Ive been gone for a while

Ive been gone. What can I say my darling husband finally came home from his LAST deployment!!! We still have 2 more years with the army and in these next 2 years we are going to work our buts off to set ourselves up financially. Neither of us want to instantly worry about living the civilian life instantly broke. We are hoping every thing works out right and to where Jared with have enough terminal leave to be able to find/start a job while still being payed by the Army(if you are not military its a bit confusing).
We do have a plan though. The first step is putting a large chunk of our savings in to paying down our car loan, then refinancing it with USAA at a lower interest rate because lets face it, with our current interest rate of %14.7 we are never going to pay off this car. Then hopefully find a car for me, nothing special. I hope to start going to school in January with the help of a pell grant and MyCAA scholarship. Which is where the car comes in, I need a way to get the boys to daycare and me to school!
I would like to get a job but the cost of daycare and the hours I would be able to work outweigh what little money I could bring in.

This brings me to what my main post is about.

THE ENVELOPE METHOD!
Jared and I agreed that starting next paycheck(the 15th) we are going to start the envelope method.
I'll explain it a little then post a link or 2 to some other explanations.

So here our our bi monthly expenses other than bills since all our bills are paid over the internet. We go by 1st and 15th of the month since that is when we get paid.

Food/Goods- $350
This is what we are budgeting, since this is our first time working cash only I want to make sure we have enough. If its to much it can be adjusted next paycheck.
This also includes diapers wipes, household needs like toilet paper, garbage bags. Hygiene products also like shampoo and conditioner, tooth paste, razors. Most of these things are not EVERY paycheck needs though.

Gas- $100
For Jared going to and from work and to and from BJJ.

Spend- $?
This is going to be about half of what is left of our paycheck. So say we had $100 left, $50 would go in our spend envelope and the rest in savings.
This is for say random meal out or maybe something fun to do. BUT what is in the envelope is all we have to spend.

So all of those bold categories are taken out in cash and put in to a labeled envelope. The cash in the envelope is ALL you have to spend on that categories. No taking from one to add to another.
At the end of the 2wks(or month if you choose). What ever is left(if any) is put in to savings.
Small change can be put into a piggy bank or what ever you choose.

The premise is that keeping your dealings in cash will force you to choose more wisely what you spend your money on. You have $10 left, to you buy the 1 meal at McDonald or buy inexpensive staples that could feed you for 2-3 days? Do you make that extra trip just to browse the book store or do you save your gas for more important things?

Here are some links I like
Dave Ramsey is incredibly helpful. He also has the Snowball method for paying down debt.
http://www.daveramsey.com/article/dave-ramseys-envelope-system/lifeandmoney_budgeting/

A good video tutorial on The envelope method.
http://www.ncnblog.com/2007/08/17/envelope-system-video-tutorial-step-by-step-guide-to-using-the-envelope-system-to-manage-your-cash/

And a blog I recently discovered about everything frugal!
http://smallnotebook.org/

I will be updating our progress once we start. I hope it helps us build our savings!!