Alternatives to an expensive funeral.

So you don''t want to shell out $5,000 for a funeral? You don''t have to. According to Jerri Lyons of the Natural Death Care Project (NDCP) in Sebastopol, there are many funereal steps you can legally do yourself.

"You can do the paperwork yourself, transport the body yourself and what''s left is the cost of the actual cremation or burial. You can save anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000."

NDCP recommends that to lower costs, and make a funeral more meaningful, you can:

1) Hold the service in your own home. It is perfectly legal to display a corpse there.

2) Don''t embalm; use dry ice to preserve a body until burial or cremation.

3) Build a coffin, or to really save time and money, bury the dead in a cardboard box. You''ll need cemetery approval, but Lyons reports she has yet to be rejected by cemeteries for the use of coffin alternatives.

4) Provide your own transportation; you don''t need to rent a hearse.

5) Do all the paperwork yourself. It''s difficult and time-consuming, but NDCP will coach you.

To learn more, send SASE to the Natural Death Care Project, Box 1721, Sebastopol, CA, 95473, or call 707-824-0268.