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The Cost of a Funeral - Don't Go Broke
by Organizing a Funeral
By Zoltan Zongora
If you are in the States you might have noticed that
funeral costs have been increasing every single year.
Actually this is true not only in the USA but everywhere
around the world. You can get a funeral organized for
over $5,000 and that is on a budget. If you want a
proper funeral, it might cost you up to $10,000 or even
more, and that is the truth.
There are many things that need to be considered when
organizing a funeral for a loved deceased person. The
purchase of a headstone, the actual place in the
cemetery, the casket, the ceremony, viewing and many
other things, are all factored in when it comes to
receiving the final bill from the funeral home. And that
will not be cheap. In order to be better prepared and
know what to expect when the worst happens, here is a
small breakdown of the common items to be included and a
generic cost for each.
Most funeral services are held in a funeral home and the
director can be the actual owner or an employee of the
establishment. So basically his profits are based on how
much he can make from the family during a funeral. If
he's an employee, his commission will be directly
proportional to how much he sells, just like in any
other business. Because don't get me wrong, this is a
business for them, even though for you it is very
personal.
Besides the funeral home, a headstone must be purchased
from a dealer and the cemetery plot must be also bought.
This means that you will be purchasing services and
items from 3 different companies, even if the funeral
director offers to coordinate the entire service from
start to finish. As his main goal is to raise profits to
the funeral home, he will try to sell you as many
services and items as possible, even if some of them you
might not need at all. This is why it is important to
know exactly what you want to go for, without buying
into unneeded extras. The minimum that you really need
are these: a casket, the services of the funeral
director, the preparation of the body (and embalming if
it's required), the ceremony and viewing, the various
certificates that need to be create for the sad
occasion, the cemetery plot, the digging the grave, the
headstone and a grave marker and basically that's it.
Anything more than this is really extra that you simply
don't need.
With a good funeral planning, however, you can reduce
your total expenses to less than $5,000 easily. All you
need is to write a list upfront and ask exact costs from
the funeral director and everyone else involved. If they
try to upsell you on anything, you have to be firm and
decline. You might get a feeling of guilt that you are
not giving everything the deceased should be getting,
but never forget that the funeral service is not really
for the deceased. It is for the living who need to get
solace and closure.
Every funeral service needs flowers for funeral. If you
are unable to attend, you can use a sympathy flower
delivery service who will easily send the flower wreath
either to the family or the funeral home directly. |
