A cheap funeral required

TBagpuss

Savvy_Sue said:

GDB2222 said:

Can you be buried at sea?

You can, but it won't necessarily be cheap. Google tells me there's an extra certificate you need confirming that the body is free of infection, but then you have to organise the actual burial. Pretty sure you can't just head off into the sunset and drop your loved one over the side ... 

No, although I think you can scatter ashes at sea without any special permissions or licences, so if  you don't want to pay for them to be buried or dstored that can be an option.

You can of course also chose to have a gathering for friends /family instead of a formal funeral if you don't want or can't afford funeral costs but do want to mark their passing. 

A funeral service (if the deceased was CofE) costs £206 althoguh there are additional charges for a burial or burial of ashes. The incumbent (civar / prienst) has the right to waive charges where they feel it is appropriate and the guidance about doing so says this should normally only be in cass of finacial hardship, I would imagine that if the deceased was a regular church-goer and there is finaial hardship they may be more open to this than if they were not religious. 
(also, if you had a direct cremation, and the deceased was religious, you can still make prayer requests spearately in most churches)

If you talk to a local funeral director then can talk you through pricies. For instnace, both of my grnadpanrets had low costfunerals as they thought it was a waste of money, so my grandmother chose low cost options for her husband, and her childnre did thesame for her. There was a funeral, but we pciked the cheapest coffin (corregated cardboard) not exrta funeral cars and held the services are the crematorium (their ashes were later interred in the churchayard in their village church, which is a lot cheaper than having a funeral there.

In the sad event that the person who died was under 16, the CofE doesn't charge for the funeral or burial, but I thinkthere would still be the usual costs for a cremation. 

Savvy_Sue

TBagpuss said:

Savvy_Sue said:

GDB2222 said:

Can you be buried at sea?

You can, but it won't necessarily be cheap. Google tells me there's an extra certificate you need confirming that the body is free of infection, but then you have to organise the actual burial. Pretty sure you can't just head off into the sunset and drop your loved one over the side ... 

No, although I think you can scatter ashes at sea without any special permissions or licences, so if  you don't want to pay for them to be buried or dstored that can be an option.

Good point. 

TBagpuss said:

we pciked the cheapest coffin (corregated cardboard) 

Gosh, we asked about one of them for Dad, but it was more expensive than a basic wooden one! 

TBagpuss

Savvy_Sue said:

TBagpuss said:

Savvy_Sue said:

GDB2222 said:

Can you be buried at sea?

You can, but it won't necessarily be cheap. Google tells me there's an extra certificate you need confirming that the body is free of infection, but then you have to organise the actual burial. Pretty sure you can't just head off into the sunset and drop your loved one over the side ... 

No, although I think you can scatter ashes at sea without any special permissions or licences, so if  you don't want to pay for them to be buried or dstored that can be an option.

Good point. 

TBagpuss said:

we pciked the cheapest coffin (corregated cardboard) 

Gosh, we asked about one of them for Dad, but it was more expensive than a basic wooden one! 

This  was about 20 years ago. I think that we just asked what the cheapest was and that's what they said. (We also specifcally asked for her to be dressed in some of her own clothes, as it hadn't occured to anyone when my grandfather died that you have to decide and tell the funderal parlour what you want, and no-one had, so  they put him in ridiculous fake satin pajyamas which, as we all said, he wouldn't have been seen dead in had he been alive... ) 

IIRC it didn't look like cardboard unless you looked really closely.

marycanary

I do not know this from personal experience but was told it by a friend.  DYOR.

A man my friend knew died and his wife asked the local Catholic Priest if he would conduct the funeral as cheaply as possible. The dead man was a  lapsed Catholic but his wife wasn't Catholic. The Priest said that the service would be free because it is against Catholic rules to ask for money for funerals.

I have also heard something similar on the death of a Jewish person who had long since stopped attending the synagogue. They died and the family, who had previously had no contact with the synagogue, contacted the Rabbi. The local congregation made the arrangements.

The cremation would still need to be paid for but perhaps you could have a cheap, no one present cremation and hold a religious service if appropriate.

Savvy_Sue

TBagpuss said:

TBagpuss said:

we pciked the cheapest coffin (corregated cardboard) 

Gosh, we asked about one of them for Dad, but it was more expensive than a basic wooden one! 

This  was about 20 years ago. I think that we just asked what the cheapest was and that's what they said. (We also specifcally asked for her to be dressed in some of her own clothes, as it hadn't occured to anyone when my grandfather died that you have to decide and tell the funderal parlour what you want, and no-one had, so  they put him in ridiculous fake satin pajyamas which, as we all said, he wouldn't have been seen dead in had he been alive... ) 

IIRC it didn't look like cardboard unless you looked really closely.

It wasn't as long ago as 20 years when we enquired, but probably more than 10.

I smiled about the pyjamas: the FD asked for some clothes if we wanted Dad dressed for viewing, so Mum sent in what he would usually wear: shirt, pants, trousers, and a Spurs t-shirt worn as a vest. Dad ALWAYS wore a vest, summer or winter, as many of that generation do. Well, the FD sent the t-shirt back, which Mum was a bit surprised by: "I'm worried he might feel a bit cold." I assured her that where HE was going (the crem), he wasn't going to feel the cold ... 

DiseasedBunny

A shallow grave? 

theoretica

I knew someone who was buried on their own plot of land - friends were invited to come with spades. There are some requirements that need to be met, and record keeping -I think including that purchasers must be notified, so while cheap at the time, if you own appropriate land, it might depend on if selling the land later is a consideration... 

donnac2558

I have donated my body to the local university medical teaching.    No paying for any sort of funeral, they do it all after 3 years of using your copse, and you request cremation or burial. Teaching future doctors. I don't believe in any religious stuff, so I don't care.   When you die, just a piece of dead meat.   You do have to get the forums countersigned when donating.

Gers

TBagpuss said:

 

 There was a funeral, but we picked the cheapest coffin (corrugated cardboard) not extra funeral cars and held the services are the crematorium (their ashes were later interred in the churchyard in their village church, which is a lot cheaper than having a funeral there.

In the sad event that the person who died was under 16, the CofE doesn't charge for the funeral or burial, but I think there would still be the usual costs for a cremation. 

Before he died in 1997 my Dad insisted on having a cardboard coffin, it turned out to be much more expensive than a simple pine one would have been. Firstly, the funeral director had to travel from Glasgow to Carlisle to collect on. Secondly, the crematorium charged a higher fee because of the different emissions, having to apply for a special certificate from the local authority and the changes to the controls (?) and thirdly it was horrible!  Really boxy.  It was the early days of cardboard coffins and it was so nasty.  Never again.

I think that even today cardboard is not recommended because of the emissions.

My late mother had a pine coffin last year and wore a simple shift supplied by the FD. She couldn't see the point of burning clothes which were perfectly good and could go to a charity shop.  She was a one of a kind.

I spent very little on her funeral, instead I had a gathering of friends and family where we celebrated her life.

Mojisola

donnac2558 said:

I have donated my body to the local university medical teaching.    No paying for any sort of funeral, they do it all after 3 years of using your copse, and you request cremation or burial. Teaching future doctors. I don't believe in any religious stuff, so I don't care.   When you die, just a piece of dead meat.   You do have to get the forums countersigned when donating.

Depending on how and when you die, the uni might not accept your body so it's wise to have a back-up plan that people know about.