💰 Money-Saving Secrets for Funeral Planning

A helpful guide curated by the online community of💚 The Modern Mortician

I asked my facebook community for their money-saving secrets they'd pass along to a friend planning a funeral, and after over 100 comments and one month, here's what they said:

🏆 Most Popular Tips

1️⃣ Pre-plan, but think carefully before pre-paying.
Use a trust, insurance, or POD account instead of paying a single funeral home directly.

2️⃣ Shop around & compare General Price Lists.
If a funeral home does not have their prices online, request it emailed. Ask what’s legally required vs. what’s just policy.

3️⃣ Bring your own casket or urn.
It’s your right under the FTC Funeral Rule. 🪦 Titan, Costco, Walmart, eBay, Amazon, or local makers can save thousands.

4️⃣ Skip embalming when not required.
Refrigeration or quick timelines can do the trick.

5️⃣ Choose simple disposition.
💧Direct cremation or 🌱green burial both save money and the planet.

6️⃣ Avoid fancy vaults or gasketed caskets.
Nothing is waterproof, and a basic liner works fine.

7️⃣ Remember: Price ≠ Love.
A meaningful goodbye doesn’t require overspending. ❤️

💡 Mid-Level Tips

 ✨ DIY where you can: write the obituary, use a blanket instead of flowers, host at home or in a church.
✨ Consider body donation: many programs cover transport & cremation entirely.
✨ Ask: “Show me where this is required by law.”
✨ Use direct cremation providers or cremation societies.
✨ Home or backyard burials may be legal, check your state codes.

📋 Pro Tips & Lesser-Known Savings

 💎 Buy headstones from the vendor directly and skip the commission; programs & guest books can be found at Craft Stores, or on Etsy or Canva.
💎 Avoid Saturday Services (some homes charge $500+ more).
💎 Don’t order an abundance of death certificates, discuss immediate need, you can request more later.
💎 Religious or community burial groups often help families for free or low-cost.
💎 If prepaying, make it irrevocable to protect it from Medicaid or lawsuits.

😄 Humor & Perspective

🪦 “Don’t die.”
        — Still the cheapest funeral plan known to man.

⚰️ “Live forever, your family might not appreciate the inconvenience.”

💀 “If you’re planning your own funeral, you’re already ahead of the game, literally.”

🌿 “He wanted a burial at sea… so we flushed his ashes in the guest bathroom.”

🕯️ “Nothing says ‘I loved you’ like a $12,000 mahogany box you’ll never see again.”

🪺 “Skip the casket, throw me in a ditch. At least I’ll finally be organic.”

🛠️ “DIY funeral? Just don’t use duct tape. That’s not what they meant by ‘closure.’”

👻 “Remember, the dead don’t care, but your wallet does.”

💸 “You can’t take it with you, but you can make sure your family keeps theirs.”

🌸 “Love isn’t measured in lilies and lace; it’s measured in the laughter left behind.”

🌎 “Green burial: because even in death, you can still go green before you go gray.”

😇 “Write your wishes down now, because haunting your relatives later is such bad manners.”

🧾 “Ask to see the price list, not the priest list.”

🪦 “Don’t let guilt write the check. Grief’s expensive enough already.”

🐕 “And if all else fails, just have the dog scatter your ashes at the park. He’ll know what to do.”