House-sitting 101

So, you’ve heard me talk about my plans to house-sit and you’re curious to know more about it.  Why do it?  How do you get started? Allow me to share what I’ve learned so far.

What is house-sitting?

Homeowners often “hire” someone to stay at their home while they go away on holiday.  They like the house to look lived in, as opposed to vacant, and they often want someone there to take in their mail, water their plants, and if they have pets, care for their pets.  As a pet-owner, I know how expensive it is to pay for boarding kennels. And I know how much more comfortable my pets are staying in their own home. Even if they have to get to know the house-sitter, it’s much less traumatic on the pet if they can stay at home. Homeowners know the value of a good house-sitter.  They “pay” you by not charging you rent while you’re in their home.  So it’s a win-win for both homeowner and house-sitter. 

Why would you want to house-sit?

TRAVEL THE WORLD, AFFORDABLY:  You still have to pay to get to the other location, but once there, you stay for free in a house or condo that is likely bigger and better than any hotel suite. Staying in hotels and hostels can quickly eat through your budget. Vacation apartment rentals can cut costs if you’re staying a bit longer term but even then, you’re still paying an inflated monthly rent to live somewhere with only the bare minimum in terms of comfort and supplies.

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL, IN A REAL HOME: When you housesit, you live in someone’s house, with access to all its facilities, in exchange for keeping the house – and usually their pets – safe and happy while living like a local in a new neighborhood in a different city/country/continent!

Maybe this is the first you’ve heard of house-sitting, but there are thousands of people out there housesitting already. When I talk to most people about my new life of housesitting, I get loads of questions, like, “What is house-sitting, and how do I sign up to do it too?”

My take on house-sitting websites

There are several websites where people sign up to find house-sits and list their house-sit needs. Most cost something to join. A few are free, but not worth your time IMHO. I have used four sites. Here’s my take on those.

The largest of the house-sitter websites is www.trustedhousesitters.com which costs $95 for an annual membership. As a member you can posts as a homeowner and a house-sitter for no extra cost.  $95 a year may seem high, but split that cost across even a week spent house sitting and you’d be spending under $14 per night on accommodation. That’s even less than some of the best budget hostel or airbnb listings. And should you do more house sitting throughout the year, your per-night cost will go down even more.  With anywhere from 100-300 new assignments each month across the world (added to the thousands already posted from the previous month) they have the largest database of assignments. The TrustedHousesitters.com site is the one I recommend to anyone who only wants to sign up on one site.  It is incredibly easy to both navigate and set up a profile, thanks to it’s easy-to-follow forms and guidelines.  They have a daily email alert system which notifies you of all the new assignments from the past 24 hours since you were last logged on.

This is my go-to website for house-sitting.  They have the most current listings, and the site is easy to navigate.  It’s super easy to apply for sits too.

My second website choice is www.mindmyhouse.com.  This is the site from which I found my two-part assignment in Sicily. . . at a beautiful vacation resort where they rent out villas to guest.  My role will be to act as hostess while the homeowners are on holiday in Spain.  Though the MindMyHouse website is not as visually fancy or easy to navigate as TrustedHousesitters might be, it still has lots of good house sitting assignments.  I’ve seen some duplication, where a homeowner might post on several sites, but I’ve also seen posts unique to one site.  So if you’re really looking for a certain kind of sit, it is worth it to sign up with more than one site.  MindMyHouse has only about a third of the number of new sits added each week, compared to TrustedHousesitters, but don’t let that deter you.  In fact, due to the smaller size of MindMyHouse, it’s much easier to climb to the top of the potential prospects pile for each new assignment. The biggest draw for MindMyHouse is the remarkably cheap yearly membership. With an annual membership fee of $20, it’s one of the cheapest. You may want to start on this one, just to try out the process of searching for and applying for sits.

My third favorite website is www.housecarers.com. Their website is a little more “clunky,” but they put their list in a spreadsheet-like format that, once you figure out how it’s organized, might be helpful for quick-scroll type searching. With around 300 active assignments per month they’re still a little behind TrustedHousesitters and their thousands of sits, but they seem to have some unique sits that are not listed on the other sites. HouseCarers annual membership fee is $45.

The other website I have used is HouseSittersAmerica. Their annual membership fee is $30, and as their name implies they limit their sits to the USA. You can search by region, according to the list shown in the image below.  I haven’t spent as much time on this site to have a strong feeling about it, but if you’re only interested in assignments in the US, it might make it nice to not have all the others get in your way. 



Next time, I'll share some tips on how to write a winning profile and proposal, so you can get some assignments lined up and start your own house-sitting adventures.

Ch-ch-changes -- What's Ahead for Me

It's been over 3 years since I've posted to this blog.  And of course, so much has happened.  Losing a loved one forces you to make changes. It's not just the changes forced on you, like living without the loved one, or without his income. . . it also causes you to reassess what it is you want to do with your life, which leads you to voluntarily make changes.  I decided I did not want to work 10-hour days, just to pay a mortgage on a house that I will never have equity in.  So I am selling my home and retiring at the end of the year. In the meantime I have taken on roommates, renting out my three empty bedrooms.  My plan is to sell everything (almost) and put only a few valuable must-keep items in storage for 6 months while I travel Europe. I will start drawing on my late husband's social security and my own retirement plans. . .while also doing some freelance work as a travel writer. I am also planning to take a course to become a Life Coach for Widows.

Each of these things (retiring, renting rooms out, selling my home, relocating cross-country with two big dogs, freelancing, traveling) involve much planning and coordination.  There are moments when I get overwhelmed, feeling like I have way too many balls in the air.  But it seems to be my modus-operandi.  I get more done, the more on my plate.  I seem to thrive on juggling several things at once.

I could create a blog site dedicated to any one of these topics.  Each topic would attract different people who want to learn what I've learned. I've learned volumes of valuable information on FHA Short Sales.  I'm learning what it takes to become a certified Life Coach. I'm becoming an expert in getting freelance work using the UpWork website and app. I've also become really good at selling stuff online and also at finding roommates online. I seem to be especially good at getting house-sitting assignments . . . given that I have 4 assignments (scheduled for February through May) since signing up on the sites only two months ago.

The house-sitting thing is what most of my friends are curious about.  Who wouldn't wonder how they too can travel the world, with the only cost being airfare and whatever local transportation and sight-seeing you want to do while you're at your house-sitting location.  Your lodging is provided. And while you have responsibilities to sleep in the home and possibly care for pets and plants while there, you typically have free time during the day to explore the local area.  So that is what I think I'll write about. I will tell you what the best websites are for finding house-sits and how to write a winning profile and proposal.  Then, after I have completed my house-sits I will write about those experiences.  With that in mind, I'm changing the title of my blog from "He's Gone" to "The Wandering Widow." What do you think?  I'm open to ideas for a good title.

My first house-sit will be in the US. . . in Baltimore, during the second half of a 2-week vacation I already had planned for later this month.  I will spend the daytime becoming familiar with the area (in anticipation of renting a home there after I return from Europe in June) and visiting with my daughter (around her day job).  At night I will care for two cats, in a home not far from where my daughter works. The only hard part about going to Maryland for two weeks, is leaving my own dogs at home.  But I have a house full of roommates that are happy to sit with them, while I sit with someone else's pets.  Thanks, roomies.

When I get back home after Thanksgiving my focus will be on emptying my house and getting it sold. I will haul some belongings down to my old hometown (Grants Pass, Oregon) for long-term storage. So there's at least one 6-hr U-Haul drive down I-5 in January. I will work through December for sure and maybe even into January, depending on if/when the house gets sold.  In February I will drive my van with one of my dogs (Bella) from Washington to Maryland.  I'll take a southern route, to hopefully avoid any horrible weather to deal with.

People keep asking me what I will do with all my artwork.  My house has been my art gallery, every wall covered with art.  Many offices of my co-workers in Olympia and Seattle have also served as my art gallery.  I will continue to have my art online for sale.  I will relocate my inventory to Grants Pass, in friends' and relatives' workplaces and safely stored where it can be retrieved and shipped if/when a piece sells.  GP friends, if you would like to display my art in your work place, let's talk before I start packing things up in December and January.  I loan my art to friends . . . when it can be displayed publicly with a price/contact card on it. . .and when the friend is willing to act as curator should the piece sell. So if you have an office open to the public and need some large colorful art, let me know.

Once all that is done, the fun begins.  I fly to London on February 26th.  I already have all my travel arrangements and car reservations in place. My second house-sit assignment is 2 weeks in England. . . in a town called Cobham, about 90 minutes from London.  After that assignment ends I will fly to Rome where I am leasing a car for 70 days (much cheaper than renting).  I will take a week to drive down the "boot" of Italy (lingering on the Amalfi Coast most of the time) towards Sicily, where my 3rd and 4th assignments are.  I will have plenty of free time to see sights.  I am hoping I can get another assignment to fill the 3-week gap between the last two assignments, just to keep the costs down. . . but if not, I'm fine with that.  I am learning so much about how to travel on a shoestring, that I am fine with not having another assignment.

Again the hardest part of this is leaving my dogs behind for 3 months.  I've never left them anywhere that long.  Denali will be fine.  He has already transitioned to Byron being his only caretaker.  Byron and Denali have been living in Grants Pass, renting my sister's "barn" for the last 3 months.  He is working as a ParaEducator in his sister Jenessa's old middle school. Bella will stay with Jenessa in Baltimore while I'm gone.  Bella is much more "clingy" and "needy" than Denali.  She is my "Verelco Girl." My daughter says Bella is "unusually attached to me."  And that will undoubtedly transfer to Bella being attached to my daughter, once I am gone long enough.  Of all the people in Bella's life, my daughter is the only one, besides me of course, that Bella does not seem to be apprehensive about.  So I am forever grateful to Jenessa (and her roommates Shane, Missy, & Eliud) for allowing Bella to live with them for the Spring.

So. . .welcome to my new life. . .traveling alone. . .without my dogs. . . . in foreign countries that speak other languages  . . . .  no more home to manage . . .no more desk job to go to every morning . . . and travel blogging.  Lots of changes ahead.

I want to get back into daily blogging.  I just need to decide what to write about first. I will write about all these changes I've mentioned.  I will write about selling all my belongings to become a Roving Retiree.  I will write about my experience applying for and living on Social Security at age 61. I will write about traveling cross country with a dog in the van in the wintertime.  I will write about traveling solo to Europe, driving on the wrong side of the street in the UK, and all the sites along the way.  I'll write about living in Sicily for two months, where even the mainland Italians don't speak the language, where I'll be running a BnB frequented by Germans who vacation in Sicily.

One way to fund future travels will be via writing freelance travel articles and blogging advertisements and sponsorship.  I am learning how to do that now.  My first goal is to build a group of readers, people who will follow my blog and share it on their social media sites.  I am curious as to what topics you want me to write about.  Tell me what you like about my blog posts and how I could improve them.  I need friends like you to help get my blogging career started.