Burial Cost

[missionseeker]

my grandmother used to tell us "shove a hma bone up my arse and toss me out for the dogs"


we didn't do that, though.

[Archaeology cat]

I could go with that, L_D. Or cremation. I don't want a casket.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1314331539' post='2295091']
Funerals cost what they cost. I know someone who works at a funeral home. The absolute lowest you can get a funeral in our city is 8k, whether you like it or not. Those are the bare expenses. If you don't have it, the state helps.
[/quote]
That may be what it costs, but in a sane world it shouldn't cost 8k to put a man in a hole in the ground. The reason it costs that much is because even the right to bury a man is no longer a human right, only a professional right. I don't need a funeral home or a "funeral professional." Prop me up on my mother's kitchen table for a wake. 8k? Are you kidding me. There is no way they are robbing me for 8k when I am dead.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Era Might

[Era Might]

[quote name='missionseeker' timestamp='1314348550' post='2295137']
my grandmother used to tell us "shove a hma bone up my arse and toss me out for the dogs"


we didn't do that, though.
[/quote]
LOL. Your grandmother sounds amesome.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1314334707' post='2295108']
First off, I am not going to have a casket because I'm being cremated.

My dad was buried 25 years ago this month. He and my mom had already purchased their plots, and the concrete liners. His grave marker was paid for by the government because he was a veteran. Even with the big stuff already paid for, his funeral cost over $10,000. They charged $1500 extra for the embalming because he had been autopsied. Oh yeah, they wouldn't touch him until the money was paid up front. Pre-arrangement cuts the price in half, but it is still insanely expensive.
[/quote]

we've buried my brother---he needed an autopsy, but he was law enforcement, so his fellow brothers helped us pay for his funeral. His funeral wasn't so expensive.

we've buried my mom, her funeral was less expensive because we didn't embalm her. If you can go with burying your loved one within 36 hours of their deaths, funeral expenses aren't so high. I really like L_D's idea, except I already bought my grave

[LaPetiteSoeur]

I already told my parents I want a trappist casket. Not that they'll be alive when I die (hopefully not, at least), but I thought they should know. And in my family, we have two tombs (yeah, in the South, especially the Gulf States, family tombs are popular because of hurricanes and floods), so if I don't enter a religious order, I'm above ground, in my trappist casket, in the family tomb.

I don't know how environmentally "green" a family tomb is, but my family's been buried there since the 1880s, so I guess I kind of have to be with the rest of the fam, at least "physically" when I'm dead.

I do know some funeral homes bury children free of charge. One funeral I worked with when I worked for the Church did 2-3 burials of BABIES every week, sometimes more. They do it for free though, as it affects everyone there a crazy amount and couldn't dream of making parents, most of whom are impoverished anyway, pay to bury a child.

But funerals are expensive. Cantors, organists, altar servers, it adds up. Priests don't usually get paid, at least in my home parish that's the policy. We like to say you can "be born, married, and buried" for free, at least the church part.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' timestamp='1314342690' post='2295127']
I want to do this thing where you're buried in a forest with nothing more than the nearest tree to mark your grave. Your body isn't embalmed beforehand and environmentally hazardous things such as dental amalgam are removed before burial. You're basically composted in the soil by the same kinds of microbes that do it up in the home compost pile. Kind of cool. I just can't roll with the conventional burial industry, it doesn't make sense to me.

Some natural burial or "green burial" places allow small and discreet stone markers. Personally, I like the thought of a tree. While it won't last as long as etched stone, I'm sure it will outlive my memory anyhow. I don't need a monument.
[/quote]
Maybe we could turn Mars into a colony for corpses, kinda like Australia was a colony for prisoners.

[CatherineM]

If people truly knew what was involved in embalming, no one would have it done. My first choice would be cremation, then cement reef ball. The Church doesn't allow that, so into a niche we will go. I love the idea of a green funeral, but they aren't legal here.

[img]http://reefbuilders.com/files/2010/04/burial-at-sea-reef-ball-1.jpg[/img]

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1314368053' post='2295171']
Maybe we could turn Mars into a colony for corpses, kinda like Australia was a colony for prisoners.
[/quote]
So long as Mars doesn't become the planet of the undead by accident. *scared*


[quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1314374561' post='2295192']
If people truly knew what was involved in embalming, no one would have it done. My first choice would be cremation, then cement reef ball. The Church doesn't allow that, so into a niche we will go. I love the idea of a green funeral, but they aren't legal here.

[img]http://reefbuilders.com/files/2010/04/burial-at-sea-reef-ball-1.jpg[/img]
[/quote]
Being turned into a coral reef? That's pretty sweet.

[homeschoolmom]

Then there's this:[url="http://www.lifegem.com/"] LifeGems[/url] . I have no idea what they do with the rest of you, though... I suppose just let you blow in the wind....

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' timestamp='1314377699' post='2295250']
Then there's this:[url="http://www.lifegem.com/"] LifeGems[/url] . I have no idea what they do with the rest of you, though... I suppose just let you blow in the wind....
[/quote]

creepy.

[missionseeker]

Can you imagine losing one of things? That would be awful.

[faithcecelia]

God willing, I know exactly where I will end up, and exactly what clothes I will be buried in, and what I will be buried holding.

[MissyP89]

My parents have very specific wishes, but I can't follow them because the Church says no scattering ashes...

[add]

flowers, the box, the marker, the plot, the wake and the one-way ride to the cemetery ran over 12k, it was worth every cent! it was a small price to pay for the love of my life.

You know, money isn't everything!

~ there's nothing fun about a FUNeral

Edited August 27, 2011 by add