It is also free and the bits will be cremated when they have served their prupose.

Job done.

I’ve never really understood why people would spend a lot of money on a coffin either.

If I had the money, I would rather be remembered through something that helped people like a scholarship. That’s probably a bit grand for me so I’ll just settle for leaving some money to my children and trying to make sure that people celebrated my life rather than being miserable!

I agree that WAY too much money is spent on the “stuff” that goes beyond the necessary. When my MIL passed away, my husband and other immediate family split the cost of everything. Fortunately, they all agreed on a reasonable casket. The flowers were another story – one of the wives added to the original selection by an additional $150 so her grandchildren could have ribbons and flowers to take off the casket spray as keepsakes!

I think instead of a funeral, I’d prefer a party – kind of a memorial. Instead of flowers, I’d like remembrances to be made in my name to local libraries or no-kill animal shelter. In fact, unless I have children, or my brother does, that is where the bulk of my estate would go – to libraries or no-kill shelters.

I’m not fond of funerals. I had to arrange my mother’s and was lucky enough to have one of her brothers to officiate. It actually worked out fairly well. I told him that, with as grouchy as my mom had become the last years of her life, I wanted to celebrate her younger years and tell stories — preferably funny — of happier times. People said that it worked out well and there were even times when everyone was laughing. A good way to celebrate a life in my book.

Funeral costs were bad enough, but the cost of flowers was equally unbelievable. In the blink of an eye, you can spend $500 to $1,000, on top of the other costs.

There’s some closure to a funeral and a chance to show respect for the life someone has led, but I’d rather see my money going for something more positive, even after I’ve died. LOL

We think that funerals and burials are a huge waste of money. We aren’t religious people, so we don’t see the need for a religious service. More importantly to us, funerals, burials and all the pageantry that goes along with them go against our personal philosophies. We want to live simply, but we also want to die simply.

Of course, we’ll have little control over what others will do once we’re gone, but we’d like to think that they’ll “pay their respects” by following our wishes instead of having an elaborate funeral.