10 Frugal Death Tips

When pondering what to write about today, a common topic recently has been death (people have been dropping like flies lately), so here are ten ways to make death cheaper:

1. Consider cremation instead of burial (it's cheaper).
2. Consider donating your body to science (it's even cheaper than cremation since when science is done with your body, cremation is provided for free).
3. Instead of an elaborate viewing/wake, funeral ceremony, embalming, fancy casket, etc. consider having just a memorial ceremony which can literally be held anywhere (sans body).  Public park, the beach, a family member's home...even a bar or bowling alley if that is something that would resonate with the loved one in question.
4. For people who must have a funeral, pre-planning and pre-paying for the entire funeral and cremation/burial can be a cheaper way to go.
5. If the deceased was a veteran, check out the death/burial benefits available for qualified vets.
6. If you need a casket, Google "cheap caskets".  Who knew Walmart had an entire casket section?
7. Did you know that in many states it is perfectly legal to bury people on your own property?
8. Buy individual items for the memorial service/funeral yourself instead of getting an (expensive) package deal.  Besides buying a casket online you can also buy urns online (often cheaper than what you can buy through a funeral home), provide your own flowers for the service, find your own caterer/order in food yourself, make your own funeral cards/funeral programs/prayer cards/etc.
9. Consider crowd-funding for funeral costs (this is often done when there is an unexpected death such as when a child dies).
10. Take out a small insurance policy/start a savings account specifically to cover death and funeral costs in the future.