When a loved one dies, the last thing you’ll want to think about are the financial obligations associated with their death. But for many people, especially those who lose a loved one suddenly or at a younger age, there might not have been a life insurance policy or other funds available to pay for these services. In situations like this, it’s wise to try to find ways to save money on these funeral costs.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for planning an inexpensive funeral service.
Don’t Hold Services At The Funeral Home
While a funeral home can make a lot of your funeral services easier to manage, they can also make them more expensive than if you’re able to find other arrangements. So if there are things that you outsource to other providers, consider looking into this.
One of the things you might want to do to save considerable costs is find an alternative location for the actual funeral services to be held. If you have access to a church or other location that can accommodate the number of people attending the service, you could save a lot of money by holding the services there. And if there’s a place that’s particularly meaningful to the deceased, holding services there could also make the funeral special and personal.
Learn What You Can Do On Your Own
There are other things about funeral services that you might be able to do on your own rather than relying on a funeral home to handle for you.
While the funeral home you’re using might encourage you to use them for everything related to the funeral services, you can do things like buying or making your own casket, getting floral arrangements from another business, and managing other day-of events on your own. While taking care of all of these moving parts can be hard, if you’re worried about money, you can save by doing more on your own.
Don’t Pay For Things You Don’t Want Or Need
If you’re looking to make things as easy as possible for you, you might be tempted to purchase a package deal from the funeral home you’re working with. However, these packages usually include things that you ordinarily wouldn’t think you or your loved one would want or need. So rather than going this way, make sure you’re only paying for what you want or need.
In many cases, embalming isn’t necessary for the body. Additionally, making upgrades to the casket can be expensive without really offering anything you need. So before you accept the bill from the funeral home, make sure you see an itemized list of what you’re paying for so you can determine if you actually want or need that thing.
If you’re needing to plan a respectable yet inexpensive funeral, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you see how this can be done.