There are so many stories on the Internet of people who are living the dream of traveling the world.

People, who quit their jobs, sold their belongings and took off with a one-way ticket across the world. And sometimes they are even earning money doing so.

I am one of them.

Long term house sitting

Since we have just crossed over into a new decade, I thought I’d share a little about my biggest accomplishment of the 2010s: Finding my path to remote work and travel freedom and one thing that helped me a lot along the journey. 

And how you can do exactly that too!

How I Started Building My Dream Lifestyle

Back in 2014, I dreamt about a life that was more than just 9 to 5 in an office, freezing cold and snow during long German winters and vacations when work allowed.

I decided to give up my apartment in Frankfurt, Germany and with about 3 months in savings in my bank account, I took off to Thailand to start figuring out this life in the digital nomad hub of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. My goal was to generate an income entirely online by offering my digital marketing skills – and building this blog.

It didn’t take me long to make friends with other people I met working on their laptops in cafes and coworking spaces across the city.

It also didn’t take long before I had my first clients, which easily allowed me to pay rent for my small 1-bedroom apartment in Chiang Mai and eating out 3 times per day.

Thailand is definitely still one of the easiest countries to figure out nomad life due to its low cost of living but great quality of life, fast Internet and abundance of digital nomads to meet you meet anywhere.

House sitting Australia
House sitting worldwide
House sitting jobs

Life was pretty good in Chiang Mai – until one of my friends told me about house sitting and I got pretty much immediately hooked on the idea, as I knew this would allow me to travel to more countries even without big savings!

What I didn’t expect was that only a few months later I would be house and pet sitting and even saving money doing so.

What Is House Sitting?

Put in simple words, house sitting means watching other people’s houses while they are away on holiday in exchange for free accommodation.

Most of those house sitting jobs usually also include looking after the owners pets like dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, chicken or bigger animals like donkeys or horses.

Luxury house sitting
House and pet sitting

It’s truly a unique way of traveling, that not only opened up a world of potential new destinations to travel to, but also new friendships and yes, animal love!! Something I definitely missed as a long-term traveler.

And you get all that while staying away from tourist traps and expensive hotel rates.

I remember my house sit over New Years in Paris, something I would’ve never thought of if it weren’t for house sitting.

Or my luxury house sitting experience in Oakland across the bay from San Francisco with living room views over the Golden Gate bridge. An area I definitely never thought of staying either!

Finding The Best House Sitting Websites

I started my first official house sit in October 2015 in Darwin, Australia. While you might shrug and say “gosh, isn’t that a bit hot up there?”, I had the absolute best time looking after two dogs and two cats, a big house and cruising around in the owners car exploring Darwin and its surroundings.

If you are wondering how to get into house sitting, my single best advice would be to find a good house sitting platform (more on that below) and then apply for as many house sits as you can and don’t hesitate to go to a place you have maybe not thought of before.

For example, I wanted to go to San Francisco and ended up house sitting across the bridge in Oakland, or when I wanted to house sit in Sydney and ended up house sitting in Wollongong, which turned out amazing as I had the best neighbours taking me on their morning bike rides and where I hung out on the big balcony with my temporary doggie pal.

To find the best house and pet sitting websites, I recommend you first ask yourself where you want to house sit: Locally or internationally? For me, the answer was always: Internationally, of course!

I have used a variety of house sitting websites and house sitting apps as well as local Facebook groups, but I had the most success on a site called TrustedHousesitters.

Trusted house sitters reviews

If you have been following me for a while, you have definitely heard me talk about TrustedHousesitters in a blog post or on my Instagram.

My obsession with house sitting has even landed me an interview on News.com.au and a TV interview on 7News Gold Coast.

TrustedHousesitters Review

Back in 2014, my friend in Chiang Mai actually told me about TrustedHousesitters, just like I am telling you about it now.

So what is it all about?

TrustedHousesitters works on an annual membership, which gives you unlimited house sitting worldwide in over 130 countries. There are no hidden fees and they will send you a message when your annual membership expires and automatically renew it if you don’t cancel.

Best house sitting websites

TrustedHousesitters has been helping owners and sitter through exchanging home and pet care for a place to stay for over 9 years and they have recently also launched the TrustedHousesitters App, which comes in very handy for on-the-go messaging. It’s available for both Apple and Android.

On The Other Side: Finding A Pet Sitter

I have actually also been on the owner side, since my boyfriend's family was looking for a sitter for 6 weeks, we put up a listing for their house and Border Collie and after interviewing two couples, we had a decision made.

And it truly was such an affordable alternative to the traditional kennel. Their dog was kept happily at home and we had peace of mind to go on our big trip to Europe.

Housesitter jobs

After 20+ successful house sits over two years, I have told many, many friends and lots of them have also signed up and used the site for finding short and long term house sitting gigs.

Readers ask me questions all the time about good house sitting agencies, how to build a good profile, which are the right questions to discuss with the house owners, if they need to sign any contracts, what happens in a case of emergency and so much more.

FAQ: How To Become A House Sitter

So here it goes… If you are on the fence on wanting to become a house sitter and travel the world, I will attempt to answer the most common questions I get below. These are mainly tied to using TrustedHousesitters.

As I have previously written about the steps to becoming a professional house sitter, I won’t go into detail on this here.

What Do You Typically Do As a House Sitter?

You will make sure that the owners’ house is looked after, you keep it clean as you would your own home and look after their pets. Sometimes you water their plants or garden, just usual chores around the house you’d do in your home too.

House sitting app
How to become a house sitter

Bigger tasks like mowing the lawn or cleaning out horse stables should be discussed and agreed upon before. You should never be responsible to do any maintenance work around the house.

That being said, I always had great owners who even had their cleaners come once a week, organised someone to mow the lawn or look after the pool. So truly, their biggest worry is their pets, that they are well cared for, walked, cuddled and fed.

How Do You Trust Each Other?

For sitters and owners, you’ll find two levels of verification on TrustedHousesitters, which will display on the public profile for members to see.

If you’re unsure about anything, the most direct way is always asking. If answers become inconsistent or weird, maybe the sit is not the right match for you.

Pet sitting website

I also like chatting on FaceTime with the owners to clarify all questions and see the house and virtually meet the dog ahead of time.

This takes off a lot of pressure for both parties. Even better, if you can be there in person and meet, however, this has not always been possible for me personally and I set up many house sits via video call.

As a sitter, you might also be asked to present a criminal background check for additional peace of mind, there is no harm in getting one, in most countries you can easily apply for one online.

Lastly, you can put a written house sitting agreement into place if you like, which lays out some terms of what is expected from both the sitter and owner. TrustedHousesitters provides a sample document to modify in your members dashboard.

I have personally not used a written agreement for any of my sits, but I think it’s a useful thing for long-term house sits, where you might sit for 6+ months and may agree to pay for utilities or Internet fees.

Why Is The Membership Cost More Expensive Than Other Platforms?

I often get this question and I also did think the yearly membership was a lot too in the beginning.

However, the good thing is, you can sign up for a free account ahead of time and browse all house sits and see how many are available in the destination you’re looking to travel to.

House sitting websites

Once you found a few you’d like to apply for, you sign up and pay, this way you can buy yourself some time and you can be extra sure.

Another feature I love about TrustedHousesitters (once you’re a paid member) is the daily email alerts you can sign up to, so you’ll get to see new listings 24 hours before anyone else.

This is especially valuable is popular cities where many sitters want to sit, like San Francisco, New York, London or Sydney. As you become more advanced and have a few house sits under your belt, you will definitely be able to score some of those sits and you’ll be fast enough to apply through daily alerts!

Additionally, I have found that the quality of house sits were better than on other free platforms or Facebook groups. All owners I met were absolutely caring and great to deal with.

Plus you can houses sit without any limits for an entire year!

This basically pays back after one or two sits, however, if you enjoy it, I am sure you will get hooked and do much more during the year. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

What To Do In A House Sitting Emergency?

You should discuss with the house owner what happens in an emergency ahead of time.

If there is an emergency around the house or with the pets, you generally should always contact the owner first, otherwise the local vet, which you absolutely should make sure to get the number of!

I once had a sick bunny I needed to take to the vet and while it was stressful, it certainly helped to know who to contact and what to do.

How to get into housesitting
Finding a house sitting job

Most times, owners will also leave an emergency contact, someone who lives nearby or can be easily reached on the phone, especially valuable when the owner is overseas and it’s 3am in their time zone, which might not be an ideal time to call about a dripping tap!

You can also contact TrustedHousesitters directly by email, live chat or phone if it’s not an immediate emergency.

Additionally, as a TrustedHousesitters member, you have access to the free 24/7 Vet Advice Line, in case you need pet-related advice and don’t know if you should go to the vet or not.

Are You Insured When House Sitting?

If you are traveling overseas, there is no question if you should get travel insurance, you 100% need to!! I highly recommend you check out my post on travel insurance.

Now that you are personally insured in case of an accident or sudden illness, let’s chat about other insurance coverage, like when something goes wrong in the house.

When you are confirmed as a sitter through TrustedHousesitters, Insurance Backed Guarantee will cover the owner. 

This essentially covers property damage, theft and public liability protection up to USD1 million.

This means that both parties are covered for the unlikely event of accidental damage to the property as well as when something goes missing or the sitter has an accident in or around the house. You can find the whole fine print here.

In the case that the owner will borrow their car to you, make sure to have them add you to their car insurance policy in the case something happens on the road. Easy Peasy!

Starting house sitting

Do You Get Paid?

You do not get paid for house sitting through TrustedHousesitters.

Why? It’s an exchange community, you will receive free accommodation, endless animal love, sometimes a full fridge of food or the possibility to drive the owners car.

I have also done paid house sitter jobs in the past and still think the dynamic and expectations are completely different. Let’s say, there is pros and cons to everything.

Pet and house sitting
Best house sits

Plus, just because you are a world traveler doesn’t mean you have worldwide working rights… Yes, house sitting for money is also a job, especially if it’s not cash in hand but paid through a platform. Just one more thing to be aware of!

Can really anyone become a full-time traveler and house sit around the world? I certainly think so!

House sitting has enriched my life in many ways and many of my friends’ and readers’ lives too and I hope it will do the same with yours!

I think it is an amazing way of traveling, especially as digital nomads, since we usually are very flexible, don’t mind long house sits (most of us actually prefer them!) and have an abundance of time to spend with the pets at home to play and cuddle, as we simply work from home, or anywhere really!

House sitting has given me beautiful animal souls to love and care for a little while, new exciting places and neighborhoods to discover, which I would’ve never thought of traveling to.

In a way, house sitting has even made it possible for me to slowly set up a home base in Australia, and despite, I am always looking for my next gig overseas, which I am sure won’t be far off.

Do you also want to become a house sitter and travel the world?

Best house sitting websites

This post is brought to you in collaboration with TrustedHousesitters, all opinions are my own.

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