In this day an age, many people's lives are tied up in their cell phones. We store everything including numbers of friends and family, business contacts, even appointment calendars. Lose your phone, and you're lost. But, there are plenty of options to back up your data.

Claudette Mahurin is a busy, working mom and she's hooked on speed dialing.

"I do have a lot of numbers programmed in my phone. It seems like every day I'm adding another one," Mahurin said.

Her phone has everything from work contacts to numbers for her children's schools and doctors. So what if she lost her cell phone?

"It'd be kind of a disaster, as I would not have any of those or all of those numbers in any one other location," Mahurin said.

Phone carriers are now offering backup data storage plans.

"It has your phone's information, everything on the phone backed up in one place," Kelli Grant, of SmartMoney.com, said.

Storage from your provider will cost you from $2 to $5 a month. Sprint's Wireless Back-Up Plan backs up all the information in your phone, and allows you to update it anytime, either online with a password, or on your cell.

Other carriers, including Cingular, Verizon Wireless, and Nextel offer similar plans.

"If you're the sort of person who keeps a lot on your phone, it might be worth it to go with that provider's plan, and be able to update your cell phone on a regular basis and have all of that information backed up," Grant said.

But there are other options. The online service ZYB will back up your data for free if you have a compatible phone.

Yahoo Mobile's Contact Back-Up charges nominal transfer fees, 25 cents for about every 25 contacts you enter.

Some companies, such as Nokia, now give you software when you purchase a phone that allows you to back up your data on a computer. You can also buy back-up software separately.

Keep in mind some of these services only work with certain phones or providers, so you'll want to make sure your phone is compatible before you sign up.