When you phone a Funeral Home
What Happens When You Phone a Funeral Home? Phoning a funeral home is not a common activity for most people. For most people they may never phone them. So it would be fair to say people may be unsure of what to expect. When you phone, hopefully you get to speak to a nice person […]
The Rite Funeral For You…
The Changing Face of Funerals Almost every week, people talk to me about the kind of funeral they would like to have. It is one of those subjects that does seem strange to talk about, but in another way, it is very natural. What people most often want to talk to me about is that […]
TV News
I haven’t watch TV news all year and guess what….. Something changed with TV news. I remember Dougal Stevenson, Richard Long, Philip Sherry, Judy Bailey very clearly. And do you know what I miss most about them – they read the news. Now I know there is more than that to reading the news. But […]
DIY Funeral
DIY Funerals – What you need to know. Please do not read this if you are sensitive about this subject. There may be comments or insights that may offend. Reader discretion is advised. They DIY funeral is something some people consider seriously. The main reason tends to be money. Will it be a lot cheaper […]
What happens to a body after it dies?
What happens to a body after it dies? This isn’t so much about the spiritual after life beliefs people have. It is a very simple guide that i hope gives a little insight.. Like many people, I didn’t know too much about the process a body goes through after death. How quickly will it change, […]
What do you do series #5
A short SDF series onWhat do you do when…. 5. Family Members Don’t Get On? How to survive family relationships when dealing with death. So there is a death in the family, but some family members aren’t talking to each other. Tricky !! More than tricky, it can be awful. How can you cope? […]
What do you do series #4
A short SDF series onWhat do you do when…. 4. when you need to organise a funeral? So someone has died and you are the person who is responsible for sorting everything out. Where do you start? What do you do? When people contact me for funeral services, they often say that they don’t really […]
What do you do series #3
A short SDF series #3 What do you do when…. when you want a funeral without the huge expense? There are many options for families needing to have a funeral. In many cases, the expense is dramatically reduced with minimal input from funeral homes. An example is having a private cremation or burial soon after […]
What do you do series #2
A short SDF series on What do you do when…. 2. when you are facing death? Seven steps to help you when are facing death. So you have been given the news that there is no cure? That your death is inevitable. How will you cope? How do you prepare? How will you take care of […]
What do you do series
A short SDF series on What do you do when…. 1. What do you do when you feel you just can’t cope. Understanding the emotions surrounding death and dying. So it feels like you can’t cope dealing with the death of someone. Your life feels like it is spinning out of control. That’s OK and that’s […]
How Involved should you get?
How Involved Should You Get Helping With Your Loved One Who Just Died? That title ↑ seemed to go on forever. Hopefully what follows explains it all. How involved should you be with a funeral? Not the funeral service as such, but more with the person who has died. In other words, how “hands on” […]
Talking Funerals
The other day, a person came to discuss funeral options. After an unpleasant experience last year when her brother passed away, she didn’t want to go through that again and was investigating other options. So, what happened with her? In brief, it was the usual suspects she experienced. The price they told them initially was […]
Funeral Wishes
Do you have to do everything a person requests for their funeral? Sometimes when a person dies, they have a list of everything they want to happen for the funeral. It could be as comprehensive as the type of flowers, music, people talking at it, and so on. These people are planners – obviously. […]
Talking about Mortality
Why is it Good to Talk about our Mortality? If you didn’t realise – January has almost come and gone. I remember when I was a boy January school holidays going on forever. You didn’t worry about school starting. That was ages away. Finally when school did start, the year ahead looked endless. Friday afternoon, […]
20 Things Funeral Homes Don’t Want You to Know
20 things Funeral Homesdon’t want you to know 15 things was a very popular post. So it is well worth taking another look and even adding a few more to the list… Don’t pay in advance for a funeral – especially if you think it will make things easier. If you want to put money […]
Direct Cremation – Yes/No?
What exactly is a Direct Cremations? The Direct Cremation has become a more popular option over the years. For some it is simply a financial reason to avoid the expense of the usual funeral service. Other people just don’t want the fuss and bother of a funeral service. There are all kinds of reasons why […]
Overcoming the Fear of Funerals
Overcoming the Fear of Funerals The other day, I was arranging a funeral with a family for their husband, father, and grandfather. Like many families, a funeral was not something they knew much about organizing. So, I could have easily led them down a path to doing a funeral that I thought would be best […]
Service Regardless of Price
I reserve the right to do more – without increasing costs One of the best things about being your own boss is being able to make decisions without needing to ask or justify it to others. Because the buck stops with me, I can do what I like. This is no better illustrated than when […]
Caring for the Deceased
Caring for the Decease It is important that families feel confident leaving their loved one in my care. On my website there is a page dedicated to explaining how we care for the deceased. Even though the person has died, they are still your loved one and should be treated with respect. Managing Transfers When […]
Choosing a funeral home
Choosing the right Funeral Home – for you Organising a funeral isn’t something people do on a regular basis. So it’s little wonder that you may feel a little nervous and uncertain. Even a simple funeral is a significant event. So how do you choose the right funeral home for you? Type of funeral The […]
Your Funeral Your Way
What kind of funeral would you like? I know some people love imagining what their funeral might be. It isn’t so much about the dying as it is about the event. They write down in detail what they want and imagine the response of the people there. It’s almost like a Broadway production. Then there […]
The Good Life
The Good Life Only the more mature reader will remember the British TV show, The Good Life. This was a show about a couple, surname Good, who decided to live off the grid in their suburban house, much to the annoyance of their upper-class neighbours. They quit their 9 to 5 jobs and slowly turned […]
Big Business
Is big business taking over the funeral industry? Most of the major funeral homes in New Zealand are now owned by two major players – InvoCare and Propel. These huge Australian companies are buying all the funeral homes they can get, and today there are very few independent large funeral homes left in NZ. An […]
When Less is More
SDF – How Less is More In a past life, I have conducted more funeral services than I can remember. I wasn’t involved with a funeral home; I was a church minister who had many families come to me to discuss what they wanted. Over the years, the insights I learned have helped mold the […]
What do you need to do?
“What do you need to do to have a funeral?” A funeral is a very personal and in some cases private time for families and friends. And because all families are unique funerals should reflect that. Society is slowly moving away from the “cookie cutter” model of funerals and becoming much more creative and significant […]
How Hard is a DIY Funeral?
The cost of a funeral has made some people wonder how hard could it really be to do it yourself? Especially if all you want are the absolute basics – no fuss, no stress. There are websites that give you information on the process and the requirements you need to meet both legally and logistically. […]
Free Funerals
I remembered a story about a wedding where the couple had sponsors for virtually everything at the ceremony and reception and the wedding didn’t cost them a cent. I decided to googled sponsored weddings to see if it is a real thing. Guess what? This is a real thing that people can do. Obviously, this […]
I was 20 when my dad died
I was 20 when my dad died. It’s been over 30 years since my dad drowned. A decision to swim after work on the Gold Coast one day changed everything for our family. Caught in a rip, he just couldn’t get back back to the shore. At the time, I was in New Zealand. I […]
5 things you don’t need to worry about…
Five things you don’t need to worry about when planning a funeral. Many people speak of the number of things that happens with a funeral. During a time when people are often stressed, highly emotional and possibly with their mind all over the place… they have to make some significant decisions. Not only in regard […]
Cowboy Operators
Am I a cowboy? Ask me that question when I was ten years old and I would have said, “I wish.” Hat, gun, horse – what’s not to like? However we know that a cowboy in business terms isn’t great. Usually you will get a builder who is called a cowboy. This means they over-charge […]
Planning a Funeral
Planning and paying for your funeral ahead of time is often encouraged by funeral homes and insurance companies. They have their reasons, which they say are for your benefit – not theirs. The main benefits are not being a burden on your family or having the funeral you want. Somehow, I think most people won’t […]
What is a Dignified Farewell?
There is in the media again stories about the cost of a funeral. Often these stories are poorly hidden adverts for the benefit of Life Insurance companies or Funeral Homes. It is the message that funerals are expensive and the expense is because it shows love and dignity. The story isn’t new. This latest story […]
Seven things that make us unique
Seven things that make SDF different from other funeral homes: Our style. The thing families experience the most is our relaxed style. It doesn’t mean we are slack; rather, we create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable. It suits our style, and we want families to feel at ease and can have the funeral they […]
After someone has died
“What happens to the body after death? Now, I know that this subject may be a little off-putting for some people, but the intention isn’t to shock or upset anyone. This message won’t go into any details, but it will provide you with knowledge that will hopefully better prepare you if or when you face […]
The Coroner
What happens when the coroner is involved? The first thing to say is that when a death is unexpected the shock can initially be overwhelming. In an instance your whole world is turned upside-down. So many questions and uncertainty fills one’s mind. This is not to say an expected death is any less difficult. There […]
More than just low-costs
“Do not let the cost of saying goodbye add to your grief.” When I first began SDF, I wrote this line (above) with a focus on the funeral costs. Giving families a real cost alternative was something new to Nelson. Providing only low-cost, set priced funerals had never been done before because funeral homes could […]
How to Save on Funeral Costs
There are those who do not worry about the costs of a funeral. They want all the optional extras. This blog is not for them. There have been a few stories recently about the increase in council fees for cemetery plots and cremation costs. This is happening all across New Zealand. And it’s just another […]
The Political Circus
Well, it’s the season when we see the often-mysterious and shy politicians emerging from the dark places within the Beehive. Most of them squint into the sunlight and follow their leader, nodding their heads at the right time when the camera is rolling. Of course, some politicians love the limelight and attention. They wish elections […]
Spirituality and Death
There is nothing quite like death to make us think about life. There are big questions about what life is truly about. Then there is the other question of if there is anything after death. In New Zealand, the Christian faith has experienced a decline in numbers for years. Fewer people follow or believe in […]
Why does Click-Bait work?
Click-Bait – Why? Most of us know what click-bait is – that online headline that entices us to click on it. Interestingly, news websites seem to be the biggest users of it. Maybe it’s simply for the revenue they make – why else would they be there? Most of these click-baits have a great heading […]