- Consider cremation instead of burial (it's cheaper).
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- If the deceased was a veteran, check out the death/burial benefits available for qualified vets.
- If you need a casket, Google "cheap caskets". Who knew Walmart had an entire casket section?
- Did you know that in many states it is perfectly legal to bury people on your own property?
- 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.
- Consider crowd-funding for funeral costs (this is often done when there is an unexpected death such as when a child dies).
- Take out a small insurance policy/start a savings account specifically to cover death and funeral costs in the future.
Friday, June 29, 2018
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:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good tips. My inlaws both had their bodies donated to science. It cost the family nothing and their ashes were returned later on. We had a memorial service at home.
ReplyDelete