It's not easy, but it's been worth it to see the principal shrink so quickly.

The world shrinks quickly.At least that's been my experience, your mileage may vary.

but property tax on both Williamson and Travis counties are killing the C.F. it's shrinking significantly every year.

With inflation student loan payments are actually shrinking the longer you hold the debt as is the value of the principle on the debt.

I had large goals when I started that I allowed myself to shrink because it was hard.

When the markets are flat/down, you're dipping into principal withdrawals, and your nest egg is shrinking.

Another idea I had was utilizing a creative investment strategy to get to that 20% downpayment in order to shrink our mortgage payments for that first year so that we can continue saving as much as we do now with our cheap rent. 

What is your advice for shrinking my expenses and raising my income?  

The markets that cash flow better tend to be depressed economies, smaller and/or shrinking population, crummy weather, etc. ... so not a place that you would likely want to live (sorry, don't mean to offend anyone, but it is true).

Nationally, the inventory of homes for sale has been shrinking for 24 straight months, stoking bidding wars for even the lowliest fixer-uppers.