Talking about funerals is not easy. It’s actually a very difficult conversation to have when you are planning your own funeral in advance! You don’t want to bring down your family and friends, but your wishes are important and if you don’t plan your funeral in advance, you might find that you are going to end up with what you didn’t want. Of course, you won’t care much because you’ll be dead, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t pre-plan your funeral and know that you’ve given your family members peace of mind.
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That level of peace is something you can lean into, especially if you aren’t even sick. Perfectly healthy people choose to plan out whether they have a burial or they choose niche plaques as part of their cremation. You don’t have to feel ashamed of this conversation and you don’t have to feel scared about it. Funerals are GOING to happen and being in control of yours can make all the difference to how you feel. So, with that in mind, here are the top reasons you should choose to pre-plan your funeral.
- You can save some money. Saving money for your family and friends may be important to you, but you’re also going to save yourself some money. By planning your funeral now, you can avoid those expenses down the road. Funerals and cremations are inevitable expenses, and you can bet that funerals are going to be more expensive as the cost of living goes up. Did you know funeral homes offer discounts as time goes on? You can plan and pay off your funeral with more than enough time in advance.
- You can plan what you want. Having your funeral your way is so important and when you die, you can feel relaxed about the fact that your family will be comfortable knowing that you have planned it all. When you pre-plan everything, you are making these decisions for yourself and you are able to make decisions that are positive all around.
- You lift that burden from your family. Funerals are expensive, there are no ways around that. You can lift the burden of paying out for your funeral from your family by doing it all yourself. When you pay for it yourself, you guarantee that you have the right plans in place for when you do inevitably die. You don’t have to have your closest ones footing the bill for you, which can make you feel at peace.
- You have a chance to shop around. Cremation, burial, headstone, niche plaques – there are so many options and things to consider when you are planning your funeral. Shopping around in advance allows you some space to make big decisions and you give yourself the necessary time to plan everything. You then make certain that you find the right funeral company for you.
- You can take your time. Planning your funeral in advance means that you don’t have a funeral that has been hastily thrown together. You want to plan something and be methodical about it. When you do it this way, you can adjust and upgrade where you want and save for the larger expenses like headstones. You wouldn’t think that funerals can go up into the thousands of dollars, but they really can.
- You get to get the details right. So you don’t like folk music, you don’t like alcohol and you don’t like the idea of a cremation. Your funeral needs to get right down to the nitty gritty details. When you have your funeral and plan it properly, you get to plan those little details and know for sure that you’re going to get what you always wanted for your end journey.
- You can reduce additional stress. Your family is going to be under a considerable amount of stress and grief when you die. You want people to mourn you but you don’t want them to have the stress of guessing what you want. Ideally, you can just have everything in place and your affairs in order in advance, and no one will be worrying about feeling the stress of planning something they’re not aware of.
- You can make your wishes known. If you want to be cremated and have the remains scattered, you can pre-plan this and you get to arrange this before your death. If you have any specific scattering or burial requests for your ashes, you can put these into motion and you can let your family members know. Your wishes can then be upheld. This is especially important if you have any requests to match your culture. You want to ensure that you are getting what YOU want. After all, this is your funeral.
- Always ask the right questions. You are the one talking to the funeral directors, so you can ask the right questions and know that you are getting what you want. You should be able to request what you want for your funeral and you can make sure that the budget questions you’ve asked are answered correctly. You need to have people you can rely on for your funeral planning, and if you can ask the questions yourself, you’re going to get the answers you want, too.
- You get to work with the right home. There is a dynamic between funeral directors and the family, and when you plan things in advance, you can get to know different funeral directors and learn more about what they can offer you. You need to make sure that you’re working with a service that respects your wishes. When you do this, you can find one that will do the job consoling your family, looking after what you want and make sure that your funeral is a smooth one.
Take your time in planning your funeral early and you’ll spend time making this exactly what you want it to be. Pre-planning is a positive way to get your funeral plans in place in advance.
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