Can housesitting work for everyone?

This blog post is all about the big question – Is housesitting really for everyone?

I did a lot of thinking about this when writing this chapter of The Housesitter’s Guide to the Galaxy – chapter 6 by the way. I thought of all the different kinds of people in the world, what they may prioritise, what they may want out of life, and whether housesitting might be something that they could try and that they would enjoy.

Obviously, if you don’t like animals, it’s going to be quite hard for you to give housesitting a go – but not impossible – as some housesits posted on various websites don’t have pets that need looking after and the homeowners simply want someone to tend to the garden and plants and having someone in the house will act as a security mechanism too. So it’s not a no if you don’t like pets, there are just less sits available without pets, so competition is higher.

If you do like pets however, good news, housesitting can probably work for you in some shape or form. I do go on a bit to everyone I know about how they should try housesitting, but it’s because I truly believe that it can work for everyone.

Whether you prefer rural locations, city breaks, beach-front stays or mountain chalets, there are housesits in all locations across the globe. On some websites, such as Trusted Housesitters, you can filter by location and select “Beach, City, Countryside or Mountains” when you search for sits which is a great feature if you’re picky on the landscape you’ll be sitting in. Obviously you can also search by village, town or city too, as well as using the map feature to see what sits are available.

Although me and Tom do housesitting full time as it works so well for our lifestyle, you may want to try housesitting for shorter trips such as weekends away or holidays that you use your annual leave for. It’s a great solution to going on holiday and being able to keep costs down. It’ll give you more funds to spend on an amazing experience whilst away or simply more beers on the beach. There are housesits available everywhere, and some with very low maintenance pets such as indoor cats that only need to be fed, kept company some of the time and their litter tray emptied. You could go to New York city and stay in Manhattan in a beautiful apartment with a cat just like this, exploring the city just as you would have done if you stayed in a hotel – only you’ve secured FREE accommodation!

So even if you don’t want to or don’t have the lifestyle to try out housesitting full time, housesitting on your holidays can work really well too. We actually started housesitting on our weekends off work in areas in the UK as a sort of ‘mini-break’. We couldn’t believe how easy it was, and that it was free. I’m still not over it now really. 

I’m gonna take a second to mention people working from home as well as digital nomads. A digital nomad is someone who works remotely and has no fixed location – they move around from place to place – like me and Tom. A homeworker is someone who works from home and doesn’t move around. Their work may be flexible and allow them to work from home sometimes and in the office at other times, or they may not even have offices they can go into. A lot more people began working from home throughout the covid-19 pandemic and some never went back to the offices, with companies shutting them down and reducing their overheads massively.

Both types of remote worker could marry their lifestyles up with housesitting and benefit massively from reduced costs such as rent and utility bills. If you’re not into travelling or moving around all the time, you can look for longer housesits – I’ve seen some on Trusted Housesitters up to five years long! Which means you could work from their home and save money, without many major changes – perhaps a change in location initially and then you can stay put for a longer time.

Or, if you love moving around and your work don’t mind you being on the go sometimes, you could use housesitting just like we are and work whilst you hop between places – beach front villa one month, countryside village home the next. It’s a great way to see the world whilst keeping your career and some financial stability. The main thing you need to check before agreeing to a housesit is the wi-fi strength and speed, as well as making sure there’s not so many pet and household responsibilities that it will be difficult to do your job at the same time. There’s a full chapter dedicated to Digital Nomad’s and Homeworker’s in The Housesitters Guide to the Galaxy.

Let’s talk about your tribe now. Are you solo? A couple? A family? A group of friends? Do you have your own pet with you? A young adult or a retiree?

I’ve spoken to many different people who do housesitting full or part time, and they come in every shape and size there is. There really is no hard and fast rule as to whether housesitting will work for you and your group. Discuss housesitting with everyone and make sure that no one is making huge compromises to try it out.

For the solo traveller, housesitting may be a little more isolating than staying in a hostel or hotel, as there are less chances to randomly interact with others. If you are an introvert, this may not bother you, but consider whether you’ll find it difficult to do full time – you could do a mix of housesitting and hostelling instead. Housesitting does immediately connect you to one or two people however – the homeowner. So you can pump them for information on the area such as safety, emergency procedures, things to do and see and anyone in the area they could connect you with if your sit is long term. When we were in Spain last year the homeowner introduced us to a friend before she left and gave me the number of another friend too, I met both these women for coffee and lunch throughout our 6 week sit in rural Spain. The fact that they spoke English was so nice in a town where none of the locals did.

If you’re trying housesitting as a group such as a couple or a group of friends, consider everyone’s needs before agreeing to a housesit. You may find the idea of being on a remote desert island exhilarating and adventurous, but if your partner needs stable Wi-Fi for work or your friend can’t swim then it’s not going to go down very well with them. Travelling as a group always requires a little compromise from everyone to make things work. You may decide that one of the couple will do more of the house and pet care chores as the other one works longer hours. You may find that you’re very go with the flow and your friends are more picky so you let them apply to any sit they like the look of. Whatever your vibe, communication with your travel buddies is key to make housesitting as a group or couple work well.

If you’re a family who are giving housesitting a go, it’s going to be more hard work, but it can be very rewarding. It may be more mentally and physically tiring doing a housesit with children but they are very resilient and can thrive in the right conditions whilst travelling. Prioritising their development and education is key if you’re going to try housesitting full time, as you’ll probably be home schooling them yourself whilst getting them involved in home and pet chores at the housesit. Finding the solution that works best for your children first before trying housesitting will probably be best for you. Looking for longer sits may also help as your children can settle into an area and make friends there – by longer sits I’m talking one year plus, and if that’s the case you could also enrol them in the local school if they want to do that. If you want to do housesitting for short breaks away or in the school holidays, there’s less to consider and more fun to be had – they can get their hands dirty mucking out chickens and ducks, groom and ride horses and play with dogs and cats. They could learn about growing vegetables and looking after plants or crops. They’ll see each place you housesit with new eyes and may benefit from things you don’t have at home such as more land, tennis courts, swimming pools and so on.

Travelling with your own pet is more difficult but it can be done. Some websites such as Mindahome have a filter that you can select to find sits where the homeowner doesn’t mind you bringing your own pet. This saves you the faff of applying and asking the homeowner via message if they mind. I would say that if you’re going to take your own pet to housesits, it’s better to apply for ones near to where you’re currently based. This way you can suggest to the homeowner that the pets meet each other before the sit to check they get on ok – a great way to secure sits if you travel with your own pet. You can also look for sits that don’t have any pets so that you don’t have to worry about the dynamics of the pets interacting with each other.

A great feature available through Trusted Housesitters is the Forum. Once you’re a member of the website, whether homeowner or housesitter, you get access to the forum. This is a great resource if you have any questions or concerns, before during or after a sit. There are threads on there that have hundreds of replies, and you can almost bet that your question has been posted on there before, so you can use the search bar to look for topics you’re interested in. It’s also a great way to connect with other people that do housesitting or other homeowners if you’re a pet parent. There’s a book club on the forum which I’m a part of and The Housesitter’s Guide to the Galaxy has been selected as the read for May.

I hope this short blog post has helped you discover that housesitting really can work for everyone - groups of all shapes and sizes can benefit from free accommodation and the opportunity to travel the world, one house at a time.