Father-in-law died this weekend and I’ve been charged with the quest of organising the funeral (he always wanted the cheapest possible.)

Must haves are:
1) Cremation
2) He must ACTUALLY be dead

What should I be paying. Already been quoted 2,700 but I did my mother some years back for 1,250

So, lets have some advice for dealing with undertakers

p.s. He did have a sense of humour so don’t hold back…

Where are you? (I know someone)

Already been quoted 2,700 but I did my mother some years back for 1,250

That made me chuckle, it sounds like something Alan Partridge would have said.

http://www.funeralsonabudget.co.uk/

Well, you did say…..

🙂

esselgruntfuttock

Brighton

Assuming you’re serious, my uncle had similar requests. He got despatched in a wicker casket. Most expensive thing was the catering afterwards. But irrespective of what you do – for sanity (yours) its worth employing the pro’s.

This kind of thing for my uncle:
http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/premium-wicker-willow-eco-friendly-coffin-75931881.htm?from=googleshop_uk

All in it was about 1000 euro, but obviously that will vary massively with area/location. Is there a co-op in your neck of the woods?

There’s been a lot of wood burning stove threads recently, I’m sure you can work something out…

There’s been a lot of wood burning stove threads recently, I’m sure you can work something out…

Might need a bit of work with an axe to go in a typical wood-burner.

I’ve heard that scattered FIL ashes are a great cat deterrent as well.

You dont actualy need an undertaker to perform a funeral, the hospital or mortuary will provide the relevant papers for the cremation, so you just ring the nearest crematorium and ask for a price, there are also online firms who supply coffins from wicker or cardboard to state of the art ones,

try this link, their book is very good for information.

http://www.naturaldeath.org.uk/index.php?page=diy-funerals

Best wishes and sympathy in these sad times for you and your family.

Helps if you’ve got an estate car too. Or roofbars.

Wicker is definitely good, and I’ve also seen some dignified but not-too-serious funerals using bikes – was he a bike person?

Personally, I’ve decreed that I want to be buried like Richard Hull – upside-down, on top of a horse…

I helped dig my brothers grave………. I’m sure that saved a few bucks.

Undertakers are generally well off because not many people like to barter over the dead

Great suggestions from the STW massive – cheers everyone

I know that close by on the outskirts of Cardiff, there is a ‘natural cemetary’ (that is, somewhere that people get buried with no coffin and without having been ‘preserved’). It is just a forest for the dead, really, and quite beautiful.

I assume there must be a similar place near to you?

My grandfather was cremated in a wicker basket – I think it was his wishes, or possible my mother’s idea. Looks much nicer than a typical wooden coffin thing.

Just a pitty you just missed the 5th Nov, could have lobbed him on a bonfire 😯

Helps if you’ve got an estate car too. Or roofbars.

LOL @ roofbars.

You’d need a very big estate car – I have a 406, and about to replace that with a Mondeo, both of which are at the big end of normal estate cars. Only ~1.75m in the back of either of those with the seats folded, which is a bit short for a normal sized coffin.

You could fit a coffin in my citroen c5 estate