Dealing with the stress of planning a funeral is already tough enough. If your financial situation is a little tight, you might have additional stress to deal with. To help curb the amount of money that you will have to part with in order to have the funeral, you might want to take a few moments to check out the following tips.

Shop Around For Caskets

Do not make the mistake of assuming that you have to purchase the casket from the funeral home itself. Sure, they should have a few nice ones to pick from, but they might not be able to offer you the best prices. The nice thing is that there are now a lot of casket manufacturers that are selling their caskets directly to the public at discounted prices. There are also more and more big box chain stores that are now selling caskets. The only thing that you will need to factor in is where you are going to have the casket shipped to. If you have it shipped to your home, you will need access to a truck and a few friends or family to hep you carry it. There might be the option of having it shipped directly to the funeral home, but you are going to need their permission first.

Consider Opting For A Cremation Service

Cremation services can be just as beautiful, with viewings and everything. The only difference is that your loved one will be cremated instead of buried. You will need to buy an urn instead of an expensive casket. However, the funeral home will initially place the ashes of the deceased in a box for you to take home. Therefore, you have the option to take your time when searching for the perfect or an affordable urn. With the cremation option, you will not have to worry about spending a lot of money on a burial site or an over-priced casket.

Stick To One Viewing Time

The point of the viewings is to make sure that you are giving friends and family the chance to say their final goodbyes. This can be done in one single viewing. There is no need to have several of them over a few days, especially if most of the friends and family live nearby. If you need to allow for a little extra time for out of town friends and family to show up, you can always schedule the viewing to happen a few days out instead of right away. Then, you can have just the one viewing and save yourself a lot of money.

Now, with those three helpful tips in mind, you should have no trouble making sure that you are not spending too much money on funeral services and related costs.