Given what you experienced making arrangements after your spouse's death, no doubt you want to do everything in your power to help your children in the event that you pass away. To help make the grieving process somewhat easier on your children, you may want to consider preplanning some of your funeral arrangements.

A few things you might want to consider addressing when preplanning your funeral:

• Setting aside money on a regular basis and investing it so that your children can use it to pay for funeral expenses
• Buying a burial plot
• Specifying what type of burial arrangements you'd prefer - for example, if you'd like to be buried in a casket or if you'd like to be cremated.
• Deciding whether or not you would like to have your organs donated.
• Listing any details of the ceremony - i.e. What funeral home/mortuary you'd like to use, pallbearers, music, flowers, where donations should be directed if in lieu of flowers, who you'd like to give the eulogy, etc.
• Making arrangements for any special get-together for your family and friends after your funeral. For example, if you have a favorite restaurant maybe you'd like to put some money aside specifically for your family to enjoy a meal together.
• A preferred inscription you'd like on your headstone.

Once you've put together a list of your funeral arrangement preferences, make at least two copies - keep one clearly labeled in a home filing system and one in your bank safety deposit box. It's important that documents like your cemetery deed are kept in a safe, accessible place.