IF YOU dropped dead tomorrow, what would happen to your Facebook account?
Would your family know that you want your ashes scattered in the Sydney harbour?
Or perhaps you want to be buried in a non-traditional cardboard casket?
Lisa Herbert doesn’t have the answers to those personal questions, but she is helping make life easier for family and friends that are left to pick up the pieces when a loved one dies.
The Bottom Drawer Book: The After Death Action Plan is self-explanatory, although there is some devil in the detail.
“These days, there are more things to consider than whether you want to be buried or cremated; like who you want invited to your funeral and what music you would like played,” Herbert said.
The Tamworth-based journalist and ABC New England radio presenter said she published the book to make the conversation about death a little less confronting.
Featuring comical illustrations and humourous text, the book offers thought-provoking questions about death and provides space for readers to leave their own ideas and plans.
“Then when you go there’ll be no squabbling over how much to spend on your casket, who’ll tell stories at your funeral or which footy jumper you’ll be buried in,” Herbert said.
She started writing the book after stumbling across a cardboard coffin during a suburban street fair.
“Who knew you could get your own photos and artwork printed on an environmentally-friendly casket?” she said.
“It’s something I want to be buried in, so I started writing down ideas for my own funeral. Sixty-nine pages later I had a book.”
The Bottom Drawer Book is your after-death action plan.
“Your ideas, plans, and your life’s reflections will sit quietly in its pages until they’re needed,” Herbert said.
The Bottom Drawer Book costs $16.95 with postage included, to score a copy, go to www.thebottomdrawerbook.com.au
