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.

Renting a Casket for a Home Vigil: Is It Possible, and When It Makes Sense

Renting a Casket for a Home Vigil: Is It Possible, and When It Makes Sense

In the first quiet hours after a death, families often discover that grief and logistics arrive together. Someone says, “We want a vigil at home,” and another person asks, “Does...

Backfilling a Grave: Mounding vs. Flat Finish, Settling, and Long-Term Maintenance

Backfilling a Grave: Mounding vs. Flat Finish, Settling, and Long-Term Maintenance

There is a moment after a burial that families rarely picture in advance: the quiet work of closing the grave. The ceremony is over, the last hugs have been shared,...

Winter Home Burial: Planning for Frozen Ground, Equipment, and Safe Alternatives

Winter Home Burial: Planning for Frozen Ground, Equipment, and Safe Alternatives

When a death happens in winter, grief arrives alongside a second reality: the ground may not be ready to receive anyone. Families who hope for a home burial often imagine...

Soil Types for Home Burial: Clay vs. Sand, Drainage, and What It Means for a Grave Site

Soil Types for Home Burial: Clay vs. Sand, Drainage, and What It Means for a Grave Site

When families imagine a home burial, they often picture the emotional side first: a familiar place, a small circle of people, a goodbye that feels personal. Then the practical questions...

Transport Permits After a Death: When You Can Move the Body Yourself (and When You Can’t)

Transport Permits After a Death: When You Can Move the Body Yourself (and When You Can’t)

The hours after a death can feel unreal: the quiet in the room, the small decisions that suddenly carry enormous weight, the sense that time has both stopped and started...

Doorway Width for Body Removal: Clearance, Turns, and Stairs for Home Death Care

Doorway Width for Body Removal: Clearance, Turns, and Stairs for Home Death Care

When someone dies at home, the first hours can feel both intimate and unreal. There may be a hush in the house that’s unlike any other quiet you’ve known—gentle, heavy,...

Call Before You Dig for a Home Burial: Utility Lines, 811, and What to Verify on Your Property

Call Before You Dig for a Home Burial: Utility Lines, 811, and What to Verify on Your Property

When a family starts talking about a home burial, the conversation usually begins in a tender place: “They wanted to stay here.” Maybe it’s the land that has held generations,...

Digging a Grave at Home: Safety, Shoring Basics, and Typical Dimensions to Discuss With a Pro

Digging a Grave at Home: Safety, Shoring Basics, and Typical Dimensions to Discuss With a Pro

When a family asks whether they can bury someone at home, they’re usually not chasing a trend. They’re trying to honor a life in a place that mattered—on land held...

Florida Home Funeral Laws: 24-Hour Preservation Rules and What “Storage” Means at Home

Florida Home Funeral Laws: 24-Hour Preservation Rules and What “Storage” Means at Home

In the hours after a death, families often move between two realities at once. There is the emotional reality—shock, tenderness, disbelief, the instinct to stay close. And there is the...

Texas Home Funeral Laws: The 24-Hour Refrigeration Rule and Body Care Options

Texas Home Funeral Laws: The 24-Hour Refrigeration Rule and Body Care Options

A death at home can feel like time changes shape. The room is the same room, the light is the same light, and yet everything has shifted. In those first...

Alabama Home Funeral Laws: Who Can File the Death Certificate and Get a Burial/Removal Permit

Alabama Home Funeral Laws: Who Can File the Death Certificate and Get a Burial/Removal Permit

A death at home can leave a family holding two truths at once: the emotional need to slow down, and the practical need to act. In Alabama, families generally can...

Sewing a Burial Shroud: Simple Patterns, Fabric Yardage, and Handling Tips

Sewing a Burial Shroud: Simple Patterns, Fabric Yardage, and Handling Tips

Most families don’t set out to learn how to sew a burial shroud. It usually begins the way so many end-of-life decisions begin: with love, a little urgency, and a...

Cremation Cost in Alaska (2026): Price Breakdown & FAQs

Cremation Cost in Alaska (2026): Price Breakdown & FAQs

If you are reading this after a death (or while trying to prepare for one), you may have already discovered something frustrating: pricing can feel unclear at exactly the moment...

Casket Kits: What to Look For in Pre‑Cut DIY Options (Fit, Fasteners, and Compliance)

Casket Kits: What to Look For in Pre‑Cut DIY Options (Fit, Fasteners, and Compliance)

There’s a particular kind of quiet that settles in when you’re responsible for arrangements. Even if your family has talked about wishes for years, the moment you need to make...

Cremation Cost in Delaware (2026): Price Breakdown & FAQs

Cremation Cost in Delaware (2026): Price Breakdown & FAQs

When a death happens—or when you are quietly planning ahead—cost questions can feel both practical and painfully personal. Many Delaware families start with the same simple search: how much does...

Cremation Cost in District of Columbia (2026): Price Breakdown & FAQs

Cremation Cost in District of Columbia (2026): Price Breakdown & FAQs

The first time many families search cremation cost District of Columbia 2026, they are not looking for a sales pitch. They are looking for steadiness. A single number to hold...