Cremation and Funeral Planning
When you have just lost a loved one, often the last thing that you want to think about is what to do with the remains. You are just grieving the person or animal that you have lost, and you do not want to think about the logistics of the situation. However, unfortunately, in this situation, it is often left to the loved ones of the departed to take care of all of this. This is why it might be a better idea to make sure that it is taken care of before the loved one passes on. This way, you will be able to simply focus on dealing with your grief, rather than dealing with funeral arrangements and deciding what to do with the remains.
If you want to decide what to do with the remains or what needs to be done on the day of the funeral, you might want to talk to a funeral home. You can learn about affordable cremation and burial, basic cremation services, cheap funeral service options, and more. Someone will be able to answer questions that you might have about the process as well, such as, which is cheaper cremation or burial? This can be very helpful during a very difficult time.
Traditionally, the bodies of the deceased are buried into a grave a lot, where the body is fully intact and clothed not only for the funeral service and viewing, but also in the casket itself. However, this option for burial can take up a lot of room, and modern graveyards often have to keep expanding, or new ones have to be made, which takes up a lot of land. An alternative to this is cremation, which is a proper industry in itself, and low cost cremation can be an attractive option for the deceased’s family, especially since caskets and grave plots, not to mention the gravestones themselves, can be surprisingly expensive. Low cost cremation may have other benefits as well.
In the year 2017, the rate of cremation in the United States was 51.6%, although the rate of cremation is predicted to reach 57.8% by the year 2022. In fact, until the year 1876, cremation was not even legal in the United States, but by 2016, it had become the most popular option in North America as a whole. In that year, cremations outnumbered all other forms of burial. And according to the results of a 2017 survey, over half of Americans under age 40 preferred cremation. What are the procedures and benefits of a low cost cremation for the recently deceased?
The Industry
Losing a loved one can break the bank, as some may not suspect, but low cost cremation can avoid that problem, and planning a funeral can easily account for cremation, and cremation services can often be found through Internet searches or by working with a funeral home and its own connections. Cremation services often begin when, according to Collins Funeral Home, depending on state, a medical professional may need to examine the body first, and a next of kin or other family member should put it in writing that the body should undergo cremation services.
If all this is cleared, the body is brought to a cremation facility, which is often unconnected to any given funeral home or graveyard; instead, it is a fully independent building and lot, with its own professional staff. There, a specialized kiln is prepared and the body is placed inside, where the temperature is raised to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, reducing the body to ash over the course of several hours. When the burning process is complete, leftover materials such as dental work or implants are gathered and separated from the ash, and magnets may be used to pick out smaller metal objects. Finally, the ash and any remaining bone fragments are placed into an urn that the deceased’s family had chosen ahead of time, or else put into a general functional container.
Today, most religions permit cremations, although the Catholic church often demands that cremated remains be given the same burial rites as those given to a regular body. Various churches will have different rules on whether the urn (and the ashes inside) are allowed at the services, so family members are encouraged to check with church officials first. Also, the funeral service can be carried out either before or after the cremation process, depending on the family’s preferences, such as whether or not to have the body on display first. After cremation, the urn may be buried at the graveyard, kept by the family privately, or scattered at a location of personal significance.
Overall, a cremation service may cost a fair amount, but a family can easily do some research and find low cost cremation services in their area or in neighboring areas for the deceased. San Diego funeral homes, for example, can reach out in nearby areas in California, while those in Connecticut can probably work across the state, given how small it is (that state also requires a 48 hour waiting period between time of death and cremation).
