the Cost of Funeral Homes

The $4500 in this case includes the transportation of the deceased (my grandmother) to the funeral home from the hospital, embalming, hair and makeup, casket, spray of flowers, a day for viewing, transporation of the deceased to the cemetary for graveside services, opening and closing the grave, a ledger to record visitors and food items brought, ink pens for the ledgers, a full color booklet of the floral arrangements sent as well as who sent them, and engraving of dates on an existing headstone. The cemetary plot was already purchased ages ago and the headstone was a double one that had been put in place when my grandfather died. We used my grandmother's own clothes. We paid for the clergy ourselves, separate from the funeral home.

The funeral home was very professional, kind and courteous. Although they had representatives present at the actual graveside service, they were extremely unobtrusive, passing out programs and then blending into the background. They were quick to offer condolences at the end of the service and urged us to spend as much time as we wanted to, visiting with other family and friends that showed up. There was no pressure to "hurry up" so we'd be out of their way.

Funerals are expensive. There are many ways to cut costs, if you are up to negotiating. We could have had the hair and makeup done by a family member that is a licensed cosmotologist, had we just asked her. This would've taken some money off. We had already prepared an obituary, so we didn't have to pay extra for someone else to design one.

We could've spent more or less on the casket. Don't let your grief and/or guilt dictate your choices. Take into consideration the deceased's beliefs and feelings. In our case, we knew that my grandmother didn't want a huge ordeal made of her death as she said, "If they didn't come see me while I was alive, I don't want them gawking at me when I'm dead." This made it much easier to turn down some of the very expensive, unnecessary options.