Where he lived, the state mandates a funeral home must take possession of the body, hold it for 48 hours, get a medical examiner's report before processing the deceased.

My brother's family was understandably upset and reeling from the shock. I was asked to help. After confirming those pre-planned elements for my brother's funeral, I called possible funeral homes. Three phone calls and a couple of conversations later, the simple exercise of picking the body up and delivering it to the crematorium ranged in price to just south of $3000 to $800.

If we had simply gone with the first estimate, my brother's family would have over spent by nearly $2200. In percentage terms, well, you can do the math. This may not be a lot to some folks, but it’s significant in my estimation.

So did I learn anything from this? Not really, just a reaffirmation of that basic Frugal Yankee principle - spend less, even when death is part of life.