How to Save Money On a Funeral

[Are_grits_groceries]

Someone wrote to us this week that a person in his family is terminally ill, and that he was told "that the cost of the casket, funeral, viewing, and burial would possibly exceed 12,000 dollars." He thinks that's an "exorbitant amount of money," and so do we. There is no reason to pay that much money for a kick-ass funeral that people will be talking about for years to come. You don't need to be a cheapskate to manage this, either—you just need to be aware of your rights and know what traps to watch out for. Here's our list of what to do the next time you have to plan a funeral.

Oh, and the kitten picture is just to cheer you up if you need it.

http://consumerist.com/5165098/save-money-on-a-funeral

There was a thread a while back about how to get info on funerals and related matters. This site has a lot of info that can help.
It may seem morbid, but it's better to think about it before you are in a highly emotional state. I learned that the hard way.

[and-justice-for-all]

1. Bring back Funeral Pyres!!!

[mysticalchick]

2. I saw that thread ...

... it had a LOT of good info in it! My husband and I had to take out a loan to pay for my mom's because she had nothing left after being in a nursing home for several years.

It's good to know your options.

Go read it if you get a chance.

[yy4me]

3. As someone who has gone through problems with funeral

homes and costs, please read this old thread of mine. Might give you some tips.

The best one, seeing you have time to make these sad arrangements, Shop around.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5065784

Making a good judgment now will save more grief and heartache than you can imagine.

[moriah]

4. Let's see, my grandmother's funeral bill....

Charity-rate cremation -- $400
Body Transport charge - $150 (She was over 600 lbs at death and we had to pay for the body to be taken in a special vehicle on a special gurney to the crematorium)
Flowers -- $150 (a very nice casket-spray type setting)
Fabric -- $3 (three satin fabric remnants from a fabric store)
Shovel -- $10 (broken after the funeral)
Preacher -- $30 (he didn't charge but it's customary to give a gratuity and that's what I could afford)

She already had a spot picked out where she wanted her ashes buried.

My father and his cousin dug the hole. We laid one piece of fabric over the hole itself, one over the pile of dirt, set her ashes down, covered them with another piece of fabric, covered the fabric with the flowers. The preacher came out to do the graveside service. My father and his cousin then wrapped the ash container with all of the pieces of cloth, put it in the hole, filled the hole, and we put the flower spray on top of it.

I have been saving to get her a headstone or some other type of marker. She had no burial insurance or any savings, neither did my father, and a girl pulling out in front of me a few months before the funeral was the only reason I had enough money to have her cremated at all.

[cmd]

5. Memorial cards and visitors books

are very overpriced. The local funeral home wanted $125. For my father's funeral I picked up a very attractive journal for the visitor's book and made memorial cards on my computer for about twenty dollars. One side of the card had a photo he had taken of his flower garden; the other side had the biography. My sister-in-law picked up flowers at the grocery store and created some gorgeous arrangements saving us even more money.

[MercutioATC]

6. Here's a good place to start:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11008302&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|20595|20596&N=4000788&Mo=5&pos=2&No=5&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=20596&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC1423-Cat20595&topnav=

[exboyfil]

7. Boy this causes a big disagreement with my wife

I want an immediate cremation with as little expense as possible (no casket, embalming etc), and a portion of my ashes buried near my favorite jogging trail. She wants a plaque or something in a cemetery. I said use that money to buy a bench with my name on it for the jogging trail if you have to spend the dollars (we are not talking about it right now). We would have a service at our church, but I refuse to have my body laid out like a hunk of meat (she agrees with me on this point).

Before my grandmother went Title 19 into a nursing home, I made arrangements to set aside a portion of her money for funeral expenses to get her below the $2,000 limit. She, like my dad, will have her body transported to West Virginia for the funeral. She will be laid to rest next to my grandfather. I still expect about $5K beyond what I set aside, and it will be interesting to see who steps up to help.

This whole situation was thrown into my lap by her irresponsible kids. Sometimes I think about the morality of expecting others to pay for her Title 19 care.

[s-cubed]

8. My father-in-law donated his body to a medical school. It was a wonderful

way to handle the issue. Medical schools need bodies to properly train doctors. The school arranged to pick up his body, and then about a year and a half later, gave my mother-in-law the ashes. The family scattered them in the hills he loved. A few weeks after he died, we had a memorial service. All, in all, a good experience. In face, my mother-in-law has decided she wants to do the same.

[Lasher]

9. Thanks for starting this thread.

Bookmarked for later.

I have called funeral homes to try to pin them down and the only thing they'll talk about is how I can pay them now for an expensive funeral later. If I search on the internet I am met with an avalanche of funeral home ads.

[emilyg]

10. Cremation.