Ways to Save on Funeral Costs

Funeral costs these days are costly affairs. If you don’t know about the many ways you can cut costs, you might have to pay 25, 26 to $30 000 for a funeral. This alarming information comes straight from the National Funeral Directors Association. Some of the most basic funerals can cost about $2,000, and this is a sum that many people can ill afford. Clearly, we need ways to save on funeral costs.

Having some funeral- or cash plan can be a wise choice. For a small sum of money each month, you can ensure a decent funeral for yourself or a family member.

Apart from families grieving the passing of a loved one, they have to add another form of grief to the mix – not having the financial means to pay for a funeral. There are so many small details added to a funeral that people don’t even think about them. Only when they start planning a funeral, do alarm bells start ringing, as the costs start adding up.

Shop around and compare products and prices. There are some comparison websites dedicated to helping people find cheap, quality funeral services.
Plan ahead – to avoid higher-cost funeral expenses, look at pre-paid funeral plans that lock in today’s prices for tomorrow’s funerals.
Embalming isn’t mandatory – it’s a choice.
Choose simple, eco-friendly coffins instead of huge, expensive coffins. With a memorial service, nobody is going to see the coffin and that removes the pressure of keeping up with the Joneses.
Maybe you could look at a direct cremation. You simply need to provide a cardboard coffin that costs next to nothing. If you insist on having a ‘fancy’ looking coffin, you don’t have to buy it from a funeral home. There are many on-line stores where you can pick up a real bargain with shipping included.

More Ways to Save on Funeral Costs

To save costs, you can donate your body to a medical school. The medical school will transport the body to their facility directly after death. Some medical schools will even organise a memorial service for the family at a later date.
Have you considered the sheer affordability of having a home funeral? Yes, believe it or not, there are some states where it is quite legal to say your farewells at home. You will need to get the death certificate from the doctor, but apart from that, you can even take the body yourself to its final resting place. You can save yourself a small fortune by doing this.

Some people are amazed when they hear that the median cost of a funeral is in the region of $8 000. Many times they don’t realise that there are other expenses that they will likely have to face which they haven’t taken into account. Apart from a plot in a cemetery costing in the region of $2 000, most people don’t realise that the cemetery will charge an additional $1 000 to open and close the plot as well. So there are many ‘hidden’ costs.

Ways to Save on Funeral Costs

The costs of funerals and products will be lower or higher depending on where you live. It is always best to compare prices for funeral homes near you and to glean as much information as you can.

MarketWatch is a useful online tool. They have millions of visitors each month looking for useful information on personal finance, investment tools and business news. They want to show you that it is possible to plan an affordable, dignified funeral.

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All info was correct at time of publishing