If you want a burial vault, the price leaps to $8,508.
However, there is a way around expensive funeral fees without sacrificing the dignity of your loved one.
you’ve got the option to save hundreds and eventhousandsof dollars infuneral coststhrough a memorial society.
How do I know?
Unfortunately, through experience.
My Sons Story
In 1988 at age 12, my son Jason died at home.
He hadMarfans Syndrome, a life-threatening genetic disorder.
7 Ways to Make Money if You Hate People
Do you avoid people too?
Enough small talk.Here are some waysto earn extra cash, without all of the social stuff.
With Marfans, a person can have the disease in varying degrees.
When Jasons pediatrician told us he would soon pass, I started researching final arrangements.
During this research, I found a book on estate planning that contained a section on memorial societies.
Whats a Memorial Society?
A memorial society is a nonprofit, non-religious organization that helps consumers obtain reasonably priced end-of-life, funeral arrangements.
Its typically run by volunteers and provides funeral-planning information.
When your loved one dies, volunteers provide services approved by each state, like driving the hearse.
The memorial society has a contract with a local funeral director for embalming or cremation services required by law.
What Does Membership Typically Cost?
Rates vary from chapter to chapter.
you’re able to check out local memorial society rates in yourstate.
When we moved to Ohio, because of the reciprocity between chapters, we didnt have to pay again.
Each chapter sets up their own dues and sometimes the chapter dues are free under certain conditions.
How Does a Memorial Society Member Get Such Low Rates?
Or, in the case of burial instead of cremation, you pay for the burial plot.
Who Are the Volunteers?
Volunteerism works differently across chapters.
Volunteers dont have to be but usually become members.
It works differently in Cleveland.
Knowing for sure what Jason wanted after he passed relieved a huge emotional burden from our shoulders.
It eliminated a lot of inaccurate guessing about what he wanted for his end-of-life activities.
When the time came, I called our hospice nurse while my husband stayed with Jason at his bedside.
Then, I called the memorial society.
Just one phone call set the process in motion.
Memorial society volunteers came to get Jasons body within an hour.
The volunteers were amazing; they were compassionate, respectful, kind and loving.
Even though my husband and I were emotional wrecks, they knew what to do and quietly did it.
Their presence made getting through this tragedy easier for us.
It was the best possible scenario in theworstpossible situation a parent can experience.
Today, burial in a plain pine box or cremation is about $1,000 through a memorial society.
Regardless, its quite a bit less than the horror stories youve probably read about planning anaffordable funeral.
Your Turn: Would you join a memorial society?
Susan Fox, a talented freelance writer, specializes mainly in holistic health and self-help topics.
See her website at www.yoursecretwishes.com.
Contact her to write for your business.
It sounds appealing right?
Check it out here!
