Maybe I am behind the times.

[Blue_true]

Has anyone seen installment payment funerals? I was driving on a highway today and saw an ad for such a thing. That was kind of practical for some people, but also sad.

[redstatebluegirl]

1. Most funerals these days cost around $10,000.

At least that is what it cost for my MIL 2 years ago.

[Blue_true]

2. Have you seen installment payment funerals? nt.

[redstatebluegirl]

13. Yes, we did it when we pre-paid my MIL's funeral.

We paid it over a year's time.

[sarcasmo]

12. Cremation is the way to go, better for the Planet and under 2 grand.

[OldHippieChick]

3. Not everyone can afford a funeral. They can be

quite expensive. Not everyone leaves behind money for their relatives to pay for the funeral and not all survivors have credit cards that can withstand the $10K hit that an average funeral can cost. It is sad, but it's another demonstration of the haves and the have nots.

[Blue_true]

7. I agree. nt

[handmade34]

4. exploitation...

tradition... why we buy into expensive things...

in 2000 my husband then, passed away and the expense was approx. $450.

last year my dad passed away and the expense was approx. $400.

it did help that we knew it was coming in both cases and did all the planning ahead of time... and Vermont has some pretty lax laws that allowed us to do everything ourselves...

note... you can still bury on your own property (with approval) and if we are still here, my partner and I will cost next to nothing when the time comes

[Kali]

10. ...

[dameatball]

5. Call it what it is......."Lay Away!!"

[csziggy]

6. I was just reading about them the other day

While researching what the laws are for green burials on private property.

Considering how expensive traditional funerals are and how little most people have on hand, it's not surprising that funeral homes have extended credit to families so they can take care of their loved ones. The last two friends of mine who have died were both cremated, but even that was a financial stress on the families.

Cremations now run around $1000 or more. One friend's wife got his Veteran death benefit which got her a little over $200 but she had to come up with the rest of the money. The other family shopped around and found a crematorium ninety miles away that only charged $750 including transport but they had to scrape and ask for assistance to pay that.
The couple got $1800 a month combined Social Security incomes - now the husband gets half of that so friends donated to the cremation.

I'm planning a green burial - apparently here in Florida it is legal to simply put the body in a shroud and drop it in a hole in the ground. We've got sixty acres to pick a spot so a plot is not needed. The one thing I have not gotten clear is if Florida requires designating the burial site. I do not want a marker and the most I'd like is to have a tree planted on top of me. Florida law talks about family graveyards but not unmarked graves on private property.

[Blue_true]

8. Thanks. I live in Florida.

I am surprised about your information on burial laws here. I thought that embalment and burial in a cemetery was required. I do remember reading that former Governor and US Senator Lawton Chiles was buried in a simple pinebox, don't remember much about how his body was prepared and where he was buried. Your idea about having a tree planted over you is pretty neat, the tree can be your grave marker, especially if it is a local specie of tree that you love.

[csziggy]

9. It used to be the law that you had to be embalmed

But some time ago the laws were changed for those who have objections to that. There have always been private family graveyards where members could be buried. One of the rules is that they cannot sell plots in those and buyers have to notified of them since they are considered a cloud on the title.

Where my sister and Dad (and probably soon my Mom) are buried they require concrete vaults (to keep the water out) with full caskets, and they have strict rules about the grave markers, plantings, and urns for flowers. Dad insisted on that place since it is the main one in his town and his parents are buried there.

I don't want all that crap so I may change my directives. Right now (made before my heart surgery last fall) they say for me to be cremated, no memorial unless my husband wants to arrange it, and the ashes spread on the farm. So long as my survivors will not have legal problems I would just as soon be wrapped in a cotton sheet and that would be that!

[tammywammy]

11. My mom pre paid for her stuff in installments.

Her parents did the same, paid for everything back in the late 80s and they died 2001 and 2011. My mom has paid for her cremation and mausoleum spot already.

I know my dad has bought his grave spot, I don’t know if he’s done all the other items.

[GeorgeHayduke]

14. This got me thinking just now.

I dont even have anyone to attend my funeral let alone pay for it.

Hm.

[Blue_true]

16. Some people pointed out that funerals can be pre-paid.

But honestly, I liked the idea of simply being put in a hole in the ground wrapped in a linen sheet, at least then my body would supply nutrients to the soil immeditately instead of mummifying over centuries.

Unfortunately, I am probably going to get a full blown funeral with all the trimmings unless I can convince my really religious family to just cremate me, spread some of my ashes around my parents grave and dump the rest in a late or ocean. Like you, I have no one but paternal blood family. No wife, no kids.

[GeorgeHayduke]

18. They'll probably just

find my body on a mountain top years after I wandered away. *free*

[Blue_true]

19. LOL. If you die in peace, why not? nt

[GeorgeHayduke]

20. Right?

After my dad goes, its just me. You should see the look on my doctors face when she asks me for an "emergency contact". You can just see her trying to process the concept. Being really alone is difficult for people to comprehend.

[Blue_true]

21. You have no cousins, extended cousins?

If not, that is alone. Were you an only child?

[GeorgeHayduke]

22. I've got a cousin who dad said

Rotates regularly through jail, rehab and the ditch. That's pretty much it. Had a sister, but no longer. No word on my mom's side of the family and if you'd met my mom, youd understand why I have no problem keeping it that way. Either way, dads mind is going faster than his health, so he's only barely here.

[Orsino]

15. It's an old thing.

Maybe becoming more widespread, but poor families often pay in installments.

[Blue_true]

17. Honestly did not know that. I learned a lot from the responses. nt