Thank you for the kind words everybody, it feels great.
lampstache, I have been pondering your question for a bit as to what changes/sacrifices we made to make it happen. Mostly it has been cutting out lots of small things, a few big ones, and making more money. Mostly though it has been about evaluating every purchase, taking a step back and thinking through it before it's made. I don't feel as though we have suffered, we still went on vacations, we just did everything more frugally.
The big items since these are the more embarrassing to list:
1. 1984 Jeep CJ-7 - It was a consistent expense of parts and upgrades + 4wheeling trips which required lots of gas, and would break a lot of parts, and the trips in general were pricey with food, camping, beer, vacation time, etc. Sold the Jeep and put the cash on the loans
2. 2005 Chevy Silverado. I bought this used for cash, but it was a gas guzzler and way more car then we needed without the jeep. Sold the truck put most on the loans and bought a 02 Honda Civic with 110k miles on it. We already owned a older Honda Fit and loved it.
3. Bicycle commuted more, I am a pretty avid cyclist and have been for along time, but not for the financial reason, MMM made me see the light on this one and got the wife on board. It made a huge difference on reducing miles driven, which then made us plan our car trips much more diligently, also we got jobs closer to the house which helped as well.
4. Sold some bicycles. Sold some expensive bicycles and went with more utilitarian models that i was able to find used and built them up to suit my riding style. Paid loans with the difference.
5. Sold lots of stuff on Craigslist. Went through every room and found lots of stuff to sell, old xbox with games, old work boots, drafting table, dvds,literally almost any random thing I found.
6. Sold NBA tickets. We live in a small market BA city, and have season tickets, we sell enough now to buy the next years games plus make some money to invest etc form it.
7. Ate in a lot more, especially lunches where we were going out every day at times.
I could keep going but would probably start hitting diminishing returns and get boring for you guys.
I am mainly joining up now to stay motivated and keep the energy going to the investing side of things and keep at it.