Posts Tagged ‘funeral plans’

When making funeral plans for a loved one, around 60 percent of families who opt for burial choose metal caskets. These sleek-looking designs are hailed as the best choice if you are hoping to preserve the integrity of the casket for as long as possible. Although your loved one’s remains will decay no matter what, the metal caskets will stay intact for hundreds of years.

Of course, “metal” is an all-encompassing term, and you have several types of caskets to choose from. Here’s a brief overview of what you can expect.

• Gauged Steel Caskets: The most common types of metal caskets are made of a lightweight steel alloy, which is offered in various gauges. You’ll most likely see options like 16-gauge steel, 18-gauge steel, and 20-gauge steel. These numbers are used to identify how thick the metal is, with lower numbers being thicker than the higher numbers. (For comparison purposes, most household sinks are 18-gauge steel.) Because of their relative thickness, lower gauges are more expensive than higher ones, and most families can choose the low-cost 20-gauge steel without noticing any difference in appearance. (more…)

Funeral planning is never an easy task, especially since it’s something few people are trained for (and because it’s something you hopefully don’t have to practice very often). Being caught unaware of the correct protocol is one of the easiest ways to overpay or get taken advantage of, which is why it’s a good idea to become familiar with the biggest funeral planning pitfalls ahead of time.

• Waiting until the Last Minute: Don’t wait until a terminal illness or catastrophe brings funeral planning to the forefront. The best funeral plans are made when you and your loved ones are in good health and are able to make calm, rational decisions with plenty of time to think them over.

• Going with the First Funeral Home You Come Across: You may get a recommendation from a hospital or hospice. You might call the first funeral home you see in the phone book. You could even stick to the same funeral home you used the last time a death occurred. While these are great ways to find a funeral home, be sure and call around for additional (more…)

For the typical U.S. burial, an estimated one-third of families opt for wood caskets. Unlike their metal counterparts, wood caskets aren’t pitched as offering high preservation qualities, and instead are chosen for their lower cost and general elegance. Because you are talking about an organic material, wood caskets will decay faster than metal ones, with “softer” woods holding up for a shorter amount of time than hardwoods.

The harder and less porous the wood, the more expensive it will be. So too will the finish of the wood and the details contribute to the cost.

• Pine: Pine caskets are the lowest-cost option, often coming in at under $1,000 (especially if you look for them (more…)

Like part of a growing trend of Americans, you’ve pre-arranged your funeral to save your family from heartache after your death. You made the decision between cremation and burial, and set aside the appropriate funds to cover the entire ceremony. Now all that rests between you and completing your advance funeral arrangements is sitting down to inform your family of the details.

While most families appreciate the time, effort, and money that goes into advance funeral planning, this isn’t always the case. If you deviate from tradition or plan for something out of the ordinary, you may find yourself facing a family who not only disagrees with your funeral plans, but who are honestly hurt by the decisions you have made.

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Once you’ve made the decision to begin funeral planning, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by all the information and options out there. Choosing cremation vs burial, picking between dozens of local funeral homes, considering funeral insurance vs a pre-plan funeral package…these are just a few of the options that pop up in the beginning of your search.

Because few purchases will ever be more personal than the ones you make regarding your own death, it’s important to take a deep breath and relax as you move forward. Although time is one of the few things none of us has an unlimited amount of, you should never plan a funeral in haste. It’s too easy to overpay or buy services you don’t need if you feel pressured to make immediate decisions.

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One of the easiest ways to pre-pay for a funeral is to buy burial insurance (also known as funeral insurance). Instead of picking out details like caskets or cemeteries now, you simply set aside a lump sum that is payable out to your beneficiary upon your death. They can then use the money to fund your funeral in a way that fits with your wishes and their grieving needs.

Because burial insurance is a “guaranteed” payout (unlike car insurance, which will only pay out in the event of an accident, everyone will eventually die and collect on their burial policy), most of the costs are fixed. Your policy provider will take into account your age, your desired method of payment, and how large your payout is. From there, you will choose a policy that fits with your needs. This means that while one person (say, a 50-year-old in good health) might pay a fairly small monthly charge, another person (someone in their 70s who is a smoker) can expect larger monthly fees and even big upfront costs.

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Although it might sound preemptive and a bit macabre to plan your own funeral, this kind of advance arrangement is becoming more and more common. Not only does pre-planning a funeral allow you to have more control over what happens to your remains after you pass, but it can also save your family quite a bit of grief and money.

Planning your own funeral can be as simple as making a list of your wishes and ensuring your family knows where it is, or as complex as paying for everything in advance (even going so far as to purchase the casket or arrange every detail with the funeral home). There is no wrong way to go about it, but here are a few suggestions for getting started.

 Choose Your Final Interment Plan

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The behind-the-scenes aspect of the funeral industry is one that remains a mystery to many people. Often because we don’t care to know the gritty details of death and burial, and sometimes because we aren’t sure what kinds of questions to ask, or what funeral directors and funeral homes do to care for your loved ones isn’t always widespread knowledge.

One of the often overlooked details of burial is what happens during the winter months in colder climates, when the ground is frozen. Frozen turf is difficult (and expensive) to dig into, especially at the depth required for human burial. When combined with other harsh winter hazards like unplowed roads, unsafe driving conditions, and the snowfall on the cemetery itself, the results are not conducive to immediate burial. That’s why many of the colder states (think Alaska and North Dakota) have contingency plans in place.

Burial in Cold Climates

Few states have laws in place to regulate winter burials. Some, like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York, require burial in the winter regardless of weather conditions. Others might allow you to opt for a “cold storage” option to avoid the heavier fees of opening a grave in the winter.

In this instance, “cold storage” isn’t as terrible as it seems. Funeral directors may keep bodies in cemetery crypts or inside the funeral home until a date when the ground thaws enough to allow for burial. This practice is one that has existed for hundreds of years. If winter burials are difficult in our age of backhoes and jackhammers, it’s easy to imagine how hard it would have been in centuries past. And because older generations didn’t have access to morgues and other indoor body storage options, it was common to keep bodies in a crypt until spring.

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Funeral costs are a real concern for most families facing the death and burial of a loved one. At a time when stress and anxiety are already higher than average, knowing that you will be expected to pay out thousands of dollars to provide a fitting farewell can prove difficult.

While more and more families are preparing for this eventuality with funeral pre-paid packages, there are options for those who have not planned ahead. In addition to financing a funeral, you can manage funeral costs by comparison shopping, selecting lower-cost burial alternatives, and coordinating services at the funeral home of your choice.

Online Funeral Planner Assistance

If you are preparing to plan a funeral, we suggest following this guide to estimate costs and come up with the best options for your family. Losing a loved one will always be difficult—and financing a funeral is rarely something anyone looks forward to—but with the right resources and support, you can come up with a beautiful funeral that won’t break the bank.

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In an age when everyone is trying to cut back on their expenditures, it might seem like a good idea to reduce funeral costs by choosing a discount funeral home. Traditional funerals can be quite expensive—particularly if no advance funeral arrangements were made—and the stress associated with paying for a burial among the rest of the emotional toll death takes can rapidly push a family over the edge.

Discount funeral homes exist to provide a lower-cost alternative to families who want to save money on planning a funeral. They exist in large part because funeral homes have become so corporatized in the past few decades. Discount funeral homes found a niche market among these corporations, where discounts and great customer service drive sales.

This can be good news for consumers. As is the case with any type of free market like this, funeral homes competing with one another to lower prices, provide better service, and increase your options means that you have more freedom of choice. But how far is too far?

For some families, that answer is when discount funeral homes begin to cut back on some of the more time-honored traditions that bring comfort to grieving families.

Discount Funeral Homes

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