Death often causes financial hardship. In 2020, my neighbor suffered the deaths of two family members, neither of whom incurred hospital costs. But she was dismayed by the total funeral and burial costs for those two deaths: $36,000.

Due to COVID-19, many families must deal not only with the pain of losing loved ones, but also high funeral/burial costs.

We should not blame funeral homes. They have plenty of business and just respond to public demand.

The problem is that few people are aware of the wide range of options for honoring the deceased and that some respectful, memorable choices could save survivors thousands of dollars.

Funeral or memorial service?

Viewings and funerals are traditional times for family members and friends to gather to grieve and remember the departed. They usually involve a casket with the deceased in it.

Survivors, wanting to show their love for the deceased, may feel pressured to buy an expensive casket. Fortunately, good-looking but inexpensive caskets are readily available.

However, some are opting not to have a traditional viewing or funeral with the deceased in a casket and funeral home employees — total strangers to everyone — standing around for hours.

Instead, they schedule a small reception exactly like a viewing, but lacking the departed and the casket. They arrange a thoughtful memorial service that is exactly like a funeral, but without the corpse, the casket and funeral home employees.

The most important thing after a beloved’s death is gathering with survivors and celebrating the life of the departed, not the looks of the casket or the deceased.

However, if a family member decides before death that they want a traditional viewing and funeral with their body in a casket for all to see, of course they can request it.

But if a family reception and memorial service without the casket is all right with them, they should let loved ones know. There are many options for this, and most can save a bundle.

Many more options

It should be noted that embalming costs $500-$1,000 and is not required by Utah law for burial. A body can be refrigerated until burial for two weeks without extra charge under normal conditions.

Family and friends can gather soon after death for a private, graveside service and burial. A nice reception and appropriate memorial service can be held anytime thereafter.

As noted above, a wide variety of caskets are available, and some funeral homes offer wooden, wicker, and bamboo ones. The latter are astonishingly inexpensive, as low as $1,200 for wicker. All caskets eventually deteriorate, no matter how fancy. Burial in a simple shroud may also be available.

Concrete burial vaults ($400-$1,000) are not required by Utah law, but most cemeteries require them in order to reduce surface sinking after the casket collapses. However, a few local cemeteries do not require them for burials with natural caskets or shrouds, because the subsidence in such instance is minimal or hardly detectable.

Burial plots in typical cemeteries can cost over $2,000, and may be even more expensive in more natural cemeteries. Opening and closing a grave adds another $400, and even a flat grave marker is an additional $1,000 or more, depending on the size.

To avoid the costs of a casket, burial, and cemetery lot, many are choosing cremation as an inexpensive way to speed what happens naturally after burial anyway. Costs start around $650, and it doesn’t require any expensive cemetery real estate.

Cremation ashes in an urn may be placed in a crypt costing $700-$900, in the house, or scattered in nature free of charge.

In the U.S., a clear majority now choose cremation over burial, and it is offered by nearly every local funeral home. It’s far less common in Utah, partly because The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t recommend it where not required by law, as in Japan. But the church does not forbid it and leaves the decision to the family.

One problem with cremation is air pollution, which can be avoided by another option, called “aquamation” or “water cremation.” Technically called alkaline hydrolysis, it is slowly gaining acceptance.

Only one funeral home in Utah — in Tooele — now offers aquamation. The cost is slightly more expensive than some cremation options, but no cremation casket is needed, and the funeral home provides transportation of the body. After aquamation, the family receives what looks like ashes in an urn or box of their choice.

Death always involves emotional loss, but it can be much less of a financial hardship if all options are considered. The main thing should be thoughtfully celebrating and remembering together the life of the departed.