These aren’t just cosmetic items that will clutter up your bag, but are improvements you will actually use.

Smartphone accessories are available by the dozens upon dozens, but when it really comes down to it, the odds are that beyond the five essentials, you likely don’t really need much more of them in your life.

Save yourself time, money, and clutter by choosing the right items to spruce up and protect your device.

It can be easy to fall victim to impulse shopping when it comes to smartphone accessories, so the key is to take care and think your purchases through before you make them. While some of the little charms, gizmos, and gadgets can seem cool when you’re still in the store, it doesn’t take long before they’re added to the pile, drawer, or closet where you’ve stuffed the rest of the items that seemed good at the time but that have lost their attraction once it came time to use them more than once (if at all).

Check out the following basic smartphone accessories list and make sure that you get the best of each.

If you follow that advice, then the odds are, these add-ons are all you’ll need:

1. Case – these are just as much about protecting the device as they are about personalizing them. Choose one that you find looks great but that will also do a good job of keeping your smartphone safe in case it is bashed around, or dropped.
2. Screen protector – they may not seem all that glamorous, but they can provide your device with huge protection against cracks and scratches. Some protectors even improve the responsiveness of a touchscreen.
3. Cleaning cloth – again, this may not seem all that exciting, but if once you start using them, you’ll realize what a difference they make to your ability to actually see what is on your screen and to removing all of the fingerprints, dust, dirt, and goodness only knows what else has built up on your screen.
4. Headphones – these are fantastic if you talk on the phone a lot or if you use your smartphone to play music.
5. Backup portable battery charger – once you have one, you’ll wonder how you lived without it. No longer will you be a slave to your phone battery, as long as these smartphone accessories are always with you. You can charge up whenever you want, wherever you want, and you don’t have to think twice about playing that favorite game while you wait for that important call.