Guest Author - Lili Pintea-Reed
I know this is a morbid subject, but the only certain thing in life is death. Everything else is "up for grabs" as they say here in the USA. We very recently had a relative die with no preparation for the event. And we were really stunned at how expensive even the simplest of legal burials can be. If you have the body embalmed, a viewing, and an expensive grave site and marker --- it can add up to over $10,000 dollars. Now if you live in a foreign country, or way in the back woods where you can make a nice pine box and bury a loved one under a nice tree, you can ignore this article, but the rest of us can't.
So what is the least expensive way to go?
The answer is cremation.
Now I realize some religions frown on this, so you'll have more expensive options to examine, but this is the cheapest way. My personal feeling is everyone ends up as dust anyway, so fire just speeds up the process. The cost in most states for a simple cremation is $1,200 to $1,400 dollars. Now if you skip the "viewing" and have simple memorial service this can save you the very expensive embalming fees. Again this depends on your religious beliefs and ethnic customs. The ashes can go ina simple urn. it is cheaper if you purchase one of your own, rather than pay the jacked up price for a funeral home urn.
If you want to keep your costs down you can then just strew the ashes at the memorial service, or let a relative keep the ashes in an urn.
The next most expensive solution is to put the ashes in the urn either on an existing family grave, or in one. If they open a small hole on the top of the grave to bury the urn, it costs a fee of usually around $400 dollars. This depends on the cemetary, so call ahead. And if you want an obituary for the beloved deceased you have to pay for that too. it used to be free. Most obituaries cost around $50 to $100 Dollars depending if you want to add a photo. An extensive obituary can cost $200 dollars!!!
Veterans in the USA can get s free grave in military cemeteries. And they can get a free head stone for burial at any cemetery. They also can get part of the burial costs paid. Our relative was a veteran and we were told the funeral home would have the forms we needed to apply for the benefits, but none around here did. We had to pay for the services -- and then get the Veterans forms and submit them. So it depends on your local area. Check ahead.
The link for the USA Veterans Burial Benefits is:
http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/bbene_burial.asp
To Think about these and other painful issues. Check out this site:
Funeral.org
http://www.funerals.org/
If possible please plan ahead, as this is very hard to organize in a short period of time when surrounded by grieving and distressed people. Talk to elderly or terminally ill relatives and get them to write down their burial plans. And make sure to write your plans for yourself down too!!! It isn't always as morbid as you think. I had a wonderful talk with my Mother about where she wants her ashes strewn. I hope she wrote it down, so I can honor her wishes without a big fight with relatives.
So consider this all and -- prepare!
