When should i backup my iCloud?

Okay, so i had an iphone 4 and it kept saying my storage was full and icloud hasn't backed up in like 38 weeks, and i just recently broke my phone, but i have an ipad that i'm using instead so when i logged on to my icloud i deleted my old backup from like 6/24/12 and now i'm confused? What does it mean and now i have enough storage to backup again but should i wait until i get a new iPhone?

Sign on to www.icloud.com and see what you have backed up.