A Funeral Fit for Scrooge

The inevitable is (unfortunately) inevitable. And yes, even for a baby boomer like me who likes to think of himself as eternally young, that day will come when I breathe my last and go to rest with my forefathers. But when reflecting on this, I realized a while ago that I had no plans or instructions as to what I wanted my family to do with me after I die. Was I just shirking the responsibility thinking it is "someone else’s problem"? One might ask, what is the big deal? Is there that much to prepare for when someone dies? Don’t they just bury or cremate the remains? Yes, but even that entails a hundred-and-one questions (and this you will already know if you have ever had anything to do with preparing for a funeral). If you are not prepared, your loved ones could spend $20,000 on a funeral instead of $2,000. This difference of $18,000 could be given to a relative or left to a favorite charity instead of a funeral home. The ones left behind will also spend a lot of time and energy attempting to make decisions when they are the least able to, because of their grief. In a weakened mental state they are most likely to leave most of the decisions to the funeral professionals and hardly consider the costs.
When you take time to think about it, it really is foolish to not plan for the end. We make plans for education, careers, families, investments and everything else in life but for some reason the end of our life seems too morbid to consider. We hope to quickly pass to something better but the fact remains that your next of kin will be stuck with stressful funeral and burial arrangements unless you preplan them or at least leave specific instructions.
Before we cover the specifics of creating a frugal funeral I should bring up one nagging point (that is, a point to nag you about). If you don’t have a will, make one now. You don’t have to hire a lawyer to make a will. You can do it yourself in your own handwriting, or type it up and sign it and have it witnessed. There are also some excellent low-cost will kits that you can buy at stationary stores that guide you through the process and help to make sure you do it right. If you do not have a will, one more week should not pass until you have one. Do it today. It will save your heirs a huge amount of work and money.
Next, annexed to your will, you should have funeral instructions. You should do this right away even if you are young and healthy, and then update it every five years. These instructions could include your wishes as to the maximum amount to spend, whether you want burial or cremation, whether or not you want embalming (did you know it usually isn’t necessary if the body stays cool and the burial or cremation quickly follows?), what you want to be buried in or what you want done with your ashes, where you want to be buried, where you want the funeral (church, funeral home or your home are some options), who you want to carry your casket, etc., etc.
Let’s look at some of these one by one.

Total Funeral Costs
You should specify how much you want to spend so your heirs don’t overspend just to have a "fitting" tribute to you (unless of course that is what you want).
Memorial societies are one of the best sources of low cost funeral information. And as we mentioned, planning ahead will save a lot of money. Much information on memorial societies in North America can be found at the following Internet link:
http://www.funerals.org/links.htm
Depending on where you live, a memorial society funeral may cost less than $2,000.
Check on Your Insurance Coverage
Other than the obvious insurances like life insurance, which is paid out in the event of death, you should check into what other coverage you might have. Some employers or associations or clubs offer minimal payouts in the event of death. These should be recorded and handy for your next of kin. Sometimes public insurance plans will cover the cost of funerals. For instance, the public Canada Pension Plan (in Canada only) will pay out something up to $5000 in funeral benefits.
Treatment of the Body
Did you know you don’t have to be embalmed? I must confess I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that the first time. I know I won’t feel anything after I’m dead, but the thought of having all my blood drained out of my body and then being pumped up again with a chemical seemed so…unnatural. It’s also expensive, and if you don’t need it why pay for it? Apparently all that is needed, if a burial is to quickly follow, is for the body to be washed and dressed, and a family member or a nurse can do this. Transportation is another matter. You normally need a permit to transport a dead body. You may want to use the services of a funeral home for this, but shop around to avoid excessive costs.
The Burial Container
Making your own casket allows you to still have a very nice coffin for a fraction of the cost of one that the funeral home will offer you. You can make your own box or contract it out to a friend or local wood shop. A local woodworker might be able to build a relatively simple coffin for several hundred dollars and you should be able to do it yourself for even less, which is a far cry from the several thousand dollars you will pay at a funeral home. Making your own coffin also lets you make it your way. Perhaps you would like to carve something into the top or sides or leave
a message of love engraved in the wood for those left behind. The possibilities are endless. If you decide to make your own casket you should check out the Lee Valley Tools casket hardware. You can find it at the following link:
http://www.leevalley.com/ and go to the hardware tab and search there under casket hardware.
Cremation containers or urns can be very expensive sometimes $4000 or more. If you take your time and shop around, you may find one just as nice for $200 or less.
The Funeral or Memorial Service
As a definition, the body is present at a funeral service but not at a memorial service. The services you contract for will determine much of the total cost. Possibly the least expensive and, I think, nicest funeral is when it is held in the home. When my grandfather died many years ago the funeral was held right in his home which was attended by so many people that a large crowd overflowed the house. I remember listening to the minister through the open windows while sitting on a chair outside on the lawn that warm summer day. It seemed like the most natural and pleasant setting for the service. A funeral at home will usually be the least expensive. A service in a funeral home may be the most expensive. Another low cost option is to have it at a church where you give the minister and musician a small honorarium of perhaps $50 each.
Burial or Cremation
After my grandfather’s funeral his body and coffin were transported to a country graveyard and he was laid to rest in the same yard where his father (who he lost when he was a boy) and his grandfather were also buried (not to mention most of the rest of his family). To me there is something nice about that. And from a cost point of view, burial in a country churchyard may be much cheaper and in more attractive surroundings than a city cemetery plot. In my grandfather’s case he paid $35 for his plot, current plots in the same graveyard go for $200 each, still a far cry from city plots that are several times as expensive. Grave plots can also be purchased in groups at a discount if the whole family wants to be buried in the same area.
Cremation is done differently. Usually a casket is rented for the service and after the funeral the body is transported to the crematorium and transferred into a cardboard coffin. Then after it is all reduced to ash the ashes are returned to the family for burial, storage or scattering. Costs for all these vary so shop around. And make sure you leave instructions for what you want done.
Permits
Check your local laws. You will probably need a death certificate, a transportation permit and a permit to cremate if you are considering cremation. The death certificate usually comes from the doctor, the transportation permit from the town clerk and the permit to cremate from a Medical Examiner. But again check your local laws. It’s best to find out about these certificates as soon as possible so the persons preparing for the funeral can have all of the information ready at hand and know who to contact when the day comes.
Leaving your Body to Science
If you leave your body to the local medical school they will usually pay most of the costs of transportation and cremation and possibly even burial.
The Last Hurrah
Finally, you might also consider leaving some suggestions for the funeral or memorial service itself. There may be some things you would like to say or pass along. Maybe there is a special message that you would like to record and have played at the funeral. The possibilities are endless for creating a very meaningful yet low cost funeral. Then you can direct the money you save to your favorite relative or charity.

Scrooge