We are doing well and appropriate overall. We have found a home for almost all of Macayla's equipment so that other special-needs families can benefit. We are still sorting many items and that always seems to stir up memories, some hard and some sweet. Jacob has been very busy and having fun this summer. He seems to be showing the first signs of outward grief. We were told that kids can take as long as six weeks before they even cry. He is a strong kid and like his Dad, he struggles to process and express emotion.
We really want to thank McDougald Funeral Home. They were great to work with and went the extra mile with us. Mark and Wendell were great to work with and were very thoughtful, sensitive and encouraging. They thought of things we never would have. They listened to our wishes and helped us weed through the details.
It is the details and cost of a funeral that can be so overwhelming. We felt like we needed to share a bit about that for other families who are on a similar path to our own. But it is good for all of us to know as we all will make a trip to a funeral home one day.
The cost of a funeral is more than you would expect. We are only sharing this so that others can be more prepared for the financial side than we were. We put money back and pre-paid for part of the funeral, but it was still not enough. Thanks to the generosity of some family and friends, the costs were covered.
The funeral home services were worth every penny to us. That was approximately $4,500 and that covered their services, limos, transporting Macayla, etc. This could have been a little bit more had we held the visitation or the funeral in their facilities. Then there was the obituary in the newspapers. This is the part we struggled to understand. Greenville news charged us $445; Anderson Independent - $94; Aiken Standard - $244; and Williamston - $18. They charge by the line typically and that is understandable, otherwise people would go on and on in the obituaries and take up too much space in the paper. (In fact, some do!) But I just had to wonder why they could not put a reasonable, standard price for a basic announcement and then charge by the line beyond that. Anyway, there is also the costs of death certificates which is not much ($54 for 12 copies). The caskets usually start just under $1,000 and go up from there. Macayla's was very simple and cost $960. If you have a pastor and musicians involved, you will want to include an honorarium for them as well. Such as $100 for the pastor and $20-$50 per musician depending on the situation. The funeral costs were around $6,400.
But there is also the cost of the cemetery. Macayla was in a mosemleum and it is more expensive than a plot in the ground. But the plot requires a vault and the burial, and those are on top of the cost of the plot. I'm not exactly sure of the mosemleum costs as her spot was given to us by family. But I believe it is around $3,000 for the spot and to open and close it at burial. Then there is the marker that goes on it. We spent $1,200 on that. Memorials on grave plots have a wide range of prices depending on how ornate and large. Overall, the cost of Macayla's funeral was about $11,000. This is a lower-end price as we did many things ourselves for the visitation and we did not spend much on the casket. Knowing this can help someone plan for a funeral's cost more effectively and more realistically.
We pre-planned Macayla's funeral, but there were still plenty of details we had to work out in those few days after she passed. Pre-planning does not cover every base, so be prepared. But pre-planning made it all that much smoother once the time came. It is worth it and with McDougald, we were able to pay ahead of time what we could and it went into an interest-bearing account. The money we put in there made more money and that went further in paying for the funeral. Pre-planning and pre-paying is the way to go.
Speaking of all the decisions that must be made between the death and the funeral, it can also help to have someone who will go with you to the funeral home and cemetery and help with the financial decisions. It helps to take someone along you trust and is able to stay more objective because their level of grief is not as heavy as your own. Unfortunately, there are people in the funeral business that will over charge or add services you never wanted. Having a clearer head in the room with you helps. We were fortunate and did not have that problem.
This was our experience. I hope it helps someone else. We thank you all for your continued love. We miss our little girl. We love our little girl. We know she is right where she needs to be and she is loving it. We celebrate with our little girl.
No comments:
Post a Comment