Pre-planning your own funeral has become increasingly popular in recent years. In this article, we will explore why you may choose to pre plan your own funeral and what is involved.

Why should you plan your own funeral?

There are many advantages to planning your own funeral. Perhaps the biggest advantage of pre planning your own funeral is that doing so allows you to ensure that your wishes around the way your life is celebrated are respected. You are able to choose whether you are buried or cremated, whether or not your ceremony is religious and the type of coffin you will be laid to rest in, along with a host of other important details of your final farewell. You can design your service to be exactly as you wish, setting the tone for the celebration of your life with your own choice of music, songs, readings and even the dress code. By preplanning your funeral, you get to be remembered the way you wish to be.

Another important advantage of having a pre-arranged funeral is that if you pre-pay for your own funeral, your loved ones are spared the stress of making arrangements in what is usually a matter of days, and paying what can add up to a large sum of money. The people you love the most will be freed of the burden of financial stress and able to grieve their loss without added worry.

Finally, having a pre arranged funeral means that at any time you can change your mind about what you want. Perhaps you plan to be buried, you pre-arrange your funeral and then a few years later you decide you’d rather be cremated; that’s okay! It’s as simple as contacting us to let us know of your change of preferences.

Is it weird to plan your own funeral?

In short, absolutely not! In fact, planning your funeral is a final and loving gift you leave behind, easing the burden on your family of planning and paying for a funeral. In fact, more and more people are choosing to pre-pay and pre-arrange their own funeral because they don’t want their family to have additional worry and stress when they pass away.

How do you pre plan your own funeral?

The first step to pre-arranging your own funeral is establishing what your wishes are around the end of your life. There can be a lot to consider that you may not have thought of, so if you haven’t already, click here to read our blog post about final wishes, and download our free Final Wishes Planner to help you.

Once you have established what your end of life wishes are, the next step is to get in touch with us. Childers-Woodgate Funeral Services offers pre-arranged pre-paid funerals in conjunction with Bundaberg based company Flexible Funeral Benefits Pty Ltd. To read their brochure, click here. Our friendly team will be happy to answer any questions you may have, and will walk you through the process of planning your own funeral.

What do I need to think about when planning my own funeral?

There are many things to be considered in pre-arranging your own funeral that stretch far beyond whether you would like to be buried or cremated.

Here are some considerations to get you started:

• Where would you like the service to be held, and if that location is not available, where is your second choice?
• Will your service be religious or civil?
• Who will officiate your service?
• What should people wear? Black or bright colours?
• What songs would you like played, and should they be sung by a vocalist, played on a PA system or should they be instrumental?
• Who would you like to do your eulogy? Perhaps you might even like to write your own eulogy.
• Would you like a graveside service?
• Are there any poems and readings you would like to be read?

Our My Final Wishes workbook (available on this blog post) raises these questions and plenty more that you will need to carefully consider.

How much does a pre planned funeral cost?

Unfortunately, there is no set answer to this question. The cost of a pre arranged funeral varies widely, and is dependent on your choices. The good news is that pre-arranged funerals usually offer the option to pay for your funeral in instalments. Our friendly team would be happy to sit down with you to discuss funeral options that are within your budget. Click here to contact us to have a discussion or get started pre-arranging your funeral.