We share your pain!
Like you, I really can't afford to replace a lost Phantom, at least not in the foreseeable future. I've had two bad crashes, one into a shallow rocky stream, the other into a very tall tree. The Phantom survived but my confidence didn't -- I am now going back to Square One, which is very cautious and methodical flight training, low level, close in, and absolutely nothing fancy. Even when flying at home, over a small meadow, I'll deduct as much as two minutes from my estimated battery/flight time as a safety margin.
I've followed this forum and two other Phantom forums very closely for a few months now. At first I read many fly-away reports but lately it seems the trend is toward serious crashes into water. As someone suggested earlier in this thread, there's an almost magnetic attraction to flying over and filming beaches, ponds, rivers and other bodies of water. I'm in the same boat -- in fact, I bought my Phantom because I live next to an extensive wetland and would love to film and photograph every foot of it.
But... because I know from personal experience that a water crash is generally fatal, I'm rapidly scaling back my plans and sticking closer to dry land. Picking up the pieces or climbing a tree is better than a complete loss in water.
My guess is that once I feel really confident, both in my understanding of the Phantom's limits and as a pilot, that I'll take the risk again of flying over the wetlands. But... until I can fly this thing frontwards and backwards, that will remain quite a ways off.