After months of living out of a backpack in Central America, staying in cramped hostel rooms and getting sick of eating in restaurants, we unpacked in our new apartment in Jacksonville, Florida. There’s more space than we know what to do with, a ridiculously comfy bed, a well equipped kitchen, and even a terrace overlooking the river. Best of all we are staying here for four weeks without paying a penny.
This is our second house sitting assignment, and we’ve just arranged another in Japan. It’s proving ideal for our nomadic lifestyle for a number of reasons.
1) A Home Without Going Home – Travel gets tiring and although we have no urge to settle down, it helps to have a rest from constant movement every now and again. We get to enjoy home comforts like a couch, privacy, a/c, kitchen, our own washer/dryer, fast internet, comfortable office chair and desk, swimming pool and we even have use of a car. It makes a wonderful change from crappy hostels.
2) Save Money – We get to stay in places we’d never be able to afford. The only expenses we have for the month are food and petrol. This opens up many possibilities. We’ve just arranged a house sit in Kyoto, Japan for the end of the summer. It’s a country that’s been on our wish list for a long time and we wouldn’t be able to afford to go if we hadn’t found the house sit.
3) Get Work Done – It’s much easier to work when we aren’t moving around and staying in uncomfortable accommodation without a suitable place to work.
4) Visit Places We Wouldn’t Usually Visit – We would never have visited Jacksonville if it wasn’t for the house sit, but there are many beaches and national parks to visit in the area, we’ve eaten the best cheesecake ever at the French Pantry and it’s a convenient base for day trips to St Augustine and Savannah.
5) Live Like a Local – When you are staying in someone’s home you adopt their life to a certain extent and get to explore untouristy areas of town. Our house sit owners introduced us to their family before they left and one of their daughters invited us to a local improv comedy night that she performs in. We enjoyed an entertaining evening and chatted with Jacksonville locals – we never would have known about it without the house sit.
6) Temporary Pets – Many house sits require you to look after pets. As our nomadic lifestyle isn’t best suited to owning pets it’s nice to have some temporary ones every now and again.
Simon with Mani the puppy while house sitting in Argentina
Simon with Mani the puppy while house sitting in Argentina
How to Find a House Sit
Are you convinced on the joys of house sitting? It’s an opportunity that’s available to everyone as you can do it for as little as a few days up to a year.
Here’s how to find a house sitting placement.
1) Join a House Sitting Organisation – There are many websites that put house sitters in touch with house owners for a small annual fee. We have had most luck with Mind My House but are also members of House Carers.
2 ) Create a Good Profile – Write a detailed profile about yourself and why you’d be a good house sitter. Make sure to include details of any previous experience looking after houses or pets. I think linking to our blog helps as owners can read a lot more about us there. We also link to our couchsurfing profile as it has references from strangers who have hosted us in their homes.
3) Check Opportunities Daily – Once you are a member set the alerts to email you every day. It’s very competitive so apply as soon as you see a suitable opportunity.
4) Be Flexible – If you don’t have any luck at first, keep trying. It helps to be flexible – you’ll have more luck in the beginning applying to less well known destinations. Once you’ve built up some experience you’ll have a greater chance of getting the most competitive house sits – we really want a house sit in Italy for the summer but haven’t found one yet.
5) Keep Your Eyes Open – It’s also possible to find house sitting opportunities through friends and informal networks. We found our first house sit in Argentina while couchsurfing with a family who needed a sitter a few weeks later.
More Information
The Globetrotter Girls have house sat in Italy, Germany, the USA and are heading to Canada next. See their post House Sitting: Free Long Term Accommodation.
Dalene and Peter at Hecktic Travels have looked after houses in Canada and on a tropical island in Honduras. They’ve written a detailed guide to house sitting – see Housesitting 101 and Housesitting 201.
Have you tried or considered house sitting? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.
Hey Guys,
Loving the house sitting advice
We are off to Costa Rica next month to house sit in Liberia. Can’t wait, we have been following your journey through Central America, very jealous of your equestrian interning! Just wanted to say thank you for inspiring us to chase our dreams and to blog our experiences along the way.
Ben & Charlotte (Wanderlusters)
Charlotte´s last post ..House Sitting How To-
Wow, Costa Rica will be a great place to house sit. You should stop by the stables afterwards – it’s only a 5 day minimum stay.
Just emailed to see if they have space for us
we arrive 10 days before we are due to house sit so that is plenty of time in the saddle!
Charlotte´s last post ..House Sitting How To-
Yay! Enjoy! Say hi to Brenda and everyone from us.
Great tips, guys! We LOVE the concept of housesitting – it’s perfect for digital nomads. Sometimes it is just nice having your own kitchen, living room, neighborhood… and not packing/unpacking your backpack every two days or so. Congrats to the housesit in Japan – so awesome!
Globetrottergirls´s last post ..Cycling along Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast
We are so enjoying home comforts at the moment.
Hahaha awe Simon’s so cute
Haha! He is!
Oh my god, never thought about it, but it sounds amazing, i’m definitely gonna try and do for a few days first!!!
Thanks!
Take a look at one of the listing sites and it’s really exciting seeing all the possibilities.
And isn’t it so nice to have a base, just for a little while. Hopping from place to place all the time does get exhausting. This should give you guys a much needed break!
It is a good break from moving around, although Simon is working far too hard taking advantage of that comfy desk chair!
Thanks for writing about rent-free living as a housesitter. I have tried all the housesitting websites and have found http://www.caretaker.org to be the best for housesitting assignments. I recently started using http://www.caretaker.org and have found two housesitting opportunities there so far.
John
I’d heard about house swaps but not much about house sitting – what a cool idea! Definitely have to look into this when I get back from South America.
Megan´s last post ..Photo Friday- Family Portrait at the Taj Mahal
It’s definitely worth taking a look at. Unfortunately not many house sits come up in South America, although we have seen some in Panama and Costa Rica.
I can totally relate to this post! We recently settled down so to speak for 4 months in Tulum, Mexico and it was nice to call somewhere home for a little while. But it wasn’t to long and we got itchy feet and we are on the road again now
Anthony´s last post ..Thali Time In India
Two months is the longest we’ve been “settled” so far but I think we might try staying out a bit longer somewhere in Asia next winter. The itchy feet do always kick in though don’t they?!
We actually use house sitting as well as our major way of finding the next place to go. It’s wonderful for all the reasons you mention: having a base for a bit, pets for our daughter, new places to see, etc. Yes, after a few weeks we do get an itch to move on.
We’ll be spending two months house sitting this summer in New Mexico for a gal who originally hosted us as Couch Surfers. Our first house sitting gig was a friend who needed someone to watch their dog while they were gone on vacation.
We too have found Mind My House to be a wonderful resource!
Sue Canfield´s last post ..Where Have We Been
Glad to hear you’ve had lots of luck with house sitting too. I love the randomness of letting an available house sit decide where you head to next. It does take you to some unexpected destinations. New Mexico sounds like fun.
Sounds like you are enjoying Jacksonville- other great day trips are Amelia Island and Little Talbot Island. If do you go to St. Augustine- eat at Aunt Kate’s (best seafood… I’m drooling right now, it’s so good) and it’s right on the intercoastal waterway, so great at sunset. A great taco place near University Blvd is Mr. Taco. It’s in a strip mall, but has the best carnitas taco ever.
We are running out of time! So many places to visit in the area. Thanks for the tips Jade.
This is great advice. I was looking into house sitting as part of my travels and now I am really keen. Thanks guys!
Glad to hear it and good luck with finding a house sit.
House sitting is something I’m keen on doing in the future. Have been thinking about it for a while. It’s great to know that other people out there are doing it to spice up their travel lives.
Adam @ SitDownDisco´s last post ..Buying a Campervan
We’d definitely recommend giving it a go.
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