I can’t tell you how sad it is to see families & friends begging for funeral expenses for a loved one on Facebook.

I recently read an article in Costco about funeral expenses and families rights.

And what are your loved ones wishes? Burial? Cremation? A casket? A mausoleum? If you’ve ever had to guess you know how awful this is.

We don’t like to think about our own mortality but you can do something today to not make your family suffer this terrible fate.

Tell your family what you want. In my case:

*”If you bury me, I will haunt you forever-the dead do not hang out in Ceneteries. Please cremate me because I have been freezing cold my whole life.”

* Do NOT put me in an urn or wear me in a vial around your neck (I will haunt you). Bad Feng Shui.

* Play “Cemetery Drive” by MCR and “Sunshine” by John Denver at my service.

*Serve Red Velvet cake and cookie dough afterwards.

The cremation bit is in my directive papers.
What you can do today:

Open google maps.

Search on your current or retirement location.

Search “funeral home”. Select one close by. I searched in Sedona.

Call or email the funeral home for a price list on what you would want.

In my case:

*Least expensive cremation where my family can scatter my ashes into the ocean. 

*A memorial service in Sedona (Your church may do this at little or no cost if you are a member). I will probably choose the park next to the hotel that has paths along Oak Creek unless it is too hot, too cold etc..

Email someone you trust in your family or a friend and tell that person or those people “Don’t freak, I’m just doing some estate planning…I would like to be buried/cremated by company X in X location…”

It’s really easy.

And don’t prepay anything. That rarely makes sense.

I’m begging you to not make your family beg.
Image credit. “Helena” by MCR. Warner Brothers.