House Sitting: The Poor Man’s Solution to Long-Term Travel Accommodation
In deciding to make long-term travel a part of our life, my partner and I were faced with the challenge of being able to afford to live abroad. After thinking hard about all of our options, we decided to try our luck with trustedhousesitters.com
There are several other house sitting websites out there, such as mindmyhouse.com and housecarers.com, but trustedhousesitters.com has one of the best reputations. You can look around without paying a fee, but in order to apply to house sits, there is a $100 membership fee that lasts for one year. If you are serious about travel, this is not too much to ask, really, considering many hotels charge more than that for a night! We applied to over 20 house sits, and, like applying for a job, changed our tactics to suit each one individually. We only heard back from one. One out of 20. But it was a good one – in fact, it was the house sit that made us sign up and pay the $100 membership fee. Five months in Bonnie Scotland. In this, we were lucky.
House sitting provides a unique opportunity to feel at home while exploring parts of the world, or a part of a country, that you would perhaps be inclined to look over. We find ourselves in a small seaside town in Northern Scotland that I had never heard of - but damn, if it doesn’t have the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen!
The house we are staying in is lovely - and we have the added bonus of access to the owner’s car! We are looking after two well-behaved kitties that sleep on our bed every night. We have a helpful neighbour who looks out for us and provides suggestions for days out. We have hit the jackpot with this situation, but house sitting doesn’t always mean you’ll have it made! We will have to be prepared for unexpected problems that may arise and deal with them to the best of our ability. I think we will definitely try to continue with trustedhousesitters.com once we are done in Scotland – it’s more comfortable, surprising, and enjoyable than long stays in a hostel.
Trustedhousesitters.com doesn’t just have months-long options! If you’re looking for a cheap holiday somewhere interesting, there are postings all over the world for any number of days! If you are flexible with your timing, it could take you somewhere you never thought you could go!