Be an organ donor
Never in my life did I imagine that I would be paying for two funerals within three months. That’s the bad thing about being the only one in the family with money. It’s not that we have a ton of money, but we were smart, got an education, and are living within our means. So for that, we get stuck with the bills.
For my Mother’s funeral it’s not as big of deal because her estate has enough money that I will eventually get paid back. She had just a basic funeral, nothing too crazy, but it still cost us $17,000. They get you on everything. We had to pay extra for a Saturday burial, and even had to pay for snow removal. Just a basic coffin and vault was 10 grand.
My Father-in-law on the other hand was cremated. His funeral was only $6000. That alone is a good enough reason to be cremated. Before I never really had a preference, because I wound never know anyway. Now I think I’m going to be cremated. My Father-in-law already had a plot, and because he was cremated, he and is wife can share the plot since they with both be cremated. We will now probably do the same and get the plot next to them. it’s kind of eerie knowing where your final destination is, but I guess it’s going to happen eventually.
My Father-in-law had no money, and neither do any of my brothers-in-law, so we’re pretty much stuck with that bill. I could make a fuss about it, but that probably won’t get my anywhere.
One thing that was great was all the parts my Father-in-law was able to donate. He wasn’t able to donate any organs, but he donated a lot of skin and tissue, and even bones. I’ve never even heard about donating bone before. All in all, they said he could probably end up helping fifty people. My mom was a donor too, but sadly she wasn’t able to donate anything. I don’t really know why not though. They said they would have contacted us if she could donate anything. After my mother-in-law’s heart transplant, both our families are really big proponents of organ donating, and it’s great to know how many people my father-in-law could help out.