Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
Aug 9th 2007, 11:50 am
#46
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2006
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 387
Re: Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
My grandfather passed away last month and I was amazed at how expensive the funeral costs were. It turns out the insurance my grandparents had taken out to cover funeral expenses only kicks in when they both die... a bitch of a time to learn this 24 hours after a bereavement (Gran is still very much alive!). Dying is expensive, wherever you are, and probably best avoided.
Aug 9th 2007, 11:58 am
#47
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 22,220
Re: Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
This just convinces me more that I am ****ed if I am going to die here. I will get my boy to knock up a coffin out of a couple of old speaker boxes and a bit of plywood and get them to put me on a bonfire with a gallon of 4 star. Leave them a few grand in my will for a bloody good piss up with a DJ and karaoke, not one of those morbidly silent, curly cardboard sandwich miserable funerals. I want people to wake up the day after my funeral and call in to work sick with a hangover and a smile from ear to ear.
Aug 9th 2007, 12:14 pm
#48
Unmitigated Gall
Joined: Dec 2006
Location: it's still too dark to tell
Posts: 16,162
Aug 10th 2007, 3:39 am
#51
Concierge
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 46,468
Re: Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
MY FIL passed away last year. My husband is one of six kids, but suddenly none of his siblings had any money to help pay for the funeral. Not wanting to upset his mother any more than she already was, we ended up paying for everything - top of the line coffin, a concrete box on the outside of the coffin, so the coffin itself wouldn't rot (!!!), plus the wake and funeral - a tidy $30,000 when all was said and done. Complete insanity.
Now that is f'ing outrageous. The person is gone to their final reward. Who is going to be digging him up to see if the casket has rotten or not and besides the is that what the body is suppose to do, rot and become part of the eco-system, i.e. dust to dust?
We buried my father on April 2 and his funeral was lovely with a one day wake, decent casket, no graveliner, grave opened and closed (charge for that) and for all for under $5,000. and that included transporting the body by hearst from one state to another state (70 miles).
Aug 10th 2007, 3:42 am
#52
Concierge
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 46,468
Re: Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
At least the bag can't wind up in a garage sale like a husband's first wife's ashes did. It seems the second wife didn't realize that wife #1 was in a ceramic turtle and she sold it for 25 cents at their garage sale.
Aug 10th 2007, 3:49 am
#53
Concierge
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 46,468
Re: Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
Didn't your FIL have life insurance? That is what it is used for. If you have a policy the beneficiary will guarantee payment when the policy funds are received. Have been there and done that with a significant other years ago.
Hopefully, your MIL will go and plan her funeral soon and pay for it upfront so that this does not occur again.
Aug 10th 2007, 4:25 am
#55
Account Closed
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 700
Re: Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
Now that is f'ing outrageous. The person is gone to their final reward. Who is going to be digging him up to see if the casket has rotten or not and besides the is that what the body is suppose to do, rot and become part of the eco-system, i.e. dust to dust?
We buried my father on April 2 and his funeral was lovely with a one day wake, decent casket, no graveliner, grave opened and closed (charge for that) and for all for under $5,000. and that included transporting the body by hearst from one state to another state (70 miles).
We buried my father on April 2 and his funeral was lovely with a one day wake, decent casket, no graveliner, grave opened and closed (charge for that) and for all for under $5,000. and that included transporting the body by hearst from one state to another state (70 miles).
Aug 10th 2007, 5:04 am
#56
Pom tiddly pom
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Plano, TX
Posts: 134
Re: Outrageous Cost Of Funerals - $10,000!
My thoughts on this, for what they are worth, is that funerals are actually for the living, those left behind, to remember and grieve the person they've just lost. What, after all, do the dead care?
Therefore, I think when planning funeral 'demands' we shouldn't use wills or similar to dictate how expensive the coffin is, and leave the remaining family broke & feeling like crap if they can't manage it/resent it.
I definitely think we are all entitled to request certain preferences like cremation, burial, eco-friendly, etc, but I don't think you have the right to make everyone jump through hoops -- especially with expense -- if it won't help them with their grieving & it will put strain on them. I've experienced this, and it's not pretty.
I've also experienced the fact that it's those who are left behind have the hard job -- coping.
Therefore, I think when planning funeral 'demands' we shouldn't use wills or similar to dictate how expensive the coffin is, and leave the remaining family broke & feeling like crap if they can't manage it/resent it.
I definitely think we are all entitled to request certain preferences like cremation, burial, eco-friendly, etc, but I don't think you have the right to make everyone jump through hoops -- especially with expense -- if it won't help them with their grieving & it will put strain on them. I've experienced this, and it's not pretty.
I've also experienced the fact that it's those who are left behind have the hard job -- coping.
