Looking for a way to travel the world, in comfort, often luxuriously, for free?! Well you've come to the right place: welcome to house sitting.
What is house sitting?
In general, house sitting is a fair exchange of skills and assets between home owner(s) and house sitter(s). The home owner goes on holiday and leaves the house, and often pets, in the trusted hands of the house sitter.
The home owner can have a relaxing holiday not worrying about the state of their home or animals (not to mention saving hundreds of dollars or more on kennel fees).
As to the advantages to the house sitters, read on to find out more:
(And if you'd like to hear the long-winded version of what house sitting is, read my oldest post: What Is House Sitting?)
So without further delay, here are 5 Reasons To Become a House Sitter TODAY!
#1. You Can Travel The World FOR FREE!
In exchange for looking after the home owner(s) house and pets, house sitter(s) get free accommodation. House sits are available almost everywhere in the world, which effectively means house sitters can travel the world for FREE! Without having to worry about paying for hotels or hostels (or rent, or mortgages etc).
But it doesn't just stop at free housing, bills are included too: electricity, gas, water, wifi, council tax etc.
Additionally, depending on the generosity of the home owners and/or the difficulty of the sit, house sitters often get the use of a car, get given food and occasionally get paid.
So if travel has always been your dream, but you simply can't afford it, house sitting might be the answer you've been looking for.
For me personally, I was originally looking for a way to live rent-free, this is how I discovered house sitting. I was stressing so much about paying for rent and general life in the UK that I didn't have the time to dream about travelling, I was just dreaming about not worrying for a bit. And house sitting gave me that rent-free life and pushed my life another level up: rent-free life and travel? Honestly, the reason I get so excited about house sitting is not that it was a dream come true for me - it was a dream beyond my imagination that came true for me. If someone had told me that I could travel the world for free I would have dreamed of it, but no one ever told me, so I'm here to tell you instead.
#2. You Can Travel In Luxury
Okay, contrary to popular opinion, there are actually lots of ways to travel for free. But house sitting isn't just any free accommodation. You won't be staying on a sofa (like you can do with couchsurfing), or sleeping in a tent (which often happens when volunteering), or sleeping in a 12 bed hostel dorm (which is not usually even free, unless you're willing to clean toilets).
No, more often than not house sitters get luxury accommodation. Be that luxury in the sense that you won't have to share your accommodation with anyone else (apart from the odd furry friend or two), or luxury in the literal sense:
Mansions with pools, vineyards, jacuzzis, saunas, tennis courts - you name it, I've house sat in properties with all these and more.
#3. You Can Travel With Home Comforts
Luxury travel isn't for everyone, but having access to a washing machine almost always is. Earlier this year I travelled around Asia, I worked with luxury hotels and adventure companies, and had the best time of my lives, but boy did I miss the home comforts of house sitting.
Home comforts like having a washing machine, a fully functional kitchen, but most of all the love of animal friends. I infamously like animals more than humans, and whilst I could travel with an animal, like some people do, I kinda feel that that's not that kind to the animal (especially the way I travel). It would be tough to decide between a life of travel and the home comforts of living with an animal, luckily with house sitting I never have to make that decision.
#4. You Never Know What Will Happen Tomorrow
If travelling the world is your dream, do it now. Don't wait until your retired - what if you're too sickly by that point? What if you don't make it to that point?
Don't even wait a year to save up some money. Who knows what can happen in a year? Again you could be too sickly or not around! Do. It. Now.
With house sitting, excuses like 'I can't afford it', 'I like my home comforts', 'I want to travel luxuriously' don't work - you can have it all with house sitting - and more.
Even the excuse of 'I have kids' won't work here - did I mention you can house sit with your kids? There are plenty of families that do, and plenty of home owners (often with kids or grandkids of their own) who would be happy to have you.
Even the excuse of 'I have kids' won't work here - did I mention you can house sit with your kids? There are plenty of families that do, and plenty of home owners (often with kids or grandkids of their own) who would be happy to have you.
#5. 10% Trusted House Sitter Discount - Limited time only!
Trusted Housesitters is the page where I've found all of my house sits. You can
find house sits on Facebook groups, for free, but in my experience, the
house sitters and home owners on Trusted Housesitters are less likely
to cancel. There's something about paying to sign-up to the page that
makes people more professional, in my experience.
When I first heard about house sitting as free accommodation, I was reluctant to pay a sign-up fee to get access to these trusted housesitters sits, but I did it and I renewed it every single year for the past 10 years - the amount you pay is negligible compared to even a month's rent - and the sign-up fee lasts for a year.
So the final reason to become a House Sitter TODAY is simple - I will give you a discount. All you have to do is click this link right here and follow the instructions to get 10% off TrustedHousesitters membership!
(For a longer blog post with step-by-step instructions on how to sign up and how to use the discount code, please see my Trusted Housesitters Discount code blog post.)
Conclusion: 5 reasons to become a house sitter today
If you love pets and you want to travel, house sitting is your answer. I've done over 50 house sits in 10 countries and they've all been unique experiences. Without house sitting, I'd have never had the time (or the financial security) to be able to start this blog and my businesses that allows me to travel the world today.ABOUTME
We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.
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