot of their life. I know it is not really useful to the topic of prolonging the life but I do want to share it for frugal users. If your cell has an antenna space and breaks, this is a legit suggestion for keeping in contact until you get a new one.