In early 2018, we were in need of a change and stumbled upon pet & house sitting through Trusted Housesitters. This may sound a little overly dramatic, but it honestly changed everything for us. We are finally traveling to places we only dreamed of, saving a ton of money by not needing our own home base, and – our favorite part – having fluffy pals to hang with at each new home we temporarily live in. This may not be a great fit for everyone, but it suits us extremely well.
Want to learn more about pet and house sitting?
All of this still feels pretty new to us, but we’ve learned a lot so far and are excited to share our best tips. Plus, we love telling everyone why this is a fantastic way to travel, test out new lifestyles, and get tons of love from sweet pets – all while helping out other travelers (who, more often than not, end up being good friends). Win-win-win-win-win!
Thinking it may be for you? Read about our first impressions of traveling full-time by pet and house sitting and our Q&A of top questions people ask us about this lifestyle.
But stay tuned, because there will be way more to come! We are just getting started on this house sitting adventure. And if you have any questions, feel free to contact us!
Interested in where pet & house sitting has taken us so far?
Since beginning this adventure in April 2018, we’ve completed 14 house sits in 6 different countries. That comes out to a grand total of 202 days of house sitting (with a ton of opportunities for amazing between-sit trips in between). We’ve taken care of 39 pets – mainly dogs and cats, as well as a few feisty chickens! And have become quick friends with many of their wonderful human parents. And getting to try out life in different places has been an absolute blast.
Some of our favorite experiences so far were spending two weeks in amazing Molokai, Hawaii with a sassy cat, and five weeks in Inverness, Scotland with two goofy pups and their sweet older sis. But we have SO MANY MORE great memories!
Check out our timeline from Trusted Housesitters for a look into our travels so far:
Who knows where our next sit will take us?!? That’s the most exciting part.
Is pet & house sitting the right fit for you?
As we mentioned, this won’t be for everyone. But if you are looking for authentic, budget travel and love animals, there is a good chance you’ll really enjoy it!
We use Trusted Housesitters and love it! You can read more about that here, but the top reasons are that the site is much easier to use than any others we have looked at and there seems to be a constant flow of sitting opportunities all over the world. Plus, the review system for both sides of the sit is great. And while the fee of $119 per year (for homeowners as well as sitters) may seem high, we think it ensures only serious people sign up which makes for a better experience all around.
So, if you’ve read this far, chances are you are really interested! And we say GO FOR IT! If you are nervous, take an easy, short sit near home first – that will help build up your reviews as well. Then branch out from there. Or just dive right into a six-month, international trip if that is more your style. The possibilities are really endless.
Whatever you decide, please let us know if you are going to be a fellow sitter! We love connecting with others on this unique path and are happy to share our tips. 🙂
P.S. We’ve been shouting from the rooftops how much we love Trusted Housesitters since we joined, so we decided to become an affiliate for them because we genuinely love this amazing travel option and think it is cool that we could get rewarded for sharing it (something we planned to do anyway). If you click any of our links, we get a kickback for referring you. That’s it. If you’ve found our content about housesitting helpful, we’d love for you to use our links or share them with friends who may benefit from joining!
