Great Chitter Chatter - Stories from Loud Voices

You’re neat, detailed, organized… always have been, always will be. Lists are your thing, your desk is often immaculate, and even when clutter springs up, you’ve usually tackled it within a week. You planned your wedding from start to finish, you planned birthday parties for the children, graduation parties, surprise anniversary parties, Thanksgiving dinners, retirement celebrations. So why not plan your funeral arrangements in advance to control the final details of your life and lessen the burden on your loved ones?

The casket can be the most expensive part of the traditional family funeral. Loved ones feel especially torn when selecting an appropriate burial container. They wonder if you would have wanted pine or mahogany, they wonder if people will think they are cheap. The truth is, after the funeral, no one will ever see your casket again! Therefore, you may want to look into renting a casket and selecting a less expensive burial container. If your family is low-key and doesn’t care much for appearances, then a simple casket made of plastic or pine will be just fine. You can also choose from fiberglass, wood, plastic or metal, and you can even find them online! If you do purchase your casket online, then be aware that federal regulations state that funeral homes cannot charge you extra for supplying your own casket.

Instead, you may choose the direct cremation option (which runs from $300 - $600). If direct cremation sounds appropriate to you, then you’ll only pay for the funeral director’s consultation, a non-metal body container, hearse fees for crematorium transport, and an urn or container for the ashes. Some Christians desire burial of the ashes, in which case you’ll need to buy a grave site, marker and hardier container. Even so, this option is generally cheaper, though it doesn’t allow people that elaborate face-to-face mourning.

What is a grave liner or vault, and is it really necessary? A grave liner or vault is required as an outer burial container to surround the casket in the grave and prevent the ground from settling or sinking over time. The necessity of a grave liner depends upon the individual cemetery, so you may want to shop around at a few places. If this is not feasible, then don’t fret too much - liners usually don’t cost too much.

Think about your family and friends. Do they need to see you one last time before they can say goodbye? Or will a cremation and memorial service suffice? You can even go so far as to plan out your post-funeral arrangements as well. Did you have a favorite breakfast restaurant or buffet? Or perhaps you feel it’d be appropriate for the family to celebrate your life outdoors at one of your favorite parks. These are all things to think about and put in writing now.

How would you like to earn money while shopping for things that you want and you don’t want, then, get to receive some mouth-watering offers, sample some new products and just fill out some forms? Yes, that’s right, you get to enjoy all of these things only when you learn how to become a mystery shopper and for you to enjoy it, the first best thing you need to do is to learn how to become one. So, what’s the catch in becoming a secret shopper and what are the benefits that you can get if you decide to earn money from it?

First of all, anyone can learn how to be a mystery shopper and it doesn’t matter if you are a busy executive or just a plain housewife or a person with no job or a businessman. Anyone has always the time for shopping, right? If you can just shop without spending your own money, why not? If you can shop without spending your money and you will get paid for it, so much the better, right? As a mystery shopper, you can eat at a restaurant, buy different things from different department stores, test drive a car, buy fuel for your own car and even get some freebies and you earn money from it.

Even this writer had his own experience as a mystery shopper. He didn’t even learn how to become a secret shopper. He was just sitting in one comfortable place just minding his business, sipping a cup of coffee while his car was parked up front when suddenly, a very nice woman approached him and ask him if he can spare some time to answer some survey questions regarding cars and fuel types. So, he obliged and to cut the long story short, for almost 2 years, he went from one gas station to another everyday, filling in his fuel tank without spending a single cent from his own pocket and the nice thing is, he got paid for doing so.