Envelopes as money saving tools

I first heard about envelopes from my mom and dad, they had used them when my mom stayed home to raise us kids. Since we've been doing Dave Ramsey, we've been using them too. The thing that we've figured out is that we have to budget realistically, rather than ideally. In reality, hubby needs new work boots once a year, 2 new pairs of carhartts, and I need clothes once in a while, not to mention the kids. We were trying to get by with $40/month for all clothing but that just plain didn't add up. For a $120 pair of work boots, there was 1/4 of the years's budgeting allowance.