ecosophia | Frugal Friday

Welcome back to Frugal Friday! This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc. I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

True story...my parents bought cemetery plots in the early 60s. Paid a little over $300 for the plots and bronze grave marker. Marker already engraved with my parents' names and Forever. Fast forward 20 some years and Forever got kicked to the curb. Divorced and Dad has the deed for the plots. Mom died 22 years ago and Dad just died a few weeks ago. He never sold the plots when he had the chance. Stepmom has the deed, but because the deed was in my parents names it comes to us children. Stepmom has asked if we will transfer the deed to her so she can sell the plots. I have no problem signing these plots over to her. These plots are not Fort Knox. They can possibly be sold for $2000 a piece, but here's the catch. The cemetery charges almost $1000 to transfer the deed and remove the marker. If my stepmom can find buyers, she will most likely have to pay another $500 to transfer the deed to the buyer. My siblings are dragging their feet signing off on the transfer. What a mess!
If you have elderly parents who perhaps bought plots ages ago, speak with them about their plans. Do they want to be buried there? Are the opting for cremation? (Both my parents did.) If they no longer want their plots, get rid of them now before it's messy.

Wow, that's like for a novel.

Me, I'm going for the scatter the ashes on the ocean thing.

My dad, a US Army veteran who was a Super Frugalista, arranged to have the US Army take his and my mom's ashes in a military cemetery in our state. I paid for a very nicely made wood urn I found on Etsy— it was worth it to me for the brief ceremony of placing it in the ground (doubt my dad would have agreed about that, though). Otherwise their burials were all free. I sincerely appreciated his thoughtfulness in this regard. I wasn't in much of a state to consider all the many decisions and expenses I would have had I needed to deal with a funeral home and a civilian cemetery.

Frugal Friday

Cemetery plots and not waiting

Re: Cemetery plots and not waiting