When you travel long term like I have for the past year, and you don’t have any source of income, you need to get creative on how to save money.

The most expensive part of traveling is definitely accommodation. I stay in hostels for the most part, which definitely helps, but in places like London, or really just Western Europe in general, housing is still expensive. A spot in an 12-18 room dorm can cost you upwards of $30-$40/night. That’s a lot of moolah to share your space with a large number of strangers.

Enter house sitting.

I’d read of the phenomenon many times in my travel research over the past 3 years. Basically you stay in someone’s house or apartment, watch their pets (if they have any), keep the place tidy, and act as a bit of security for the home while the owners are away.

In exchange, you get to stay in a local area, you have your own space, you might get a furry friend to keep you company, and you get free accommodation! It’s a win-win really.

It hadn’t really worked into my plans before, but this time around I am focusing a bit more on slower travel, so I thought house sitting might be something to look into! My friends Macrae and Carolann over at One Modern Couple started housesitting towards the beginning of the year in South Korea. When they jumped on the bandwagon, it sparked me to do the same. I joined TrustedHousesitters.com as they have the best reputation amongst the travel blogger community.

Getting Started

It definitely feels a lot like applying for a job. Which I guess in essence it is!

You write up a profile about your experience, why you want to house sit, what you can offer the owners, etc. Then you peruse the posted house sits and apply to the ones that fit what you’re looking for. You send the owner a message, again saying why you’d be perfect for the house sit (a bit like a cover letter), and hope they get back to you! After the owners of my current sit responded to me on the website, we corresponded a few more times via email, then talked over the phone before making it official.

Is It Truly Worth It?

I recently wrapped up my first house sit, and I have another one lined up in London later in the month. I had the pleasure of taking care of two Beagles, Cookie and Snoopy (ages 4 and 4 months respectively), an indoor/outdoor cat named Felix, and some fish, along with the house and garden/backyard. I stayed in a beautiful house in the English countryside, about a 1.5-2 hour drive south of London. The owners are amazing and so sweet. They were extremely welcoming and we go along fantastically.

I had access to a kitchen (and a blender for smoothies! I miss my smoothies when I travel), my own room, and I got to go for walks through the local fields with the dogs every day. I also had some adorable cuddle buddies.

The sign up fee for Trusted House Sitters is $95, but I joined during a promotion so it was closer to $80 for me. I stayed at my house sit for a total of 12 nights, and nearby hostels run about $25/night, so I estimate I saved about $300 in accommodation. Now this isn’t an area I would probably visit otherwise, and if not for the house sit I probably would have remained in London during that time, so if you take into account the cost of the hostels there, I saved about $420. Then later in the month I’m going to stay in West London for 6 nights, so there’s another $210 saved.

I’d say the fee for joining has definitely paid for itself already.

Not Just For Travelers

House sitting doesn’t have to be just for people like me who are traveling long term.

You can use it as a base for your holiday (though maybe sits without pets to care for would be better in this case) if you’d rather say somewhere local instead of a hotel. You really get to know a country better when you’re living where the locals live!

Advice To Get Your First House Sit

1. Treat this like you would a job posting. Your profile and messages should be professional and informative, but also infuse a bit of your personality. Any bit of animal or home care experience that you have, not matter how small, put it in there. Especially in popular areas (like London), owners get HUNDREDS of responses for house sits. You have to make yours stand out against the others.

2. Get reviews and a background check. One of the first things owners will look at with potential sitters is their reviews, followed by whether or not they have a background check. You don’t have to get a background check, but think of it from their perspective. They’re inviting a stranger into their home to watch their house and furry family members. I’d want my sitter to have a police check too. Also, as with anything these days, reviews are key. People want to know you’ve done this before, and that you’re good at it. I asked friends and family who I’d house sat before to write me a reference to be posted on the site. That way, even though this was my first go with Trusted Housesitters, owners knew that I had experience and was trustworthy.

3. Get in early. The added bonus of being a member of Trusted Housesitters, is you get access to postings 24 hours before those who aren’t members. Many owners, especially in popular areas, find their house sitters within that 24 hour period. This means checking available house sits frequently, and applying as soon as you can. Chances are the owners are only going to look at the first 10-15 emails, so you need to make sure yours is near the top.

4. Be flexible. The owners here are the ones that sets the dates, as they’re typically going away and have a specific time frame they’re looking for sitters. That means, if you have the ability to be flexible with your own dates, you’re more likely to find a house sit that works for you.

5. Go outside the city. Especially if you’re new to the site with minimal reviews, look outside the big cities if you can. I was having a tough time getting a sit in London, so I looked a bit outside to find my first sit. And it worked out great! Now I have a sit in London lined up as well.

6. Pick up local sits. If you think house sitting while traveling is a great idea, but have minimal experience or can’t get away at the moment, there is always the option to sit locally! It’s a great way to build up your sitting resume in preparation for doing so abroad.

So there you have it! House sitting while traveling is a great way to save some money, and have the pleasure of a furry friend or two for some company.

Why not take the plunge and try it out for yourself! If you sign up using any of the links provided throughout this post, you’ll get 20% the normal sign up price! Pretty great deal if I do say so myself.

Have you ever had a house sitting assignment abroad? Where was it and what did you think of the process?

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