Low Cost Funeral Plans: The best way to save money on a funeral is to plan it and pay for it now

– YAKIMA, Wash. — Sandra Saling never thought she’d outlive her son. He was only 33. He died a few weeks ago, leaving behind a wife and five children.

No one had set aside money for a funeral.

Saling doesn’t want her loved ones to worry about money when she dies, so she’s paying for her funeral now.

“When it’s my turn to go, I want it all taken care of,” said Saling, 61, of Yakima. “I just want them to talk about the good things.”

By planning for her funeral now, Saling will also save money. According to AARP, the price of a funeral doubles an average of every seven to 10 years.

But by making monthly payments over several years — before there is a crisis — the price can’t change. For example, if you pay for a $6,000 funeral in Washington and die 20 years later, no extra costs will be incurred by your family.

The money for prefunding funerals is put into an insurance policy or trust that can’t be touched. Merchandise isn’t bought and stored.

Instead, the casket you pick — or a comparable one if the original is discontinued — is ordered when needed.

“The goal is to give the least amount of money possible to the funeral home,” said Lyn Dasso, who handles preplanning for Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home in Yakima. “The longer you wait, the more you pay.”

If more people knew about the advantages of preplanning, Dasso said they would clamor to take part. As a member of Dignity Memorial — a network that includes more than 1,000 cremation, funeral and cemetery providers in America and Canada — Langevin-Mussetter can offer some specialized services. (OOTC:SSRV)

For example, the conglomerate prepares preplanning contracts that provide free funerals or cremation services for unmarried children and grandchildren younger than age 21. The type of service could be as elaborate as what paying customers select for themselves.

There’s also national transferability, meaning if people move more than 75 miles from where the original arrangements were made, their prearranged funeral services are fully transferable to any Dignity Memorial provider throughout North America, said Janet Roy-Knautz, a funeral director at Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home.

Many other funeral homes across the country offer similar services, in addition to arranging transportation of remains throughout the United States and abroad.

If preplanning isn’t an option, there are other factors to consider when preparing for a funeral on a budget. First, cremations are not necessarily cheaper. If families want a service and a viewing, the body still needs to be prepared, said Kathy Birdwell, general manager for Shaw and Sons Funeral Directors in Yakima.

“Either one can be less expensive. It depends on many choices,” she said.

The options are seemingly limitless. The cheapest route would be cremation without a service — which includes transfer of the remains from the place of death to the funeral home and the crematory, the crematory fee, flowers and an urn. At Langevin-Mussetter, the package price is about $2,900.

In the Yakima Valley, typical funerals cost from $5,000 to $7,500, but there is no limit to how expensive they can get, Dasso said. A top-of-the-line casket alone can cost $20,000.

Then there’s the matter of where remains can be buried. Because private property changes hands, Washington state law dictates bodies be buried in designated cemetery land.

Cemeteries decide the rules for body disposal, such as if bodies can be buried in cloth verses a casket. There are four cemeteries in Yakima and several more throughout the Yakima Valley.

Different rules apply for cremated remains. Officially, people need to ask permission of land owners before scattering the ashes or burying them, but they can be buried on one’s own property, Roy-Knautz said.

“If you sell, you have to divulge that cremated remains are there,” she said. “If you don’t, (and the ashes are discovered) the new owners could sue you for mental anguish.”

There are other interesting dimensions of Washington state law, Birdwell said. People need to know that if they write their wishes and file them with a funeral home — or they get their wishes notarized — those funeral plans cannot be altered by family members. That’s why Birdwell recommends people share their plans with loved ones to avoid confusion and disputes.

“It’s a good protection for people,” she said. “We certainly want to honor what people want.”

Birdwell said people should be up front with funeral directors about what they can afford. Sometimes, packages — which commonly include flowers, the casket, body preparation and transportation — can be a good deal. Other times, people can save money by doing without or providing some items themselves. This could include forgoing a limo in favor of the family vehicle and printing funeral programs at home.

“They can even do the service on their own, without the aid of a funeral home,” Birdwell said. “We can help them think outside the box if they let us know what is important.”

Sharon Wyrick of Boise, Idaho, appreciates this insight. She also signed a preplanning contract at Langevin-Mussetter when her sister, Saling, got hers done. When Wyrick dies, she wants her loved ones to share stories and celebrate her life — not worry about funeral bills.

“I want to make my own choices instead of letting someone else take care of it,” said Wyrick, 59. “Too many people do too much glamor at the end. I want them to have margaritas and eat chips for me.”

–Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 509-577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.

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