Funeral Planning Guide: How to Plan Your Own Funeral
Published April 21st, 2021
The idea of death usually terrifies or intimidates most people. Knowing that we’ll all leave this world someday is somewhat scary. Some people have learned to embrace death and acknowledge that there is an end to everything; this is a healthy habit for our mental health and lifestyle for many reasons, but that is another story.
Those people who embrace death and do not get scared by the idea of it like to plan their life out to ensure that their time is worthwhile. These plans usually include funeral planning. Preplanned funerals do not necessarily mean you are waiting for death. It just means that you are making it easier for your family to conduct your funeral once you die, as they won’t have to think too hard about what ceremony or procedure you would have preferred.
You can start visiting funeral homes and communicating with a funeral director who could help you decide whether cremation or green burial is for you. You can start looking at places, spots, or private mausoleums that might interest or give you ideas.
With that, this article will serve as a funeral planning guide for you to understand better the things you need to do to ensure your funeral goes smoothly.
Planning Your Funeral
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Costing and Payments
When preplanning your funeral, the first thing you should do is set a budget and estimate final expenses. Funerals are hard enough as it is on your family and friends, and they are not cheap. You can visit local funeral homes or talk to a funeral director to inquire about costings and a detailed insurance guide you could look at.
To lessen the weight of frustration and stress from planning funerals in advance, estimating the cost of the whole process will make it easier for you to go along with your plan. Usually, people prefer cremation vs burial services as cremation costs cheaper and does not raise too many complications. After planning everything out, you finally have the most accurate estimate of your entire funeral cost.
Now that you have the estimated cost make the payment arrangements and settle any deposits you need to make. Arranging the payment will help secure your funeral plans and make it less troubling for your family as they will not have to worry too much about finances and go into debt.
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Interment Service
The next thing you should do when planning your funeral is to decide on an interment service. An interment service will help dictate what will happen to your body or ashes right after the funeral ceremony. As the years go by, funerals do not go through the usual burying of the body underground anymore.
People become more and more creative when it comes to where their body goes after funeral services. Some decide that they want their ashes/body to be scattered in a particular place, a final resting at their loved ones’ home, or in private mausoleums. There is an endless list of things you can do to your body when you pass.
You can make it as straightforward or as extravagant as you want, depending on the budget for your funeral expenses. Some scientists came up with seed pods that turn your body or ashes into a tree after many years. Interment services are also a way to leave your mark or legacy on Earth and allow people to recognize you.
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Funeral Ceremony
Funeral ceremonies come in three variants. The first is the traditional funeral service. This type of funeral ceremony is where people usually base the procedure on the religious and cultural beliefs of the person who has passed. The following kind is a memorial service.
Traditional memorial services typically take place after the deceased is cremated, buried, or what. During memorial services, people who are close to the deceased person usually say a few words. They can either share a prayer, a eulogy, passages from scriptures, stories, or even sing a special song for the person.
This service dedicates a moment for the person and allows the crowd to appreciate his presence on Earth. Some people may have a home funeral to conduct visitations or viewings while others may have receptions, entirely up to you.
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Organize the Details
Now that you know what services and ceremonies you want to have at your funeral, you will have to lay out all the details. Organizing your ideas and the things you want will help you plan the perfect funeral that reflects your personality the best.
You can start by deciding the specific location of your cremation or green burial, the number of guests, the people you would like to make a speech, and such. You can also include the food to be served during the reception (if you’re having one) and the location of your funeral ceremony.
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Inform Your Loved Ones
Even though you are settling the funeral cost, you still have to inform your family, friends, or whoever you trust to do the job about your wishes and decisions. It will be hard, and some of them may not be too happy about the idea, but they must know what you want to happen so that your plan is followed properly.
This will also help make it easier for everyone as you will not worry about having a funeral that is not up to your standards, and your loved ones will not have a difficult time trying to figure everything out.
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Personal Belongings and Documents
Remember that your loved ones still need to keep the funeral contracts to make the arrangements happen. Also, these documents will serve as crucial files that will contribute to creating your death certificate.
You can organize your files by compiling them in one place and leaving a specific instruction or final arrangement to those you will leave behind about where you are keeping them. You may also want to leave personal belongings behind for everyone to remember you. Leaving a special item behind can help them with their grieving process because we all know that losing someone dear to us is never easy.
Now that you have been given a proper funeral planning guide, you can start the steps to planning as early as today. Death is never an easy topic to discuss, especially with your loved ones. After making all the necessary plans and discussing everything with your family or friends ahead of time, you will feel lighter knowing that you will leave behind a legacy you desired.
Besides, your family will not struggle a lot with taking care of the funeral planning. Death is indeed scary but learning to embrace it is healthy, despite what people may say. Because of the idea of death, people often learn to make the most out of what they have and appreciate the little things in life.
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About The Author
As a professional writer at many renowned websites Krizzia Paolyn has covered a wide range of topics in many industries. Her knack for uncovering important truths and conducting thorough research on each topic she writes about has helped thousands of people across the world.
