We buried dad 4 years ago. My brother and I just pre-paid for mom's funeral a couple of weeks ago. She recently had to be placed in a nursing home. Medicare allows you to pre-pay for a funeral, but if she runs out of money before dying will only allow about $2K for a funeral.
We paid a little over $10K and at best could have only saved about $2K. We literally went as cheap as practical. We could have saved $1000 not embalming and the only casket cheaper would have saved $1000. Mom and dad bought the plots and stone years ago, that would be several thousand more. We'll still have to pay the cemetery to dig the grave and cover it. That could be as much as $1000 if the funeral is on a weekend.
On top of that the local paper charges $1.50 per word for a death announcement and obit. That can easily run into $500-$1000 for some people.
I asked about cremation and it isn't as cheap as I thought. Realistically to be cremated, and have a service would be about $5K. Just to have the funeral home pick up the body, transport it to a crematory and return the ashes to the family was $2400 with no other services. Dying ain't cheap.
My personal plans are somewhat imprecise, but I'd leaning toward whoever dies 1st being cremated, then the ashes of the last to die be mixed in the same urn. I'd prefer my kids use the money we'd have spent on the funeral to pay for a road trip and scatter parts of us in many of the places we've visited over the years.
