Avoid These 4 Mistakes When Preplanning Your Arrangements
The only thing worse than not preplanning your final arrangements is preplanning them and making some of these commonly made mistakes. While it’s great to preplan, if you do so and make these mistakes, you may be doing more harm than good. Check out these common mistakes that directors from funeral homes in Barrington, IL. often see so that you can be sure to avoid making them yourself.
1. Not Telling Your Family
Although it may seem obvious to share your plans with others, many people ignore this step. They may get busy with all of the planning and simply forget, or they may feel that as long as the papers are filed away, everything will be taken care of.
The fact is, that unless you let people know what your plans are, they are not going to know you made any. After your plans have been determined, set a meeting up with all involved family members. Let them know exactly what plans you have made, what is covered (and not covered), and which providers you made arrangements with. If your family is not local, set up an online meeting with websites such as Zoom.
2. Not Considering the Needs of Others
While it is true that these are your plans and final arrangements, you need to still take into consideration the needs and desires of other family members. For example, you may not think a formal funeral service is important, but it may be exactly what your family needs at the time of your passing to help them grieve. Or maybe they really would benefit from having visitation held. Make sure to talk with your family and their wishes and needs to ensure they are being met as well as your own. You want to make sure they have what they need to help them with their grief when the time comes.
3. Not Exploring All Your Options
Many times, people may start preplanning before they truly know what they want or what options are even available. This can be true when it comes to how they wish to be buried or what type of cemetery they would like to be buried in. For example, there are lawn cemeteries, mausoleums, and more, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The same is true for cremation and what will happen with the cremains afterward. They could be kept at home, in a columbarium niche, buried, etc.
4. Not Setting a Budget
One of the biggest advantages of preplanning is that you can often lock in the rates and prices of today before inflation and time raise them higher at the time of your passing. Still, you can often spend more than you desire if you fail to first set a budget.
Before you start preplanning, sit down and determine how much you are willing to spend. Then, when meeting with funeral homes, let them know of your budget so they can help you plan and stay within your desired range.
To learn more and start preplanning today, contact one of our directors from funeral homes in Barrington, IL. to meet one-on-one and discuss your needs.
