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Budget-Friendly Funeral Planning to Honor Your Loved One Affordably

By: Shelley Frost • Edited by: Katelynne Shepard • Subject Matter Expert Reviewed by: Jennifer Wills • 3 cited sources • Updated Oct 14, 2024

Planning a funeral comes with a heavy emotional weight, whether you’re making arrangements for a loved one who passed or future plans for the end of your own life. Funerals and memorial services often carry a significant financial toll as well. With proper planning, though, you can save on funeral costs without sacrificing dignity and respect. Follow these tips for planning a funeral on a budget to honor your loved one affordably. 

Key Takeaways

• Funerals generally cost thousands of dollars, with cremation being more affordable than burial.
• Immediate/direct cremation or burial eliminates embalming costs. 
• Alternative services and memorials often save money. 

Preplanning a Funeral or Memorial Can Help You Save on Costs

By researching your options for funeral arrangements and comparing prices, you can plan a budget-friendly memorial service for yourself. Plus, you ensure your loved ones honor your wishes without making them guess what you want. 

Funeral planning after a loved one dies could lead to rushed decisions. You might choose the first funeral home you think of without comparing pricing and services. Loved ones might make rash decisions out of grief rather than practicality. 

The amount you spend on a funeral does not reflect your feelings about the deceased or the meaningfulness of the ceremony. You can create a beautiful tribute while minimizing costs. What matters is that the ceremony reflects the person’s life and offers an opportunity to grieve their loss with others.

Jennifer Wills, Former Licensed Financial Coach

When you preplan your funeral arrangements, you can prepay, which eases the financial burden at the time of the funeral. However, it’s important to protect yourself financially. Each state creates individual laws regarding prepaying for funeral expenses, some providing more protection than others^[1]. For instance, some states utilize state-regulated trusts to hold the money you prepay. 

Ask questions before prepaying funeral costs, such as:

• Where the money goes
• What happens to interest made off the money
• What happens if the company goes out of business
• Refund options if you cancel

Shop Around and Compare Costs of Vendors

To save on funeral costs, consider all the vendor options. While pricing is often similar within the same geographic location, you’ll likely find some variation. Expand your search to nearby cities, especially if you plan to hold the funeral services at a different location. 

Under its Funeral Rule, the Federal Trade Commission requires funeral service providers to give you pricing information on the phone and provide an itemized general price list with costs for all services and goods they offer when you visit the funeral home^[2]. You must also receive a written list of the total funeral costs of all the items you choose before paying. These requirements make it easier to compare pricing for different funeral services in your area. 

Buy Your Own Casket

The traditional route for buying a casket is choosing one offered by the funeral home. It’s a convenient option because you’re already there planning the funeral arrangements.

However, funeral homes often show you the most expensive models first, knowing consumers are more likely to go with one of the first three they see^[2]. Funeral homes are required to show you a casket pricing list before you see any models, so request to see the lower-priced options from that list.

Another option is buying a casket from another vendor, which allows for competitively priced options that fit your budget better. The Funeral Rule allows you to use a casket you buy without being charged a fee by the funeral home^[2]. 

Choose Cremation Over a Formal Burial

The median cost for a funeral with a casket and burial in 2023 was $8,300, while a funeral with cremation came with a median cost of $6,280^[3]. With a median savings of over $2,000, cremation can help you stick to your budget better than a formal burial. Talking to your loved ones before you need to make this decision ensures your wishes are respected when it comes to cremation versus burial. 

Consider Direct Cremation or an Immediate Burial

When you choose traditional cremation, the funeral home embalms the body for viewing and funeral services. The cremation process happens after the service. You also typically rent a casket to use for the funeral services. 

A direct cremation, or immediate cremation, means the body is cremated quickly after death without embalming or a viewing. Eliminating the embalming costs and fees associated with preparing a body for a service allows for a more affordable funeral. The median fee for the embalming costs alone in 2023 was $845^[3].

An immediate burial, or a direct burial, is a similar process. Instead of embalming and holding a service with the body, the burial takes place shortly after death. This option allows for a simple, more affordable casket because it won’t be on display. While these options don’t allow for a viewing or service with the body present, you can still honor your loved one with a memorial.

Plan a Memorial Service Without the Body

A memorial service without the body present eliminates several funeral expenses, including embalming, refrigeration, and transportation. It also allows you to choose a more affordable casket or container option.

Memorial services are also more flexible because you’re not confined to a traditional funeral home or religious institution. Scheduling is easier if you need to delay the services. Consider how you can best honor your loved one. Some ideas include:

• Plant a memorial tree or garden.
• Assemble a memory capsule with guests contributing letters or items.
• Attend an event or activity your loved one enjoyed, such as a baseball game or musical.
• Take a trip to your loved one’s favorite location.
• Open up the microphone to let guests share memories, poems, or songs.
• Organize a fundraiser that’s meaningful for your loved one.
• Complete an item from your loved one’s bucket list.
• Hold a themed service based on their interests or passions.

Host a DIY Funeral

Funeral homes offer convenient all-in-one services, often coordinating all aspects of the funeral, from flowers and transportation to officiants and musicians. However, that convenience means you might pay more for various services depending on the vendors they use. Funeral homes also have the option to charge an extra fee for arranging those goods and services.

Instead, consider planning the funeral yourself and finding your preferred vendors. This gives you more control of the budget. It also eliminates the pressure from a funeral director to choose lots of unnecessary services. 

Donate Your Body to Science

Some people choose to donate their bodies to science instead of holding a traditional funeral service. Medical schools often accept body donations, but you typically have to register before you pass away. The terms vary by program, but the organization typically handles the cremation, including the costs, and returns the remains to the family up to 2 years later. 

You may still incur some costs. Some programs require you to pay for the transportation of the body. You also have to pay to file a death certificate. If you hold a memorial service without the body, you’ll have expenses associated with that event. Research the costs and what the organization will do with the body before you agree. 

Honor Your Loved One in an Affordable, Meaningful Way

Planning a funeral on a budget allows you to honor your loved one meaningfully without added financial stress. Prepare ahead of time when possible and take your time exploring the options at the time of funeral planning. When you focus on celebrating your loved one, you can put together a meaningful service that’s also affordable.

Written by Shelley Frost

Shelley Frost holds a degree in education and has amassed a diverse writing portfolio primarily covering business, marketing, home improvement and senior living topics. Before moving to full-time freelancing, she worked in insurance, software testing and education, giving her a broad range of real-world skills to apply to her writing. She prides herself on her creativity and ability to capture the voice of each client. In her free time, Shelley enjoys decorating cakes, gardening, crafting, traveling and attending her kids' many school activities.

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Edited by Katelynne Shepard

Katelynne Shepard is a writer, editor and SME who is proficient at crafting and reviewing content. She has been a full-time copywriter and editor since 2011 and has written content for Fortune 500 companies, independent law firms, indie publishers, small-business owners and mainstream websites. She specializes in parenting, lifestyle, family law, personal injury, criminal law, immigration law, astrology, personal finance, education and health care. In addition to thousands of e-commerce product and category descriptions, Verle's work includes SEO blogs, social media posts and long-form informational articles.

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Subject Matter Expert Jennifer Wills

Jennifer Wills is a finance SME with 12 years of experience as a licensed financial coach. She used her expertise and insurance and securities licensing to create customized plans to help families become properly protected, debt-free, and financially independent. When the time came for a career change, Jennifer used her skills and experience to build a freelance writing business. She started writing blog posts for an accounting and finance staffing agency and later wrote articles for Investopedia. Today, Jennifer writes content for clients in 75+ industries. In her downtime, she enjoys spending time with friends and traveling.