Hello! I am new to Trusted House Sitters - I have three confirmed sits this summer. I have seen YouTube videos and read articles from sitters who do this full time - instead of having their own home, they travel sit to sit. This appeals to me, and I’m trying to visualize how this is done.
If anyone has this experience, I’d love to know more about how you started, how you like it, what is it like not having a permanent home, and what do you do between sits?
Welcome @mmlessons! Well done on landing your first sits.
My first tip would be: First see if you actually like housesitting before jumping in full-time. It’s not for everyone, living in someone else’s home and being responsible for their most valued assets. But once you’re comfortable with that, it’s a great way to travel/live.
We often take breaks between sits, as it becomes too much to hop from one sit to the next for continuous periods of time. We love a short (or sometimes longer) break from the responsibilities of minding pets.
We are not doing this full time, but I agree see how you like it first before committing to that idea. It’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get and living in other people’s homes comes with all kind of challenges. I find one of the hardest things for me is using a kitchen that has no room in it for my food. More common than you would think, so my groceries are stored on the bench, a table wherever I can find space, then the visual clutter drives me nuts.
You’re putting all sitters in one big pot there, a lot (like us) have their own home and rent it out to tenants or as a holiday let… and therefore have income from it too.
We choose to not live-live there anymore, because pet sitting is BRILLIANT 
which you are about to discover.
We thought we would have detachment issues, we only expect to sit for a couple of weeks here and there over the year, but within 3 months we were pet sitting full time.
Once we started pet sitting, we were living so in-the-present-moment that we never thought about ‘home’ at all.
My husband and I have been housesitting since 2014 (we never had a residence at any point) and are from the US. From then until 2020, we would stay at my mom’s house for extended periods to visit with family and friends–a few months at a time–so we weren’t literally full-time but pretty much.
Though during those times we would break things up with shorter sits nearby. She lived in NJ and during those 6 years we sat all over NYC–we didn’t have a car so could only do somewhere we could reach by public transport. Besides a few sits in NJ we were able to do without a car, New York was pretty much the only US-based place we sat these 6 years.
When she passed away in the summer of 2020 and we sold her house, we became truly full-time. We have other family in the area but we don’t stay at their homes as we did with my mom, which was the house I grew up in. We took possession of her car and because of Covid, we did a lot more US-based sits over the next few years obviously.
We have been living this way for so long I can’t imagine doing it any other way. But if for any reason we didn’t want to keep up with this lifestyle we would stop but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
When we travel abroad, we leave our car at a friend’s house. Having a car for our US-based sits is obviously a big advantage as we have the full range of listings available to us. Though somewhere like here ,with such a large number of sits available, I am sure it is easy to fill one’s schedule even if you are limited to sits that don’t require a vehicle to reach and get around. Not sure where you are from.
When sitting internationally in multiple countries, we may have a gap of a few days between sits to account for moving between them, giving ourselves a bit of extra time in case of delays,etc… In this instance, finishing one sit and starting another is really not possible.
We have been sitting in the UK since mid-March and are booked through the beginning of September. During this time, we have only had to pay for one night in a hotel. There are so many sits in the country, booking them back to back is not difficult at all.
Same goes for when we are in the US–when we do have a gap in our schedule, it is usually never more than one night.
We really don’t do a lot of non-sit travel–we really like not having to pay for accommodation and there really aren’t that many places we want to see that badly that we would have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to visit.
I don’t mind moving from sit to sit though some people don’t like doing that and like taking breaks in between.
We established residency in a state that allows full-time travelers to do so, so we are able to have our driver’s license and insure our car with the address of our mail service serving as our ‘residence.’ Prior to this, we were using the address of a family member in NJ.
I am not sure what your financial situation is but if you are motivated to go full-time because of tight finances you have to think of what you would do if there was a last-minute cancellation and you couldn’t find another sit or you needed to pay for accommodation for at least a few days–do you have funds to cover that? Do you have funds if there are gaps in your schedule and you can’t always book sits back to back?
In my experience, cancellations and schedule changes are rare but they can happen.
Choosing to take advantage of the cost savings sitting offers and feeling strongly dependent on it for financial reasons are two different scenarios, and the latter can have negative effects, such as people feeling pressure to take any sit they can get to fill the dates–even when there are red flags from the outset-- and they end in situations that are problematic in various ways.
You want to choose sits carefully and really think about your preferences, your abilities,etc… It is easy to get seduced by a desirable location and not take into account what the day to day experience would be like, to think if you are actually well-suited to what the sit requires, etc…
This is important for anyone but the more time someone spends sitting, the more important the selection process becomes, the more important the honoring of the preferences becomes.
Hi @mmlessons
I don’t know where you’re from, or if you have your own home.
I own my home outright and in January 2019 rented it out (bringing in an income) and spent 6 months housesitting in England until July that year when I flew to Auckland housesitting in NZ for 6 months then in Aus but returned to the UK in March 2020 when the pandemic hit. I got into my home 2 months later and in January 2022 flew to New Zealand’s South Island, housesitting and travelling (hiring cars) in between sits. Then in and out of Aus sitting and returning to the UK in March last year. I’ve been housesitting in the UK since then and just returned from 3 months sitting in Ireland.
I’ve been back in my home in Cheltenham since Tuesday, as felt I needed a break from constantly moving, packing and unpacking. I’m a fit 68 year old and will still housesit but less and going from home. I have 3 repeat sits and a new sit booked over Christmas.
My address was kept as my home but it can get complicated with e.g. the electoral roll. Also a nuisance re Dr and Dentist as, if not careful, I risked being removed. In fact the Dr did remove me so I had to re-register.
After a while in my home I’ll know what to do and am seriously considering selling. I don’t think I’d be brave enough not to buy another home but I’ll see, it could be very difficult to get back on the property ladder. Anyway, that’s a whole new discussion.
What I will say is it’s been a fantastic lifestyle. I’m probably luckier than some as have two pensions. I’ve been able to do some fabulous things and not really touched my savings because of the amount I’ve saved in accommodation. I have stayed in many hotels, airbnbs and with friends. I haven’t taken advantage of friends as I would be visiting them anyway. Sometimes they’ve been able to stay for a few days in sits with me with the owners’ permission.
As has been suggested, you need to make sure this is the lifestyle for you before taking the full time leap. Good luck!
I began traveling long-term in 2022 and went full-time nomadic before learning about THS. That gave me the chance to gradually build to a full-time traveling life before adding the extra layer of sitting. It also meant that I quickly connected with a community of full-time nomads since I sometimes stayed at sites that specifically hosted traveling remote workers – which connected me to resources and strategies that support this lifestyle.
With that foundation, it was easy to move to sitting full-time (which I did in Nov. 2024).
Before going full-time nomadic, I lived in NYC in a rented apartment. Initially in 2022, I went away for several months while subletting my apartment. Then, I let go of that apt and traveled for several months at a time but still returned periodically to NYC and would stay in a sublet for a few months. Eventually, I phased out of NYC altogether.
Since getting rid of my rented apartment, I’ve kept my stuff in storage, live out of a suitcase, and return to my storage unit every several months to swap out seasonal items (or sometimes go thrifting if I can’t make it to my storage unit when needed).
For context: I’m a solo female who was working remotely before beginning to travel long-term.
I love it! It’s a lifestyle that isn’t for everyone due to the inherent challenges, but I enjoy the new experiences, new environments, new people, and new perspectives and am not bothered enough by the trade-offs to stop or slow down just yet.
However, I only enjoy it when I’m spending long stretches in each place. Occasionally, I’ll swing through a particular city/region only briefly (1 week or less), but for the most part, my minimum stay requirement is 1 month, with a strong preference for 2-3 months before I move on to the next location. Since I’m working full-time during the week, I prefer having a longer stay so that I can really explore and get to know the area.
Additionally, when paying for accommodations (as I was doing pre-THS), long-term stays are the only way to get discounts good enough to make it a reasonable rate.
When sitting, I might find a single two-month sit, or I might string together two or three shorter sits that are in close geographical proximity to one another – which also allows me to experience the region/city from different neighborhoods. This is also easier and more budget-efficient than transiting long distances all the time.
Some things I miss:
There are lots of practical considerations that can be impacted by full-time traveling, depending on where exactly you stay and for how long, including:
(Here’s a recent post on this topic: How to go ‘nomad’? There are several other posts as well – use the spyglass to search.)
There are also several emotional considerations to keep in mind:
Note that I’m speaking as someone who travels globally for the most part. Many sitters here stay largely within their country/region, which mitigates a lot of the social/emotional challenges.
There are definitely solutions available to all of the above challenges. But these are some of the “cons” that don’t necessarily get well-addressed by youtubers/influencers.
To a large extent, I string my sits back-to-back. This is especially easy when remaining within a single region / not traveling too far from one sit to the next.
Many HOs offer (or request) that you arrive a day or so early and may allow you to stay for an extra night after the sit. Not everyone makes this offer, and you also need to decide whether you mind staying in their home while they’re there with you.
When traveling a longer distance to reach a sit, I insert as much cushion as possible without leaving myself with too many uncovered nights:
I’ve been full-time sitting since November of last year (with holidays spent at my parents’ house). Looking back + looking ahead through Thanksgiving of this year (for one year total), here are my numbers:
Hi All! I’m brand new here. Lol where do i start? i have a idea of course. I had looked at this in the past. Seemed something I’d really like. I’m a people person, and huge animal lover!!! I recently just moved to SC from Massachusetts. So far i do like it. One of my main reasons , was to live, see different part of U.S. I’ve always wanted to travel. I haven’t done much of it. At 46 finally doing for myself. Anyhow i thought I’d find out about this, get some feedback from you all. Thanks for reading. Look foward to hearing from you!
@mmlessons My partneŕ and I have been full-time petsitting for 5 years now. I wrote an article about the emotional toll of not having a gome on my blog. Will send it to you by DM (cause not sure if I’m allowed to post links here)
oh wow that’s cool. Ok sounds good!
@NIkki81278 check out this post 
Welcome!
sounds exciting!
@one-eyed_scallywag very thorough and well written response.
I appreciate your perspective as a solo-sitter/traveler. I started traveling last May. Put everything in storage & just LEFT. Luckily, I had severance to cover several months and did my best to streeeeeetch it out. Then, I found short term housing over the winter and tried out THS. I love caring for pets and nice homes without the overhead of chores & what not.
I like your idea of being in one area for a period of time. I’m also learning that its a bit of work finding the right sits and the back to back timing. Hope to find my groove. Open to ‘how to’ suggestions.
Also, i notice its tricky to have THS while having family events (eg weddings) during a sit. Do you avoid that or ask if they have a friend who might cover that evening walk, for example?
I think I might end up with a mix of short term stays (eg 2 - 3 months) without sits and seasons with back to back sits. Still tbd.
yes, it’s all an ongoing experiment!
Personally, I don’t do sits in my family’s area (mainly because a car is needed to get around, and I don’t drive), and I only infrequently visit via sits in my old city (where my friends might have a wedding or something).
If I knew about an upcoming personal event, I would either plan my own stay (non-sit), or if the logistics make sense, I would apply for a sit but include a line in my application stating that on X day, I have a wedding to attend from 13.00 - 21.00, and would it be possible to get a neighbor or someone to walk the dog that afternoon? Some HOs will decline, some might respond favorably but then realize they can’t find coverage for the needed day and then decline… but some will say “no problem” and proceed with the booking.
If I don’t know about a personal event until after I’ve confirmed a sit, then personally, I just tell myself “tough cookies” and miss the event (assuming the logistics can’t work). Recently, I was sad to miss a special family member’s grad party. I missed it simply because I forgot it would be coming up and wasn’t thinking about it earlier this year when I confirmed my current sit. In May, I received the grad party invite and face-palmed as I realized I wouldn’t be able to make it. But based on everything – the care requirements for this dog and the conversations I had had with the HO – I wasn’t comfortable asking to make any special arrangements for a day trip away. (Occasionally, I’ve done sits where the HO proactively encouraged me to take advantage of their friends so I could take a day or a weekend off – but in most cases, if I didn’t ask about it during our pre-commitment conversation, then I’m not comfortable asking for it after the fact.)
Now that I’ve made that mistake, I try to be more actively aware of important events with friends or family that may come up and place calendar holds that should jump out at me when I’m considering applying for a sit during X time period. But it’s tricky, because there are obviously some things you won’t know about until much shorter notice. I don’t have a great answer for this scenario, unfortunately, other than “do your best to anticipate them, and be intentional about what you’re committing to around that time.”
Note also that in my case, I usually have to travel at least a few hours to reach my family. If my current sit, for example, had instead been in my family’s city, then maybe I would have tried to make arrangements for someone to take care of the dog just for the afternoon. Or maybe I would jump back and forth between the party and the home/dog.
I tend to book longer-term sits first, and then book smaller sits to fill the gaps. When doing this, I don’t necessarily worry about getting the long sits’ dates close together. But then, I’ll watch for a shorter sit that perfectly (or almost perfectly) fills the gap. Sometimes, this involves finding one short sit that fills the first-half of my gap and then finding another sit that fits the second-half.
For example:
Let’s say I see a sit that I’m excited about from Jan. 1 - Feb. 15 in Austin, Texas. I apply, and the HO and I confirm and lock it in.
Then, I see another sit that I’m excited about that runs from Mar. 1 - Mar. 30 in San Diego, California. Again, I apply, and the HO and I confirm the sit.
That leaves me with a gap from Feb. 15 - Mar. 1. So now I’m going to save a search that covers that two-week time period in Austin, and I’ll save another search covering the period in San Diego. I might also save a broader search that covers the whole southwest of the US on those dates, depending on what form of transit I intend to take between Austin and SD. I’ll keep an eye out for alerts on those searches, keeping in mind that I need a day or so of transit built-in. What I’m watching for is ideally a sit that starts on Feb. 15, 16, or 17 and ends on Feb. 27 or 28 or Mar. 1.
Maybe I find a sit that appeals to me in Austin that runs from Feb. 15 - Feb. 19. I’ll probably apply and (if we confirm it), I’ll reconfigure my search settings to try to fill the remaining days. Or I might wait it out (especially if it’s still far in advance) and keep watching for a full two-week sit.
As the “remaining dates” timeframe gets narrower, it becomes more of a gamble to try to land a sit that fits perfectly. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. But I try to gauge likelihood of a match by how far out I am from that date and how many sits are being posted for that location, duration and time period.
Also, keep in mind that it’s easier to get a one-month sit than it is to get four perfectly back-to-back one-week sits. In other words, longer sits reduce the planning hassle.
Just my two cents, but this rough approach has been working for me so far! 
It doesn’t become easier, it becomes a hobby!
@mmlessons, welcome to THS. Certainly seems that you’ve started with positive mindset!
The housesitting community is surprisingly diverse in terms of objectives, situation, frequency, geographies, demographics. All sorts. It is our impression that there is a meaningful subset of housesitters that do so on a full-time basis. Of those, we suspect that some have properties (vacant, rented, ..) and some do not.
We have been full-time housesitting for almost 2.5 years now. We started as an experiment in our own country. Then experimented housesitting in a different country to visit family. Then experimented for a whole winter. Each time we have paused and reflected on whether we’re enjoying the experience and wish to continue. Gradually we have pushed boundaries of adventure within THS. We see housesitting as a win-win-win for pet parents, housesitters and pets. But we are increasingly careful to avoid some situations, eg. “employer” pet parents.
You asked about visualization … in each of the last few years, we have started the year with flipchart-sized card (columns = months, rows = scenarios) and used index cards to map out (minimum monthly) countries in which we would seek to spend time. Yep, that’s probably bonkers to some people. But a few scenarios helps us to communicate, ensure that we’re aligned, agree a Plan A and then to execute/adapt.
We approach two distinctly different types of housesits … “feature” (some aspect is really attractive to us … we’d happily travel internationally to complete) and “filler” (date gap between feature housesits … greater focus on dates and logistics).
We travel without any checked luggage. For months at a time. It’s a mindset. No clutter.
We try to stagger housesit pets between dogs; non-dogs and no-pets. We do relish dogs but they take a bunch of work and periodic break is welcome. As is a periodic break from housesitting.
We are digital people. In various ways. This mitigates some issues.
Suggest that you adopt an experimental mindset. Try stuff. Reflect. Evolve. You’ll learn stuff about yourself, preferences and opportunities through the process.
Good luck!
I’m sensing that!