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AIBU?

To ask how much does a funeral cost?

52 replies

Nospringflower · 29/01/2017 18:13

Just thinking about my funeral and thinking about having one in a green woods dedicated to this.

The plot costs £1000, then you pay for a stone to mark the spot (£300) and then theres the plot preparation (£300) and an admin fee £85. There will also be the cost of the celebrant and the eco coffin.

I'm not doing it to be cheap - I quite like the set up but just wondered how it compares to being buried / cremated in the more conventional way. I suspect a grave stone isnt cheap but no idea about the rest.

Does anyone mind telling me - have looked it up on council website but cant find costs.
Thanks

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Bauble16 · 29/01/2017 18:15

It can depend on what you want. My Dad was by no means we'll off, yet he saved for his and what he wanted cost £5000.

Nanny0gg · 29/01/2017 18:16

Recent basic one was £4000 but that included the cost of a family car as well as hearse, but no headstone.

mintthins · 29/01/2017 18:17

DM was cremated, and I think it cost around £2.5k five years ago. She had a special coffin which cost a little more, but everything else was quite simple.

Nospringflower · 29/01/2017 18:17

Have just looked up and the cheapest cardboard coffin I can find is £250 so it does sound like this in the woods is relatively cheap. Not sure what the undertakers charge though as that must bump it up.

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Olympiathequeen · 29/01/2017 18:19

You can do totally cheap where the crematorium collect your body from the mortuary and your family just collect the ashes for them to do what they want with. That costs £1000. A get together can be arranged at someone's house or rent a hall for an additional cost.

A more traditional funeral with a funeral director, coffin, hearse and limo and cremation is around £3-4000. And burial is a bit dearer still. Vicar etc add to costs.

As far as I'm concerned they can stick me down the bottom of the garden!

lht22 · 29/01/2017 18:19

My husband's funeral was about £3,800. Nothing fancy, co-op funeral service, one family car on the day, celebrant, crematorium and 2 scatter tubes.
We did have a double slot at the crem but that was only £100 more for the second slot.
We did the flowers separately and the ones from me and our son were £80.

lalalalyra · 29/01/2017 18:20

Recent funeral here was £3500 roughly. That was a cremation, basic coffin, humanist celebrant at the crematorium, two cars and one spray of flowers.

Nospringflower · 29/01/2017 18:20

Yes hadnt thought about costs like hearses. Maybe my woods is quite dear.

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DJBaggySmalls · 29/01/2017 18:22

A paupers cremation is £1,000. You get a cardboard box, no service and the ashes are just disposed of.

nokidshere · 29/01/2017 18:23

Sadly we cremated MIL 2 weeks ago. At her request; basic coffin, no flowers or cars and no vicar - the bill is £4k

peggyundercrackers · 29/01/2017 18:24

Cremations here start at about 3500 and go upwards, that wouldn't include a wake nor paying for a minister to do the ceremony.

Schwifty · 29/01/2017 18:25

I don't know if the possibility of donating your body to medical research has crossed your mind, but some schools will contribute to funeral costs and arrange burial or cremation in line with your or the family's wishes. In my experience this support was a godsend and the entire process was handled beautifully. I couldn't quote the eventual cost as I was a bit too young to be told at the time, but is this something you could look into?

user1484603141 · 29/01/2017 18:26

10 years ago it cost me £3500 for my mum.
Transport from hospital to undertakers and preparation.
Four single roses and a small bouquet, a mention in the local paper.
A basic coffin and a jar for ashes.
Main car and one family car.
Service lasted about 30 mins and a man who talked (and was rubbish)
Afternoon tea for 20.
I've told my kids that as I won't know what's going on to make it as cheap as possible and if there's any money left over to have a day or two somewhere together.

Nospringflower · 29/01/2017 18:28

Do you think it makes a difference for the family to have a service? My partner has no interest in it all and would be quite happy to do it the cheapest way and maybe end up with ashes which the family could scatter. Just wondering whether people like / need a service as a send off.

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bigbluebus · 29/01/2017 18:29

Have just paid the bill for a church funeral with burial in the churchyard. Only car used was the hearse - family used own cars. Bill came to £2700 (but that included flowers at £250). Doesn't include headstone though as that can't be put on for 12 months.

Have also paid bills for both parent's funerals in last few years. Again, church funerals followed by burial at council lawn cemetery. First funeral we had a hearse plus family car and had to buy the double plot. 2nd funeral we only had the hearse and although same plot was used it costs 50% of purchase price to re-open it. Cost of each funeral between £3500 - £4200 including flowers. Neither include headstone - that was £1200 and had to be removed and placed in storage when 2nd body went in. More fees to pay for extra engraving and re-installing the stone after 12 months.

Nospringflower · 29/01/2017 18:29

I dont want to donate my body. I am quite sentimental and want buried and to have a lasting place where people can come to if they choose to (although suspect my woods in the middle of nowhere might not be where they come very often!). It dow look beautiful though.

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EllieMentry · 29/01/2017 18:31

My dad died last year and the funeral with cremation (and simple service with a priest from his religion at the crematorium), plus two bouquets came to just under £5k. I had no idea.

Thankfully there was enough left in his account to cover the cost (by chance rather than design) and I was given access to the money. It's expensive.

We had a wake at his house with Waitrose platters for catering plus drinks. Sounds stupid as he was very old and very ill, but I hadn't really thought about it and neither had he.

SickNotes · 29/01/2017 18:31

The only woodlands burial place I know of has no gravestones -- the whole eco point is it's a conservation woodland and the wood itself is the memorial - you plant a tree at the grave site, so it just looks like a wood, or a bird box or bat box or bench etc. The family I knew buried cremated remains, which was only £100-£150, I think. No excavation costs, just the cost of the tree, which varied according to type.

EllieMentry · 29/01/2017 18:31

I love your idea of being buried in the woods!

nokidshere · 29/01/2017 18:32

MILs cremation was just lovely. The celebrant was kind and did a couple of readings including something that DH wrote. A couple of pieces of her favourite music and that was it. Took about 30 mins and was pitched just perfectly. her ashes will be scattered in the memorial garden by the crematorium staff.

Nospringflower · 29/01/2017 18:35

This place is £480 for an ashes plot and then £150 to prepare the plot so not that much cheaper for ashes. You dont have to have a stone but can choose to and it is more like a natural stone with a little inscription. I think I would quite like to mark the spot and for £300 its not that much for the rest of my being. You also just have indiginous flowers scattered around although some people have them kind of coffin like which I am not keen on.

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Mungobungo · 29/01/2017 18:35

My dad's funeral last yr cost just under £5,000. That was wicker casket, cremation with humanist celebrant, order or service, hearse and one car.

I love the woodland idea too. We'll be planting a tree in a memorial garden in memory of DF as it seems fitting to have something that lives on in his name and he loved the outdoors and his garden

bigbluebus · 29/01/2017 18:37

I think it is down to personal choice and what the collective family feel is best. I know of a friend who went to a cremation where no one spoke personally about the deceased and the whole thing was done and dusted in 15 mins. There were only about 20 people there. She felt it was very sad for the deceased person - not that they knew anything about it.

Nospringflower · 29/01/2017 18:38

I should add I am not unwell and planning this so I can afford to be relatively unsentimental about it all. I do like the woods (only came across it when my uncle was buried there) and I am not religious so it all works it was only afterwards that I was wondering if it was also cheaper.

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stopfuckingshoutingatme · 29/01/2017 18:41

I love a wicker coffin . They are beautiful - they do look a bit like a picnic hamper though .
I love the woodland idea . I think you need around 5k as you might want to have wine afterwards , ?and bubbles /food ?

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