If you have a sick or older friend or relative who might be passing away soon, you may be wondering what to do if they don't have any life insurance. Funerals cost thousands of dollars and you may not be able to come up with that much money for a burial. However, you still want to respectfully honor your dear one. The solution might be to go with cremation, such as with Union Funeral Home-Lytwyn & Lytwyn, and then host your own memorial service. Here's why this is less expensive yet still respectful.
Preparing The Body Costs Less
When your loved one is cremated, they don't have to be embalmed. There is a waiting period for legal reasons and then cremation can be done in an affordable disposable casket. This eliminates the need for an expensive casket that's required for a burial. There might be additional costs added on for transportation too. Many funeral homes don't actually have crematories. Your loved one may need to be sent across town or even to a larger city to undergo the process and then driven back to the funeral home of your choice. For this reason, when cost is a concern, you may want to choose a facility that can perform the cremation on site so there is no travel cost to pay. Besides paying for the actual cremation, you'll also need to buy an urn to store the ashes. There is a wide price range on urns just as there is for caskets, but even so, they only cost a fraction of the price of a casket. Other expenses that may be tacked onto the base price of a cremation include copies of death certificates. If you'll be responsible for notifying banks, credit card companies, and other institutions of the death, you'll need several of those and it is more convenient to get death certificate copies from the cremation facility or funeral home than it is to deal with getting them from the health department later. Cremation prices vary, but even the most expensive are much less than what you pay for a traditional burial.
Hosting Your Own Memorial Service Saves Money
Once you've received the ashes of your dear one, you can plan the memorial in a way that honors them most. You don't have to hold the service in a funeral home unless that is your wish. Instead, you could hold the service in your church, a park, or even your home. All that's really necessary is that friends and family gather to remember the person and say their last goodbyes. If you ask a minister to officiate or if you want to hold the service in a church, you should offer to pay something even if a cost is not requested up front. If you hold the service in your home and have your friends and family speak, then there will be no cost at all for the memorial.
The final step is to deal with the ashes. You could pay for a spot in a mausoleum, but that isn't necessary. Some people like to keep the ashes in their home. Others spread them in a place the deceased person would approve of, such as a beach or shady park. Just be sure you understand local regulations on how you can spread ashes, so you don't accidentally break any laws.
Share7 June 2017
Hi everyone, my name is Sari Blakenship. My first time visiting a funeral home was an extremely comforting experience. Although I was blindsided by the death of my loved one, the funeral director helped me through the planning process without taking advantage of my grief. I was allowed to work at my own pace to cope with the grief in a healthy way. I was never rushed or pressured, despite the necessary timeline. Whenever I couldn't move forward, the funeral director held my hand and offered words of comfort. I would like to share each step of the funeral planning process to help others through this difficult process. Planning a funeral takes a lot of thought and time during a particularly difficult period. Please visit whenever you need a hand.