How To Minimize The Cost Of The Funeral You Are Planning
If you are in charge of planning a funeral and you want to minimize the cost of it, you will need to check out the following helpful suggestions.
Shop Elsewhere For Caskets
You do not have to automatically purchase the casket through the funeral home that will be handling the service for you. You can shop around online or even in the local sales advertisements in order to get the best deal. Look for casket manufacturing companies that sell their product directly to the public for a discounted price. You will also want to look for any private sellers that may have pre-purchased their own casket for their future funeral in order to save money. However, they need to sell their casket for whatever reason and you may be able to purchase it for a price that is much lower than the regular retail price, since you will have the option of haggling over the final price.
Skip The Additional Viewing Days
Since you pay for the price of the room each day you reserve it for a viewing, you might want to skip out on reserving it for additional days beyond the day of the service. Simply allow friends and family a few hours before the service begins to come pay their final respects in order to save the most amount of money. Just make sure that you are explaining to everyone that this will be the only time for a viewing so that they can adjust their schedules accordingly so they do not miss their chance to visit the funeral home.
Shop For A Discounted Headstone
First, you will want to find out how much time the cemetery allows before you have to have a headstone in place. Some cemeteries do not care if it takes you years to find the perfect grave marker. Other cemeteries may have stricter rules that require you to have a headstone in place within a certain amount of time. It is important to know how much time you have to work with so you can find the best deal. Once you know that, you can begin your search. Call around to the various headstone companies and ask about any discontinued or slightly chipped headstones that are being sold for a lower price than normal.
The previously mentioned tips should help you save money. You can also ask to speak to the director of the funeral home to see if he or she has any further suggestions that you can make use of.
