Are the recent soaring prices of petrol and diesel making you think twice about applying for sits in your own country?
And with airfares also on the rise, are the increasing travel costs putting you off applying for sits further afield?
Have you found yourself applying for fewer sits than you normally would because of the cost of travelling?
I’d be really interested to hear how rising fuel and flight prices are affecting other house sitters. 
It’s all cumulative. I am ruling out more sits because of travel costs, booking fees. And because travel costs rise closer to the date, last minute sits are rarely going to work out.
No effect whatsoever, we take cheap flights, and even though the prices have gone up, in the grand scheme of things they are still cheap.
Prices are not affecting my travel. I’ve been sitting much less vs. in previous years, out of choice. Doing more travel at my/our own expense vs. when I sat more. And I’ve been weaning myself off THS and doing sits off platform.
When I was sitting more via THS, I was telecommuting. Now, my husband and I are both fancy free (he retired early several years ago and I’ve been on indefinite sabbatical, considering retiring early).
My husband does one or two trips abroad a year, and we go on road trips more often, by car or our sprinter RV. He never sits, because it’s not at all his style.
I travel a lot on my own and sit solo, because he’s a homebody who loves routines. I like to alternate travel with nesting. Happily, I love traveling solo, doing whatever I feel like.
I have been housesitting in California since the very beginning of the year and do not have plans to leave any time soon. Gas prices here are sky high but it’s not such a burdensome cost that we would consider sitting in a different state.
Our expenses are very low overall–it’s really this and food that make up the bulk of our spending-- and besides traveling from sit to sit, we don’t tend to use the car a lot in between. Our last few sits have all been within a couple of hours of each other and we are still on the same tank of gas we filled up in mid-August.
We did not intentionally choose to book sits closer together to minimize gas costs, it just happened to work out that way since the current area we are in–the Bay Area-- has the highest concentration of sits in the state, and lots of spots we found appealing.
After we leave our current sit tomorrow, our next three sits are all close by each other on the Central Coast.
We came back to the US after 10 months abroad last September, and we did not expect we would stay here this long ,but we really like California.
So I have not been checking international sits, though increased costs would probably not deter me–so long as they still felt reasonable to me-- if it was somewhere I really wanted to go ,since again, our expenses are very minimal otherwise.
We are budget travellers who consider sitting a bonus when we travel. Costs are always a consideration, but equally we only have so many years left to travel so we are still doing it while balancing cost against experience and joy
No impact tbh as we’d be visiting family in the two locations where we mostly sit anyway…. sitting enables family visits without having to stay with them…..
@MGDGN, welcome back to THS Forum. Interesting question.
Over recent years then we have been surprised at the high diversity within the housesitter community - in terms of personal situation, housesitting objective, listing preferences. So we’d guess that the answer to your question may vary widely. We’d also guess that the answer may depend on geography, as gasoline costs (and related taxes) vary enormously by country.
High energy costs have not impacted our travel plans. We feel lucky, earlier this year, to have several months of housesitting mapped out that enabled us to book flights at relatively affordable levels.
Regardless, we recently read that energy prices will be magically falling later this year 
. That’ll be great.
My sitting life has been evolving: I prefer now to sit for longer as it makes my expenditure feel more economical. I sometimes go long distance by train, if a car isn’t needed on arrival. I also focus more on a specific area and try to coordinate sits so that I avoid thd 5 hour drive back to base between. With extra charges on each booking with THS I do repeat sits without reviews and weave in sits I’ve been invited to by recommendations from friends. I’m also networking more in my Chosen area, getting to know contacts and my way around are big advantages. I have been in 3 week and 4 week sits and varied it with shorter sits but not shorter THS sits as it irks me to pay extra.
I read of shortage of sitters but I still get rejected by some when I apply. I’m philosophical about that. As a “local “ in Spain with Spanish residence and a knowledge of Spanish and a vehicle here and driving licence it gives me the edge on applicants that are based further afield. I increasingly solo sit which may affect my chances on some applications but generally great reviews are still King. I sometimes get invited out of the blue which is encouraging. I haven’t tried River yet, but my daughter does use that and is getting very successful at it. I’m toying with trying it but so far I’m busy when I want to be.
Doesn’t change our search for sits.
We spend time in Europe and look for sits there and live in the US and will be sitting this winter a long distance from where we live (traveling by car). We do often fly with mileage points so air fare is kept to a minimum.
In the end, it’s still affordable IMO and we have premium so no booking fees for us.
@Highfive, we use both of these tactics. Indeed we find them very helpful.
Re networking, we talk to people 
. There’s one community in Western Canada where we’ve completed many housesits. Lovely community but rural location. And highly seasonal with many ‘snowbird’ pet owners. Through repeats, referrals and dog walk conversations then we have built a strong network. Prior local experience seems attractive.
Re coordinated sits, we find this very help within broad geographic areas. For example, the last few summers we chose to visit the UK, partly to housesit. Each year we secured “book-end” housesits to our dates and secured transatlantic flights. Then filled in gaps opportunistically - abundant listings in UK school summer vacation time.
Curious how you get on with another platform. We’ve met people that use it. We’ve not been tempted. Suspect no “right answer” and good to have choices. Clearly works for some people. Happy hunting.
Definitely. I can’t fly anyway due to health issues, so all 20-ish of my sits have been within a day’s drive. I am in the U.S. The other factor for me is cost - of course I could stay overnight halfway to a farther destination, but being on a tight budget I haven’t done that yet. I have a confirmed sit that involves not only about a seven-hour drive but many toll highways. I almost didn’t take it because of the cost of gas plus tolls, but I decided to treat myself anyway and am very much looking forward to getting away. I guess my kids will have to get cheaper Christmas presents this year lol!
My husband and I are in our mid 70’s and know that we only have so many years left to travel so we don’t think twice about spending money on travel and will continue doing so. I worked in the travel industry as a second career when I retired so travel surfing is a hobby and I always find good deals. Travel is our passion and always has been.
@Globetrotter, raising our hats to your commendable attitude.
The more we travel, the more we (mostly!) want to travel. It’s a joy to meet interesting people, in new cultures, and to live everyday life in new environments.
Cheering on your travels.
You ask about how I get on with other sites and sources. I belong to a Facebook site for UK and one for Europe. I chose a sit in Estepona. The Home Owners were Brits and hadn’t used THS but had heard of it. I sent my latest reviews.
They got back to me. They knew starting was more risky and wanted proven experience. I did 3 weeks for them. He was a professional golfer British and took the family to Barbados for a competition.
Subsequently they joined THS.
You’re welcome THS! Ha ha!
No review of course but they’d have me back like a shot so that’s a plus!
Word of mouth is powerful too. If it’s a one off people are reluctant to pay the annual membership and now the extra tenner!
It’s true there are much fewer sits in Europe than in UK . As I go between the two I haven’t had a problem in finding what I like but I tend to fish in particular areas and build my reviews on these areas so Home Owners see me as local and lower risk perhaps as I have a home nearby I need to check on.