Ever heard of house sitting?
It's getting very popular, it seems to me, nowadays, a "hot" new way to travel (around your country, or even the world!) and stay for free! I started house sitting over a decade ago and am happy to share my story and some tips for anyone that may be interested in jumping on the house sit bandwagon!
Adventure with Guinness the chocolate lab while house & dog sitting nearby - Guenella Pass near Breckenridge, CO (I got to use a sweet older model Jeep as my wheels, too, during that sit!)
The home/pet owners set up a group ride for me before they left on their trip! Riding on a Harley through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado has been one of my favorite perks as a house sitter so far! Incredible! (that's my back in the foreground, riding with a friend of theirs)
They even suited me up in vintage Harley gear for the ride - sweeeeet!
Other Benefits of House Sitting
(not all sits come with Harley rides & leather after all!)
I work from home (mobile resume writing business) and live alone, so when I travel, I often prefer to have my own space to work, and just have some privacy when I visit friends & family.
I love to travel and explore new places, too - I've done house sits in different cities I wanted to check out as possible places to relocate, too.
Plus, it significantly saves my budget to have FREE, comfortable and well equipped ACCOMMODATIONS.
Many friends have asked me, and now some clients, too, seeing my pictures and hearing stories on social media as I house/pet sit and travel around to NC, WI, CO and even to the Netherlands, “HOW did you get hooked up with these great places to stay??”
How I Got Started House Sitting
Personally, I just sorta fell into it, like many people do with good jobs, career paths, or other things in their lives that turn out to be just wonderful. It wasn’t something I planned as a long term goal; at the time I started pet/house sitting, it was just practical for me, and fun!
It was many years ago now, & I’d moved back to one of my favorite places, St Petersburg, FL. I was looking for a house, and in the meantime, renting a very small apartment. I love animals, but, am away too much to care for my own pets all the time. Knowing all of this, when my human friends wanted to take a vacation, they would offer me to stay in their comparably spacious & more comfortably outfitted houses in exchange for the care & feeding of their animals…YES PLEASE, sounds great to me!
So I’d go move in to a friend's house for a weekend or 10 days or whatever & enjoy their cable TV packages on their comfy couches and great back yards (all things I didn't have in my tiny "for now" apartment) while showering the furry ones with love and attention. Sweet deal for everyone, right? For sure!
Well, eventually, THEIR friends asked them, "So, who took care of your animals when you went away this summer?" and so I got referrals, and then their referrals, so my little PT side gig grew a little bit over the years.
Then about 3-4 years ago, while looking for some other work on Craigslist, I saw an ad for an online company that connected dog sitters like me with dog owners that needed sitters - Dog Vacay at the time, now Rover.com. I was hesitant to consider inviting *strangers* to my house at first (as all other clients had been friends or friends of friends (or friends of friends of friends - but always someone I was connected to somehow, that someone could "vouch for"!) - did I really want to try sitting for complete strangers??
I decided I'm a pretty good judge of character and can 'sense' warning signs in people (thanks to my background in social work and teaching) so I gave it a go, and it ended up working out quite nicely! For a couple years, that local sitter website expanded my little PT side gig income a LOT (not to a FT income, and I wasn't trying for that, but I think I earned $4000/year) - not bad for cuddling and hanging out with dogs, eh?
I eventually found another few websites online that connects house and pet sitters with home and pet owners INTERNATIONALLY, and got a few fun sits out of state, too! There is a whole community of retirees and 'digital nomads' who travel the country or the world working from home if they work, and exploring new places through house sitting!
Here are are a few more articles about it from my existing blog (and disclosure, some of this post is from one of those exiting posts, some is fresh)
How to Write a Compelling House Sitter Profile
Top 5 Reasons to Get a House Sit for Your Holiday Trip Instead of Staying with Family or Friends
I'd be happy to share more information if people are interested - ask questions in the comments! (and who knows, maybe they'll also turn into expanded future posts here!)
Summer's coming and is a VERY popular time for house sitting! (Kicking off that season with Memorial Day weekend end of May here in the U.S.) So if you're interested in trying this, I'd get on it soon!