The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

Planning a Funeral on a Holiday Weekend: Availability Challenges and Practical Workarounds

Planning a Funeral on a Holiday Weekend: Availability Challenges and Practical Workarounds

A holiday weekend can feel like the worst possible time for loss—not because grief follows a calendar, but because everything else suddenly does. Phones go to voicemail. Offices close early....

Storing a Body Before the Funeral: Refrigeration, Embalming, and Home Care Options

Storing a Body Before the Funeral: Refrigeration, Embalming, and Home Care Options

A death can make time feel strange. The hours after someone dies may be full of quiet—phone calls, travel plans, a sudden list of decisions—while your heart is still trying...

Embalming Explained: When It’s Required, Alternatives, and How It Affects Timing

Embalming Explained: When It’s Required, Alternatives, and How It Affects Timing

In the first hours after a death, families are often asked a question that feels oddly technical for such an emotional moment: “Will you be embalming?” It can sound like...

Open vs Closed Casket: How to Decide, What to Expect, and How to Tell Family

Open vs Closed Casket: How to Decide, What to Expect, and How to Tell Family

Most families do not start funeral planning expecting to weigh something as intimate as open casket vs closed casket. It can feel like you are choosing between two different kinds of...

Last-Minute Funeral Planning: A Fast Checklist for a Meaningful Service

Last-Minute Funeral Planning: A Fast Checklist for a Meaningful Service

When you have to plan a funeral or memorial quickly, it can feel like the world is asking you to make permanent decisions while you’re still trying to breathe. The...

End-of-Life Paperwork Checklist: Essential Documents to Prepare Before You Die

End-of-Life Paperwork Checklist: Essential Documents to Prepare Before You Die

Most families don’t get stuck because they “didn’t love enough” or “didn’t do enough.” They get stuck because the paperwork isn’t where it needs to be. A hospital asks for...

Swedish Death Cleaning in Your 40s: A Practical Guide to Decluttering With Purpose

Swedish Death Cleaning in Your 40s: A Practical Guide to Decluttering With Purpose

If you’re in your 40s and the word “death cleaning” makes you flinch, you’re not alone. Swedish death cleaning (often referred to by the Swedish term döstädning) sounds heavier than...

Driving a Body Across State Lines: What Paperwork Do You Need?

Driving a Body Across State Lines: What Paperwork Do You Need?

When someone dies far from home, the first wish many families say out loud is simple: “We want to bring them home.” It’s a loving instinct, and it can also...

Digital Executors: Who They Are and Why You Need One

Digital Executors: Who They Are and Why You Need One

A few days after someone dies, the world keeps doing what it always does. Phones buzz. Emails arrive. A streaming service charges a card on file. A “memories” notification appears...

What Helped After a Death: Real Gifts and Support People Say Made a Difference

What Helped After a Death: Real Gifts and Support People Say Made a Difference

In the first days after someone dies, most families are not “okay,” even if they look composed on the outside. They are navigating shock, phone calls, paperwork, sleep that doesn’t...

What Helped Most After a Death: Real-Life Ideas People Appreciate (Meals, Errands, Support)

What Helped Most After a Death: Real-Life Ideas People Appreciate (Meals, Errands, Support)

In the days after a death, a strange thing happens. The people who love you show up with big hearts and good intentions, and still, you can feel alone in...

What Happens to Your World of Warcraft Account and Gold When You Die?

What Happens to Your World of Warcraft Account and Gold When You Die?

For many players, Azeroth isn’t “just a game.” It’s where you spent late nights after work, where you celebrated a first clear with people who became real friends, where a...

Creating a Goodbye Video Message to Send After You Die: A Practical, Private Guide

Creating a Goodbye Video Message to Send After You Die: A Practical, Private Guide

Most people don’t set out to make a “legacy video.” They start with something simpler: the wish that the people they love won’t feel alone in the quiet weeks after....

Grief Tech: The Best Apps for Storing Memories in 2026 (Privacy-First Options Included)

Grief Tech: The Best Apps for Storing Memories in 2026 (Privacy-First Options Included)

In the first weeks after a loss, people often assume the hardest part will be the big moments: the service, the phone calls, the paperwork. But many families discover a...

How to Access a Deceased Loved One’s Android Phone (Legally, Without Bypassing Security)

How to Access a Deceased Loved One’s Android Phone (Legally, Without Bypassing Security)

After someone dies, their phone can feel like a small vault of a whole life: family photos you didn’t realize they saved, message threads that explain a sudden decision, notes...

What Happens to Your TikTok Drafts When You Die?

What Happens to Your TikTok Drafts When You Die?

TikTok can feel oddly intimate, even when you never post. A draft is a half-finished story, a joke you meant to send to your sister, a voiceover you recorded at...