It really isn’t necessary to go into debt to pay for a funeral service. Being bereaved can make it harder to think clearly and to take in information. So giving yourself space and time in advance to decide what is important has many benefit’s. With this in mind you can gather information and prices in writing from service providers to give you time and space to decide.
Some of the reasons for completing your funeral wishes in advance can include:
- Knowing want sort of funeral you want. I.e
- Burial or cremation.
- Religious / Civil / Humanist.
- Location.
- There may even be some special music, poetry or a story that you know will be special for you or your loved ones to incorporate.
- That no financial burden is placed upon my child(ren) at the time that you die.
- Wanting to spend my/my loved one’s money on paying for a nice funeral before it all gets swallowed up in care home fee’s.
- Everyone will be too upset to make sensible decisions at the time so I want to get things discussed now.
How to Save money on the Funeral
1. Talk to a Funeral Director
It’s very likely that you’ve never organised a funeral before, so it can come as a surprise to learn all that is involved in organising one. Funeral Directors will listen carefully to your wishes and if cost is a consideration will take you through the various choices that you can make which will have the most impact.
2. Compare funeral home pricelists
It is a good idea to ask someone who is not immediately bereaved to help. They can phone or email the funeral homes nearby and get them to send you a pricelist. It helps if you can review these in your own home, at your own time. Don’t feel pressured to make a snap decision.
3. Embalming is extra
If you aren’t having a ‘viewing’ or wake with the deceased person it almost certainly isn’t necessary. There is no legal requirement to embalm the body with certain exceptions such as where the body will be taken as cargo on a plane.
4. Choice of coffin
The range of prices for caskets and coffins vary a lot. It isn’t necessary to spend thousands on what is going to go into the ground or be burned in a crematoria. Ask yourself, would your loved one have wanted you to spend your money on a coffin or instead put it towards a charity, education or a much needed holiday?
5. Cremation option
Cremation is typically a less expensive as a rule. Cemetery plots can be expensive to buy. Unless your family already has a plot in a cemetery that has space for the deceased. Even if there’s a grave available, there are usually higher interment fees charged by the cemetery for burial.
6. Keeping it personal
You don’t have to buy expensive flowers from a florist or feel you need to book a fancy venue for after the funeral or spend on professional musicians. It can mean even more if you use flowers from your or the loved ones garden, have a remembrance service in a favourite beauty spot, or ask a musical friend to sing or play.
7. Have a direct cremation
This is where the body is cremated after death, but before or without a funeral service. In this case the cost is typically in the range of € 1,500-2,500.
8. Hold a wake at home
Rather than having the expense of hiring a venue, you can save money by holding the wake at home instead.
9. Have fewer pallbearers
To cut back on costs, ask for fewer pallbearers, or even have a personal approach by asking friends or relatives to carry, shoulder or wheel the coffin instead. Not only does this save money but it can also allows others to be directly involved.