Understand Your Options

• 1). Determine your priorities and values, as well as those of the deceased and your family, and create a funeral that reflects them. Don't include unnecessary elements just because they're expected. Making choices in accordance with the wishes of the deceased may be far less expensive than bowing to custom, tradition or other people's ideas about what's appropriate. To assist you in sorting through the many options, funeral planning kits are available from such organizations as the Funeral Consumers Alliance.
  
  
• 2). Shop around. Funeral home pricing can vary widely. You can obtain general price lists over the phone, via mail and sometimes online. Remember that you can purchase items "a la carte," and are not obligated to pay for a package deal. Read the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rules to understand your legal rights as a consumer. Ask your local funeral consumer group for low-cost recommendations.
  
  
• 3). Cut costs by thinking outside the box. Immediate burial and direct cremation are usually the least expensive options. While the living tend may think it is desirable to be buried in a sleek mahogany coffins, the dead are perfectly content with a simple pine box---or none at all. If a conventional casket is a must, you may even find one at Costco, and the the funeral home is obligated to accept it free of charge. These days, many people are opting for a "green" burial, which can include being interred in a shroud or cardboard coffin to save trees. Others choose simpler headstones, urns or cremation containers. And of course, if you opt for cremation, ashes can usually be scattered in the deceased's favorite scenic location for free.
  
  
• 4). Forego embalming. Most states only mandate it in special cases, such as if the body is not buried or cremated within a certain time. Others don't require it at all. In most instances, refrigeration is a permissible alternative. Direct cremation and immediate burial don't necessitate any preservative. And while many funeral homes suggest embalming for public viewings, it's not a legal requirement in most places. If preservation is needed, ask the mortuary if refrigeration is a possibility.
  
  
• 5). Hold the funeral at a location that hosts funerals free of charge, such as a park or other public place. You may also elect to have the funeral in a private home. Home funerals are legal throughout the United States, and most states do not require a licensed funeral director's participation. It's not necessary to conduct the funeral at a mortuary, where you must pay a premium for it.
  
  
• 6). Research veterans benefits if the deceased was a veteran, immediate family member of a veteran, public health worker or a civilian with military-related service. He may be eligible for a burial and grave marker in a national cemetery. Many states have low-cost veterans' cemeteries in which burial is free; however, the family pays all mortuary expenses and transportation to the cemetery.