By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, Budget Vogue
Of what are you planning, Budget Voguers? Do your plans involve suitcases? Salt? Paint? Michael Jackson? Plans are glorious, fascinating, frustrating and should be as flexible as Stretch Armstrong. This month I focus on plans as most of you have them, most of you use them and most of you really do seem to enjoy making them.
I’m a planner in a great many things but exceedingly flexible when it comes to carrying them out. After thirty plus years of teaching, many times plans changed mid class. When my well laid plans transformed to chaos, I learned to pivot, to change, to read the room. I can do the same with a trip, a visit, a dinner. When my friend, Nancy, invited me to a party on a Saturday last month, I was delighted to stop by.
When I arrived, however, I noticed no cars in the driveway and a house that looked as if it were having a party in the same way my pajamas look like I’m getting ready for my Playboy shoot. When I went to the door, Nancy apologized that she’d canceled and forgot to tell me. She did invite me in, gave me a bowl of Cheetos and we chatted and laughed on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Plans change – and that can often be for the better if we know how to change with them.
My current plans involve celebrating my husband and my 30th Wedding Anniversary. We married in 1997 in Maastricht, The Netherlands and neither of us have been back since. We met in Germany, married in Holland, first lived in Alaska and, well, thirty years later, we have some great photos and memories and a marriage that, well, so far has stayed intact. And the idea of going back to Maastricht feels fun, magical. I’m beginning to plan and have invited friends and family who may join in our vow renewal. Is THAT a crazy plan? A destination VOW RENEWAL? Absolutely, yes. And, truly, I have no expectations that people will join. The main players really are my husband and I.
But, honestly, the city of Maastricht is such a great place, I’d love more for friends to see it rather than simply witness my husband and I celebrate three decades. I’d like my daughters to see the chapel where their parents took their vows, see the city where I spent the 90’s, and have friends walk and bike around the first Dutch city liberated by the Americans in World War II. I’m planning and so much of the joy is the idea of a reunion, a celebration, a renewal – not the actual event itself. Truly, I have no expectations but planning is pure joy.
“Man plans and God laughs” – or so I’ve heard. Every once in a while plans change but to have no plan is nuts. I’m already planning to vote in November 2026; THAT will be an important Tuesday. I dare not wait too long on that; I hope you, too, get your plan in motion asap.
Finally, it’s just fun to plan, to dream, to engage in possibilities. I invite you, Budget Voguers, to Maastricht in May 2027, though no date has been set and nothing formal or informal arranged. Plans morph as they move, vacillate as they come together or fall apart. But in the best case scenario, there will be a beautiful day, laughter and love and, ideally, a bowl of Cheetos.
Susan Dromey Heeter writes from Newmarket and often from the road where she celebrates thrift shops and delights in FREE signs on the side of the road. She writes of all things frugal and fun, second hand as opposed to Amazon deliveries. Follow Susan @BudgetVogue63 on Instagram. Dromey Heeter ADORES reader responses, stories and questions. She can also be reached at dromeyheeter@gmail.com.