The pure irony around funerals is that despite the fact that all of us will have to leave this earth at some point not many people pay attention to the finer details of their funeral.
In the end, the details are handled by a grief-stricken family who struggle to come up with ideas and ways to honor the death of a loved one. If you are going out, you should probably go out in style relieving your family of the stress of planning and making decisions.
While a lot of people are willing to have conversations around death and funerals they are less willing to walk the talk and make proper preparations for the inevitable. The numbers certainly add up with a study by the Funeral and Memorial Information Centre showing that only 17% of respondents who were part of a poll about planning a funeral had actually made preparations.
Planning for your funeral service and setting up how you want to be remembered is simply a product of smart decisions, honest conversations and the right team. It is as easy as five steps to the perfect funeral and memorial all rolled in one.
Get informed
The first step to planning the funeral you deserve is to get information from the right places. You would need to find out everything you need to know from how the corpse will be handled, options for internment and what kind of ceremony you want to create.
All this information at once can be overwhelming, this is why a guide to all the things to check off your list is more than helpful
Prepare resources
A funeral can prove to be a very costly affair and you want to be sure that you are not putting financial pressure on the loved ones you leave behind.
The smart thing to do is to draw up a list of potential service providers and start setting aside money. This nest egg will help to cover for expenses when they come up and save your loved ones the pressure of raising money to offset funeral expenses.
Shop around
While it might seem like a touch and go situation when planning a funeral, there are a lot of expenses that fit into the overall funeral budget. This shopping guide gives you a practical approach to expenses and what you need to splash the cash on when planning a funeral.
The key is to never fall for the first quote, get different prices around funeral homes and service providers, this extra effort is easily the difference between getting value for your money and ending off ripped off.
Strip it down
Package deals are great, they pack so much into one amazing deal and make it seem like you are making a smart money decision. However, a lot of these deals are also overpriced and when you breakdown the expenses, you find out that you could have gotten a better deal by contacting individual vendors.
From caskets to flowers and everything else, there are great standalone deals waiting for you.
Sealed and Delivered
All of your hard work does not carry any weight if nobody remembers your instructions. Planning a funeral to prevent this from happening, the last step is to write down your wishes in detail.
More importantly, have an open discussion with your friends and family sharing your thoughts for the funeral service as well as options available
Conversations around your funeral are not dark or creepy, if anything they are smart, helping you prepare for how your life, memories and accomplishments would be celebrated. By committing to planning today, you ensure that your wishes are brought to life even when you are long gone.
