going to try the envelope system next month

In light of the confusion last month with all the hecticness going on in my life, i have decided to try out the cash envelope method for groceries/hba/etc.this month I may add eating out into that also. I am trying to determine how much to allow myself a week. I am thinking that perhaps with the past few months my oop has been 250 to 350, but my oop has also been as low as 125, just depending on the money we have available and the sales that are going on at the time.

We are are tight on money right now as dh had surgery last month so i am leaning more towards a lower allowance for august, I am thinking that i can get all we need for groceries in 50$ a week or less as long as i resist kmart superdoubles in the middle of the month and only buy what is cheap/free if i decide to go. I have built up a substantial amount of ecbs at least for me (75) and have decided to quit wags since cvs is giving me a good return and i am finding it harder to roll the 2 week cats at wags.

So my primary focus for august will be basics like milk, eggs, fruits, and veggies, and taking advantage of any good rebates for back to school (just finished up the kraft and kelloggs rebates), and of course cvs because they have been having awesome deals lately. For instance this week i have spent about 35$ and was able to get the milk, eggs, fruits and veggies we need, plus extras and do the kellogg's rebate and finish up the kraft rebate, so 35$ is probably my aim about 30 to 25 for needed item and 10 15 for stockpile/rebates and 10 for eating out a week?? I know i hope to do the kraft MIR at Savealot, but will probably wait until the middle of august to do it. This sound like a great plan!

My other dilemma is how to incorporate rebates into my spending. should i count it as extra money or not? I am thinking i should not. Hopefully i will be getting a few more rebates by the end of the month and i think that i should incorporate them a regular money, rather than devoting it just to stockpiling or using for rebates only. I have 35$ in g/c to local grocery stores that are processing at them moment. I also have a 3.00 check that needs to be cashed and over 18$ on a rebate site that i will probably get by the end of the month. I am curious to see just how far 50$ a week will get me and if there is any extra at the end of the month I will carry it over to next month.

Plus my garden is producing about 8-9 squash a week and the tomatos are ripening and we have gotten 1 cucumber from the garden so far, but i see a few babies out there now. So we will be able to eat from the garden in august too.