Friday, August 26, 2011

A Dangerous Game

Every few months, my wife and I play a dangerous game.  No, it isn't that type of game, and we never put each other or our child in any danger.  The game that we play is waiting to see just how late we can order more diapers from Amazon.com.  First, let me tell you about some coupon magic that my wife does with Amazon.  She somehow combines manufacturer's coupons, special codes for points from the last batch of diapers, and she  manipulates Amazon's mom specials for free shipping.  So, we end up getting a ton of diapers for very little money.



It seems like every few months we suddenly realize that we are down to the bottom of the box and we say, "We need to order more diapers" to each other, and the other partner says, "Yeah," as if to verify that this is, in fact, a true statement.  But do we order them then?  Nah.  We wait it out. How long?  Two orders ago we had seven diapers left the day before delivery and we were very worried, but Amazon came through on their two day shipping and we had two diapers to spare when they arrived.  So, this month, we were sitting at four diapers on the evening before delivery.  Now, my wife is very calm and collected, but inside, I'm freaking out.  Four diapers?  No way!  UPS won't get here until dinner time, and I'll be forced to wrap our child up in an old beach towel and clean up whatever escapes.  Maybe we waited too long...

Here is an actual text conversation between my wife and I before she came home from work...

Me: What do you want for dinner?  Soup?
Wife: Yeah. Tortilla soup.
Me: Sweet. Tortilla soup it is.
Wife: Diapers should be delivered tomorrow.  Do I need to stop on the way home to get some to hold us over?
Me: Eh... we have 3 or 4 left... I think we might be okay.  She pooped once already today...
Wife: Okay, I'm not stopping.
Me: Okay. You are so hot right now.

It does not help that we have two enabling forces that make this game so tempting.  First of all, we live next door to a family with a child the same age as my daughter, so I'm sure that we could borrow on good credit from their stash and pay them back when ours arrive.  But that is not the only enabling force.  As if divinely appointed, we get the mail last night and there are two free diapers from Huggies that my wife signed up to receive from Wal-Mart.com.  Crazy right?!  This only proves that we are supposed to play this game, and if we wait too long, the Diaper Fairy will come to the rescue!  Right?  Just say yes so I can feel better about myself.

So, today is delivery day and we have one diaper on baby and three in the box.  We're good!  We probably could have waited another day, right?  I can't wait until we play again in a few months.  It's like playing Russian roulette, but we secretly know the gun isn't loaded.  It's still a very fun game.  Kudos to you that use cloth diapers.  It's just not for us.  There's no excitement.  Don't judge.

2 comments:

  1. Can you share a little bit more on getting those deep discounts?

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  2. @Jay - Sorry, for some reason your comment got sent to "moderation" and I just now saw it. All I know is that my wife uses Amazon.com to purchase diapers. Apparently, there are discounts if you sign up for their moms club. I think this is where she gets free shipping. Anyway, there is a free trial period, and you can discontinue and restart your account to take advantage without ever actually committing to the program. Pampers gives codes on their packaging (inside plastic part) that are redeemable for discounts, and you can always use manufacturer's coupons or other online promotions in combination. It works out pretty well for us.

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