About Tiny Life Consulting Founders

Kevin and Rachel Ophoff are the talent behind Tiny Life Consulting. Their goal with the website, as stated on the home page, is to help you make an informed decision about Going Tiny.

Kevin grew up in Michigan, but after visiting Colorado as a child, he always knew he’d call the mountains home. In the 70’s he moved to Aspen. Rachel grew up in Miami and never could stand the heat. She split for the Colorado high country as soon as she could. They met at work and soon realized they’d rather camp and ski with each other than anyone else.

Eventually they married, started a family, and began the journey of trying to make ends meet. With a little luck, a lot of hard work, and good credit, they were able to buy a home. See that story in their blog post Understanding Tiny Home Ownership: Tiny Vs Conventional.

In all honesty, these two never realized that getting their foot in the door of home ownership was a forced savings account. It’s a good thing, too, because otherwise they would have ended up broke. They just put their noses to the grindstone, and by the grace of God, the equity in their house grew. They didn’t get rich, but by the time their kids were out the door, they were mostly breaking even.

Financial Realities of Retirement

Eventually, retirement and its decided decrease in earning potential loomed large on their horizon. Having been self-employed, their house was their only real savings account. The Roaring Fork Valley, with Aspen as its cornerstone, had seen its property values rise dramatically, as well as the associated costs. Retirement income wasn’t going to cut it. Kevin started researching alternatives to conventional housing.

TV shows like Tiny House Nation and YouTube channels like Living Big In A Tiny House made tiny living seem like a very real retirement option. After watching hundreds of hours of training videos, attending Tiny House Jamborees and festivals, he discovered that real information was scattered far and wide, often buried behind made-for-TV glitz. He also realized they weren’t the only ones seeking affordable housing.

Should they build their own tiny house? Buy one used? Where would they put it? The longer they discussed the possibilities and tried to find answers, the more questions arose. And with those questions came the realization that there was no ‘information central’ to access.

Finally, after taking into account their age and abilities, as well as kids and grandkids who occasionally would come to visit, they decided on a small stick home in a town three hundred miles south. You can read about their downsizing journey on this page: Downsizing, A Journey.

In the meantime, Kevin had developed quite an interest in tiny living. For years they had watched people forced to leave their valley due to the rising costs of housing. As they pondered moving, they found the same was true pretty much everywhere they looked. The human side of being displaced and even homeless compelled him to learn more. As he did, he continued to see tiny house building failures, not from lack of trying, but from lack of information.

Good tiny house building information needs to be available

In 2017 Kevin began creating Tiny Life Consulting website. It has grown to over 200 pages covering all aspects of tiny types, tiny living, and tiny building. Rachel is the editor and a contributing writer.

With the information they’ve assembled and the resources they’ve found, you can make an informed decision to see if tiny living or a tiny home is for you.

Tiny Home Building Mistakes You Don’t Have To Make

Tiny Houses Where to Start

Try Tiny before you Buy Tiny

Buying a Used Tiny Home What To Look For

About Tiny Life Consulting Camping

Camping Seniors

They have a senior RV that gets them out into the mountains many times each summer. Days are spent fishing, reading, and playing games. After the campfire, their nights are spent sleeping on a comfortable bed, safe from wildlife, kicking on the heater when the temps drop below their comfort zone.

Over a million people live full-time in an RV. They’ve devoted a large section of the Tiny Life Consulting website to tips for tiny living in an RV.

Consulting

They don’t actually do any paid consulting. More than 200 pages of how-to’s and why-not’s? contain all free information . They do highlight many products and services from which they make literally minuscule commissions. Kevin has carefully researched the products offered by personal experience, as well as reading customer and professional reviews.

If you would like to support them without it costing you a dime, go through their affiliate links to make your purchases.