General Chat

Not the best of subjects but.....What kind of plans have you made regarding your own funeral. We are thinking of paying in advance, but l only want a cardboard coffin and the cheapest service and cremation. Been looking on ebay and found a company that sell card board coffins for approx £100.
l've just emailed them to see if they have any leaflets.

Also was'nt sure if funeral directors would expect us to buy their coffins??

The Co-Op prices start at £3,100.00 to £3,875.00 which l think is far too expensive.
Have seen links for £1,597 or even cheaper....which is more reasonable, will have to email them too me thinks:))

jude :-)
edit..spelling mistake...lol

Off to bed now, will check back in the morning:)

jude

i think its shocking undertakers are ripping off people
at their lowest times in their lives

i dont care what happends to me when i go
as its will just be my shell
i might leave my body to medical research
just so they have to foot the bill and not my loved ones ;-)

oh dont worry mam your going in the garden no expense spurned ;-)

its not somthing iv thought much about, other than i dont want all black n sullen, and id like upbeat songs maybe, but no religious tat

money wise, ill think about it when ima bit older i supose

Undertakers have to make a living too!

Recent funeral of FIL was between £3000 and £4000 and it wasn't 'extravagent' but included the services of a vicar and his expenses, and family flowers. We didn't have to purchase the coffin from the funeral director's brochure.

I have got mine sorted. Cheapest coffin as I am off to the barbeque :-D :-D. Want to be wearing my favourite footie shirt and congregation to do the same (their teams that is if they have one) My lot will all be in red and white. Jesu joy of mans desiring whilst people enter then as I go down to barby music will launch into Killer Queen which is my nickname.I want to go out rocking :-D :-D :-D. Ashes are to be divided into 2 , one to be buried with OH as he wants to be buried and other half to be thrown over the edge of Malham Tarn in Yorkshire where I have a lot of happy memories.

No joke this is all written in my Funeral plans lodged with my directors.

Cheap as possible, funeral pyre in garden and BBQ (two birds with one stone).

Not bothered really, whatever happens as long as I am talked about afterwards (a lot) I'll be happy. Well I won't cos I won't know will I? :-D

OH and I both have Funeral Plans arranged through Help the Aged (now Age UK). They are a form of insurance where you pay for a funeral at today's prices and get the equivalent when you die. As funerals get more expensive all the time, this has the advantage of removing the worry about cost from your relatives.

Our plan had several options, but all included the undertaker, coffin, one car, church service and all related costs. We detailed the music we wanted etc.

We had to nominate a local undertaker, but can change this if circumstances change - eg if we move house.

At the time I considered the Co-op version, but it was more expensive and much less flexible, so opted for Help the Aged.

jude I don't think that you can be cremated in a cardboard coffin or a whicker one as they burn too quick. I may be wrong but check first.

I want a wicker casket,,,,,they are just lovely,.........and eco friendly......

A piper playing Highland Catherdral and then a good blast of Fred Mercury ,,,,and some tartan must be worn,as late in the day as possible then off to spead and dancing the night away.....perfect end to a lovely day..... :-D

My nan decided to choose a funeral plan for herself when my grandad died back in 1996.

Sadly she died in January this year and being her nominated next of kin it was down to me to arrange the funeral. I will always be so grateful to her as it took much of the stress away from arranging the funeral at what was a very difficult time for me. She had chosen the undertaker, her coffin, one car and stated she wanted a church service before being taken to the crematorium.

There was nothing for me to pay apart from the order of service which I chose to have.

I think having a pre-paid funeral plan is one of the best things we can do for our family.

Chris

My brother in law spent a year dying, (mesothelioma - yet he'd never worked with asbestos, but those who were would walk past him and my ex in their protective gear to get changed!!) and he and my sister organised his funeral. He chose a wicker coffin, and to be buried at East Meon Sustainability Centre (woodland burial) which is also a camp site and holds interesting craft courses :-D
Sister organised people to speak about BiL - she had no 'official' organiser, no-one from the Humanist society etc. 'What a day for a daydream' was one of the songs played in between speeches.
BiL was taken to the grave by a horse and cart. The horse hated rain - and it lashed it down, so a certain amount of fast walking was involved to keep up with the horse, who wanted to go home, also, wellies were worn. At the last minute, my sister asked her son to take photos of the cortege and burial, which he did. These photo's are a lovely reminder.
We all then went back to Midhurst for a 'wake'. Sister had asked his friends for photo's of him through the years, which were on display, and a 'memories' book was put out for people to write memories of him in.
Lovely day, lovely service, and very memorable :-D

It cost £600 for the grave. I don't think my sister spent more than £1000 on the actual funeral.
This was 5 years ago.

My mother prepaid her funeral.

After she died, the funeral directors came to her house and advised us of the items she had NOT paid for....... an extra $2,000.

Mother would have been furious!

<3

we are registered with a plan here ........... it's called Memorial Society of BC

You sign up with them, pay $10 to be a member. You then fill out forms to say what sort of funeral you want, type of coffin, buried, cremated, where ashes are to go.

Choose what you want to happen ........... service in church, which church; service at crematorium; hymns / songs etc to be sung; order of service, etc etc etc

Then you send that into them, and they keep it safe until "needed" ....... when the nok can apply to get it.

Morning:)

Some interesting posts thanks everyone :-D

Michael....l know that wickers coffins can be used at crem, the cardboard ones l have seen are eco friendly so should be ok, but l will enquire, thanks for that.

Sue...lol, our new garden won't be big enough now:(( but a blinky good idea:-) :-)

LaGooner....brilliant, :-) :-)

l will have to ring around now and see who does what locally.
l'd be quite happy if my coffin was dropped into the sea and nature takes its course, well thats if the sharks had'nt got me first!!

l'm not bothered about hearse, if we can get it into someone elses car that'll be great, probably me mate from Derby would get it into his estate....mind you he might be gone before me...lol

Or maybe hire an estate car for the day ;-) ;-)

jude x
edit....spellig mistake...lol

Someone mentioned a wicker casket - has anyone ever seen how much these cost!!!

My dad always said the most expensive thing to get rid of is a dead body!!

My intention is to die broke and let the council bury me. No kids so I don't care!!

I want a wicker one, there are some on ebay for under £300.

My Dad had a prepaid funeral plan, it was for about £2,000, it paid for the casket and order of service and hearse, we had other things to pay for on top of that.

We were able to change the funeral directors from the ones he had nominated as he moved a few months before he died and hadn't changed them.

He would have got a much fancier do from the Co Op, up North than he did down in Surrey, and all the requirements, such as extra cars for the family would have been covered.
M

hi jude,
my mum has been to the undertaker's and she has paid for everything she told them no service,just a interment ,she picked the cheapest coffin,only the hearse as we all drive,no flower's money to be donated to a animal charity.
I will stick to what she want's and will not add any extra's.
I must say it was hard to hear her talking about this but she said she did not want me to have to make any choice's on funeral arrangement while I was vunerable.

OH HAS PAID FOR HIS FUNERAL LAST YEAR ABOUT £3,000 BUT
IF HE DIES OUT OF THE AREA HIS NEXT OF KIN HAVE THE OPTION
OF USING ALL OF THE PLAN IN ANOTHER AREA WITHOUT PENALTY
HIS COFFIN, CARS,MUSIC. CREMATRORIUM CHOSEN.
ITS A LONG ESTABLISHED FAMILY UNDERTAKERS AND HE SEEM VERY
PLEASED WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND HE NEVER RUSHES INTO ANYTHING WITHOUT READING EVERYTHING, SIGH I MEAN IT EVERY FLIPPIN WORD

I want a woodland burial at the site in Norwich - it's a really beautiful place - and a non religious ceremony, with poems, readings and some music by my favourite folk artists. I'm just an old hippy at heart!