How Does Trusted House Sitters Work: 8 House Sitting Experiences
Trusted House Sitters is a reputable online platform that connects pet lovers and house sitters around the globe. Its unique concept revolves around mutually beneficial arrangements, enabling homeowners to find reliable caretakers for their properties and pets while away, and offering house sitters the opportunity to explore new destinations without accommodation expenses.
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This revolutionary platform has gained immense popularity among globetrotters and homeowners seeking peace of mind during their travels. For that reason, we decided to discover how does trusted house sitters work and gather some experiences lived by travelers who have agreed to become House Sitters.
How to Become a Trusted House Sitter
The process of joining Trusted House Sitters is straightforward and user-friendly. Prospective house sitters must complete the registration, choosing from various membership options available to cater to their needs.
Upon becoming a member, it is essential to create an impressive house sitter profile to increase the chances of securing assignments. A well-structured profile should highlight past house-sitting experiences, showcase relevant skills, and, if applicable, demonstrate a deep understanding of pet care.
How to Find House-Sitting Opportunities
One of the major advantages of Trusted House Sitters is its extensive database of house-sitting assignments worldwide. House sitters can effortlessly browse through a wide array of listings, ranging from quaint countryside cottages to luxurious city apartments. The platform’s personalized search filters allow users to narrow down their preferences based on location, duration, and pet types, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience when looking for the perfect trusted house sitter.
Something that might be a con could be that if you want to get started with the house-sitting experience, you need to be flexible. I know there are plenty of things to do in Tirana, for example, but it might not be the best city to find a house-sitting assignment.
The House-Sitting Experience: Experiences doing House Sitting
These are some of the experiences of travelers who have become trusted housesitters. With these testimonials, might be easier for you to decide if you also want to be part of the house-sitting experience.
House-Sitting in Sydney, Australia
[Catrina | 24 Hours Layover]
I have been house-sitting around Australia for the past couple of years and have completed over 40 house-sits. House sitting is a great way to save money when you’re traveling, especially in a country like Australia that is so expensive! It gives you a chance to experience slow travel and to live like a local, plus you often get a lovely furry friend for company!
Usually, when you’re house-sitting, you’ll be looking after the family pet too whilst the family goes on holiday. I have been so lucky with every house sit to always look after wonderful pets!
Staffys are my favorite breed of dog so I have house sat so many of them. After several weeks together with a staff, you become inseparable – they just love being around you! I have also looked after cats, rabbits, fish, rats, and even bearded dragons!
Some of my favorite houses sits have been in Sydney along the beach! There are so many great coastal walks in Sydney along the beaches, plus there are lots of dog beaches in Sydney which are incredible to visit if you’re looking after a dog – and they all have fantastic views! I have always had positive experiences house sitting and have often become good friends with the homeowners!
I would say the biggest pros of house sitting are: saving money on accommodation and getting to look after pets short-term without having the responsibility of owning one full-time. There aren’t many cons to house sitting – just make sure you pick a house sit that is aligned with you – eg: only look after pets you are comfortable with, and make sure you can work around the pet’s routine!
House-Sitting in Antigua, Guatemala
[Isabella | Boundless Roads]
Since I left my corporate job to start my solo adventure around the world, I have been doing housesitting. Initially, it was mainly a way to save money but then it became more a way to spend time with cute pets since I don’t want to have my own while traveling.
I was lucky to find cute loving animals to care for and stay in beautiful homes. However, my favorite one was probably Antigua, Guatemala, where I stayed for almost a year and I used to switch between two different homes.
The homeowners were friends and neighbors and when one of them didn’t need me I would stay with the other.
Their cottages were sitting on a hill right in front of Volcano Fuego, and I got to see it puffing and lightening up in the night while spitting lava. It was amazing, even when the earth was shaking now and then. The pets were adorable too in both families and we bonded immediately. In one house I had 3 dogs and 2 cats and in the other, I had 3 cats and two dogs.
Among my duties, I had to take the dogs for a walk and feed dogs and cats twice a day plus water the garden and make sure the solar panels were working properly.
Sometimes I had a car and I could go to the beautiful city of Antigua to do my grocery shopping or explore, but most of the time I was enjoying my time with the pets while working at my laptop and soaking up the spectacular views.
I don’t see any cons of being a house sitter unless you don’t get along with the homeowner or you both have different expectations. To prevent that, you must clear any doubts before accepting the assignment.
Housesitting in Port Townsend, WA, and other locations
[Annie | Your Friend the Nomad]
Over the past year, my husband and I have traveled and worked remotely in Mexico and Belize. Instead of logging in from our rainy hometown of Seattle, we logged in from cities across Latin America.
We first tried housesitting when we returned to the U.S. for the holidays. Short-term accommodations in the U.S. can be outrageously expensive, and housesitting was a good way for us to reduce our expenses.
When we decided to spend our summer in the U.S. instead of abroad, we knew we wanted to do as many housesit as possible.
So far this year, we’ve spent around four months in the U.S. and haven’t spent a penny on accommodations in our home state.
So far, we’ve housesat for a dog and cat in Austin, TX, for two cats in Port Townsend, WA, and two dogs on Bainbridge Island, WA. As we get more reviews on our online housesitting profile, we hope to be able to apply for more competitive sits in places like Italy and Hawaii.
We’ve had incredible housesitting experiences, like staying in a beachfront home for two weeks. But housesitting always includes work. Your number one priority as a housesitter must be to care for the property and pets. It’s easy to think you can take day trips and explore while housesitting, but the needs of the pet may require you to only leave home for a few hours at a time.
Housesitting in my home country has helped me save money to travel more luxuriously than I typically would. Although I’m a budget traveler at heart, saving months of rent makes me feel more comfortable splurging. For instance, it feels easy to justify booking an eight-night Caribbean cruise when I know I lived for free for four months by housesitting!
Learn more and subscribe to Trusted House Sitters and recieve a 20% discount with the code: TRAVELEIRA!
House-Sitting in the British Countryside
[Tina | Veganderlust]
When I first heard about housesitting, I immediately knew that’s the perfect thing for me and my boyfriend. We both love animals and traveling, and we both work remotely, so house-sitting with pets for free sounded like a great way to cut out expensive accommodation costs.
We joined a pet-sitting website, and at first, we imagined doing petsitting in amazing cities like London or Berlin. But in reality, you can’t be very picky about the location when you’re just starting.
The problem was, we didn’t have any reviews yet. However, we had previously looked after pets for friends and family, so our first two reviews came from them. With those reviews as recommendations, we applied to places with low applicants. Turns out, most low-applicant houses are in the British countryside.
So, for our first housesit, we ended up in rural Dorset far away from the coast. We looked after two really sweet cocker spaniels in a picturesque little English village in a beautiful house. The dogs were really sweet, and the house was really lovely.
Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a better first-time housesitting experience. The house had a huge garden which was just wonderful during summer, and once a week a gardener and cleaner came, so we didn’t need to do much besides taking care of the dogs and watering the plants sometimes.
In our experience, the pros and cons of starting with housesitting already become obvious. A con is that you can’t be picky about the destination, especially at the beginning, because if it’s too competitive pet owners will always choose more experienced pet sitters. At the same time, this is also a pro, because you might end up visiting some wonderful places you might not have otherwise, like we did.
House-sitting in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
[Vicky | Buddy The Traveling Monkey]
I have been house-sitting since 2017. When I started, I was primarily house-sitting in the US. However, over the last couple of years, I’ve been house-sitting all over the world. This includes countries in Africa, Europe, and Central America.
One of my favorite cities to house sit in is San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. House sitting there has allowed me to get to know the city pretty well. One of the best things about house-sitting is that it allows you to live like a local.
Unlike quick visitors who only see the top sites in town, I was able to explore more museums, more restaurants, and even take day trips. So far, my favorite day trip has been to the hot springs in Escondido Place.
Although overall my experience house sitting has been wonderful, there are sometimes downsides. For example, every house sit I’ve done has had a pet and sometimes those pets have required more attention than anticipated. Because of this, I needed to adjust how much time I could spend exploring.
Despite that, I’ve mostly had great experiences doing house sitting while traveling and would recommend it to anyone who wants to travel slowly and live like a local.
House-sitting in Salem, MA
[Amanda | Hey! East Coast USA]
House and pet sitting can offer a traveler endlessly interesting experiences. Staying in someone’s home grants you special insights into local life in a place, on top of the inevitable local recommendations the homeowner will give you for their favorite cafes, restaurants, walks, activities, and more!
Despite growing up not far away, I recently visited Salem, Massachusetts, for the first time for a cat sit. Yes, there is an interesting irony in spending time with a cat in a town infamous for its witch trials!
I’ve done house and pet sits in multiple countries over the last several years (including Spain, France, Ireland, Scotland, England, and the US), and one of the best lessons I’ve learned is that cats allow you to explore a place with much more flexibility than dogs.
Dog sits are fantastic for talking to neighbors! You’ll take daily walks where your new dog friend might be recognized, so you can chat with other dog walkers and get to know the place even better.
But cats are (usually) more independent and less reliant on having someone in the home at all hours. So you can take advantage and go out to be a tourist!
There are so many things to do in Salem that I found myself wandering the city and checking off photo-op spots and shops and restaurants all week long. And then I got to spend my evenings enjoying cat cuddles and playtime.
If you’re eager to be out and about as a tourist, look for cat sits instead of dog sits so you can enjoy a little bit more freedom and flexibility with your time.
Of course — it goes without saying — you MUST love cats!
While traveling and seeing other places and meeting new people is all fun and great, if you’re pet sitting then their care is your top priority. Plan your time around them and you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to enjoy your adventure!
Learn more and subscribe to Trusted House Sitters and recieve a 20% discount with the code: TRAVELEIRA!
House-sitting while living the Van Life
[Anna and Anne | Perspektivan]
As we drove with our van along the Panamericana – the longest road on Earth – we realized that we need a break from van life. That’s when we discovered house-sitting.
It was the perfect opportunity for us to get some much-needed rest and enjoy the comforts of an apartment or house. On the other hand, we had the chance to experience the joys of caring for some adorable cats and dogs for a few days.
During our travels in the US and Canada, we took care of several cats and dogs while their owners were away on vacation. One time, we just took care of the homeowners’ plants.
One of the biggest pros for us is that we can have a temporary pet. As we travel in our van, we can not have a pet with us. House sitting allowed us to have the companionship of a furry friend without the long-term commitment.
Additionally, we got to stay in some amazing places during our housesits.
We stumbled upon one of our house-sitting gigs on Facebook, and while it was a fantastic experience, we realized that utilizing a platform exclusively for verified users is the way to go. The added security and trust that comes with it provide us with the peace of mind we need and ensure a smooth and worry-free house-sitting experience.
It’s worth exploring these platforms to find the perfect house-sitting assignments.
Overall, our house-sitting experiences were an absolute blast! We had the pleasure of meeting the most amazing people and we can’t recommend house-sitting enough for anyone in need of a change from their everyday routine.
House-sitting with Family
[Kirsty | Lost in Landmarks]
Myself and my family (2 adults and 2 teens) spent a whole month in the city of London looking after a wonderful old but shy cat called Hattie while her owners were on a once-in-a-lifetime cruise.
A month in a city like London gives a really different perspective, especially as we were staying in the suburbs just like a local. We would take the tube into the city and leisurely explore, knowing that we didn’t have to fit in everything into one day!
London with Teens can be difficult as they can get bored easily but we could tailor different days to each child – one loves war museums so we would do that one time and then another time we’d explore bookshops for the other one. Some days we’d explore locally to the parks and markets. We even saw a local fireworks display since Guy Fawkes’ night happened while we were there.
The plus side of looking after a cat instead of a dog while in a big city is that they need less time with you so it didn’t matter that it took a little bit more time for us to get to the center. It’s always something we’d consider – how much time would we have for exploring? After all, that was our reason for traveling.
Overall, for us, the pros of house sitting are a financial one. As a family, accommodation can add up and cities can be out of reach especially if staying for a long period.
The cons we found were the huge sense of responsibility for the pets and the home. It wasn’t just a case of a free holiday and while this particular sit was trouble-free, we have had sits where it was a lot more intense!
House-sitting as a Vegan Traveler
[Rebecca | Veggies Abroad]
I never thought I’d enjoy house-sitting, but in 2021, I made a significant career change. I wanted to find a way to align my career with my ethics, and my first step in that process was starting a vegan travel blog. Since finances were tight, I had to get creative on how to save money to visit various cities to taste their vegan delights, so a friend suggested checking out Trusted Housesitters.
I loved the idea of taking care of someone’s furry friend and having some companionship since I spend most of my time on the road alone, but I was nervous. Staying in a stranger’s home alone still sounded like the plot of a horror film. So, for my first sit, to test out the waters, I chose Toronto, which is only 4 hours away from my home by car and was only for a few days. If I hated it, I wouldn’t have to suffer too long. But I loved it!
After Toronto, I found sits across the US and the UK. In addition to making new furry friends, the opportunity to meet locals and learn about the city from them has been priceless. People have been so open and welcoming, from helping me scout vegan restaurants in London to providing feedback on things that aren’t worth my time; I’ve appreciated all of it.
For new house sitters, I suggest starting with a short local sit; there’s a chance you might not enjoy it! When the homeowners accept your application, make sure you set up a time to chat; you need to ensure that your personalities match and that you’re both on the same page with responsibilities. Some sits require more effort than others!
While this is a fantastic resource to see the world, if you’re watching someone’s pet, you have to remember that they are your first priority. That could mean coming home earlier to care for them or rushing them to the vet if there’s an emergency.
How Does Trusted House Sitters Work: Final Thoughts
From all these testimonials, we can conclude that Trusted House Sitters offers a fantastic platform for individuals seeking unique travel experiences and homeowners in need of trustworthy caretakers.
By signing up, creating an impressive profile, and utilizing the platform’s powerful search features, house sitters can embark on unforgettable adventures while providing peace of mind to homeowners.
With effective communication, preparation, and diligent care, Trusted House Sitters facilitates rewarding and mutually beneficial relationships between house sitters and homeowners around the world.
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