What does the average funeral cost these days?

A few thou if you want to keep it cheap. Cremation is about $1000 give or take. Fancy caskets are a waste of money, IMHO, as they just go in the ground or get burned up.

Throw me in a paupers grave. It just costs too darned much. When my mom died, just for her to be cremated cost me R5000.00. No funeral. My mom was ‘driving’ all over town as I moved her a few times. Due to better deals.

She would have totally loved that. She was a party animal.

I think we should still be able to bury our dead at home or do our own cremations.
“Oh, yeah, that smoke, it’s the Smiths next door burning their grandmother.” lol
Now if I could just be buried with a cool rock painted with some clever little saying, like my old pet cemetary friends that would be ideal. Of course keeping my body in the wheelbarrow in the garage for a few extra days during stormy weather might be a challenge, considering I am quite a bit larger than a dead cat and my shroud would need to cover more than a cheap beach towel.

Also considering the amount of whining my daughter did when I asked her to help me dig a grave for the last dear departed kitty pal over here, well…I am pretty sure that if her unwillingness to help dig a 2×2 grave for the cat was an issue, most likely I would become a mummy in the wheelbarrow.

For a conventional funeral—memorial service and graveyard burial—the cost starts at about $11K-$12K with some startling annual inflation. If someone’s wants that sort of final care, the person can lock-in the price by signing a contract and funding an irrevocable trust inter vivos.

I’ve never investigated cremation costs. I know that they’re much less expensive than traditional burials—for starters, the family rents, rather than buys, a coffin! This is why cremations become more popular during difficult economic times.

@PaulSadieMartin Holy crap. I think I’ll just crawl out into the woods and let the coyotes dispose of my remains.

Dig a ditch and throw me in any time, even being tossed in the sea would do. What a waste of money for those left behind!

I saw something on my FB the other day, I think it was from Huff Post, that more and more people are doing home funerals lately. It seems kind of creepy, IMHO.