In the Reverse Engineering the Remote Year post, I started talking about budget. One great way to offset the cost of travel is to consider house-sitting and pet-sitting where you agree to take care of somebody’s pet(s) and/or house in return for a free place to stay.
There are several sites available for house-sitting. We started with MindMyHouse.com ($20/year) & Housesitter.com (free). TrustedHousesitters.com ($119/year) is another big one. When you think of the cost of rent, it’s easy to justify spending $119/year to find the most fitting opportunities for the travel you are seeking.
A quick note on housesitter.com, it’s free and it’s seemingly targeted to finding local people to handle a larger array of tasks often at an unspecified time or ongoing basis, sometimes for pay. But, if you wish to build up your pet-sitting resume or try house-sitting/pet-sitting on to see how it suits you, it might be a good place to start considering it doesn’t cost money to join.
Generally speaking, people who want a house-sitter want somebody to watch a pet. The value is in not kenneling their house-pets and making sure their farm pets are taken care of in their absence. This will limit your ability to sight-see and be gone for any substantial time. You should also be thoughtful about homecare; Neighborhood ordinances that say that sidewalks and driveways must be shoveled in the winter, lawn/garden care, cleaning chicken coops… these are considerations that should be spelled out in the house-sit profile, but you should be sure to read the entire posting.
The first thing you’ll want to do after subscribing on these sites is to create a profile. Experience is the biggest indicator of capability, so start small; describe your experience and love for animals, ask to pet-sit for family friends, volunteer at dog kennels and demonstrate your ability to handle other people’s pets. Spell out your needs. For example, we would need high speed internet for me to work remotely. If they don’t have that, I can’t live there. If you’re not comfortable with injections or medical treatments of pets, it’s good to be forthright. Be honest and be warm.
Some tips I’ve read about replying to a posted house/pet-sit: If you can find it in the profile or the reviews, in your introductory response, refer to the host(s) by their name(s). If you have access, refer to their pets by name, relate to the breed if you’re able and ask questions about their care. Be positive, be confident and convince them as you would with a resume cover letter that you’re the right person for the job.
Allowing somebody to stay at your home takes a large degree of trust by the homeowner, so they’ll want to be comfortable with you before allowing you to stay. Generally speaking, they’ll want to video chat with you to get a feel for your likeability, your demeanor and to see how you get along. It’s been recommended that even if the homeowner doesn’t want a video chat, that you should request one, because this interview process is just as important for the sitter. I’ve heard stories about hoarders and people who live in animal filth. A video chat will allow you to state your expectations, get to know the homeowner and assess the safety and your comfort with the opportunity.
House-sitting opportunities are available around the world. Certain countries are more accepting of the practice than others and people who have had a house-sitter before are a lot more comfortable about the process than people participating for the first time. Some hosts will remain in the house with you for several days or a week before they leave to ensure they’re comfortable with you and you’re prepared before they leave. And the duration of these sits can be anywhere from a couple days to a year+. Be sure to know the travel Visa requirements if you choose a sit outside of your country. Also, looking at the listings, a flight to Uruguay may be too costly to offset one week of a free place to stay, but it could be worthwhile if you’re there for 2 months.
We built up our profile and applied for 3 sits. One person replied they only wanted a single female for the job. We actually backed out of the other two before a final agreement to sit for them. We decided that it would be too restrictive for pet-sit jobs to dictate our path, worries about accepting jobs and not having sufficient internet speeds and for me to work 8 hours a day and have housework on top just swayed us away. We may still look and consider opportunities in the future, but we aren’t pursuing this as a way to travel any longer.
It didn’t work for me, but maybe it’ll work for you.
Tips for finding house-sit/pet-sit jobs:
- Experience is key. There are more house-sitters than there are house-sit jobs, so make your profile as attractive as possible.
- Connect with the homeowner. Tell them something personable about yourself; languages, interests, skills can provide a connection that will give you an advantage over the next applicant.
- Start small and build up. It might be good to see if you can handle 5 dogs for one week before you sign up for a month of the same.
- Get started and be persistent. No better time than now to get experience. Try several sites and decide which ones you like best. Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t.