If you are in the States you might have noticed that funeral costs have been increasing every single year. Actually this is true not only in the USA but everywhere around the world. You can get a funeral organized for over $5,000 and that is on a budget. If you want a proper funeral, it might cost you up to $10,000 or even more, and that is the truth.
There are many things that need to be considered when organizing a funeral for a loved deceased person. The purchase of a headstone, the actual place in the cemetery, the casket, the ceremony, viewing and many other things, are all factored in when it comes to receiving the final bill from the funeral home. And that will not be cheap. In order to be better prepared and know what to expect when the worst happens, here is a small breakdown of the common items to be included and a generic cost for each.
Most funeral services are held in a funeral home and the director can be the actual owner or an employee of the establishment. So basically his profits are based on how much he can make from the family during a funeral. If he's an employee, his commission will be directly proportional to how much he sells, just like in any other business. Because don't get me wrong, this is a business for them, even though for you it is very personal.
Besides the funeral home, a headstone must be purchased from a dealer and the cemetery plot must be also bought. This means that you will be purchasing services and items from 3 different companies, even if the funeral director offers to coordinate the entire service from start to finish. As his main goal is to raise profits to the funeral home, he will try to sell you as many services and items as possible, even if some of them you might not need at all. This is why it is important to know exactly what you want to go for, without buying into unneeded extras. The minimum that you really need are these: a casket, the services of the funeral director, the preparation of the body (and embalming if it's required), the ceremony and viewing, the various certificates that need to be create for the sad occasion, the cemetery plot, the digging the grave, the headstone and a grave marker and basically that's it. Anything more than this is really extra that you simply don't need.
With a good funeral planning, however, you can reduce your total expenses to less than $5,000 easily. All you need is to write a list upfront and ask exact costs from the funeral director and everyone else involved. If they try to upsell you on anything, you have to be firm and decline. You might get a feeling of guilt that you are not giving everything the deceased should be getting, but never forget that the funeral service is not really for the deceased. It is for the living who need to get solace and closure.
Every funeral service needs flowers for funeral. If you are unable to attend, you can use a sympathy flower delivery service who will easily send the flower wreath either to the family or the funeral home directly.