Hi @Karfry87
My husband and I housesit full time and we love it…have been doing it since 2014. But it is a very different type of life that isn’t for everyone, so if you find over time it doesn’t work for you, that’s okay.
I am sorry to hear about your partner’s illness and I hope that turns out okay. The idea of saving money can be a big draw for housesitting, especially full time. But I imagine if that is the main motivator–especially with a stressful situation like yours–rather than pure love of travel and being very drawn to this lifestyle, then certain aspects of it may seem very challenging.
This is not at all to suggest you are lacking the ‘proper’ motivations as I don’t know the whole picture of what led to your decision. But the space from which we make a decision–for example, trying to avoid a negative situation rather than move into a positive one-- can certainly affect how we experience the thing we decided to do.
If you are having a hard time adjusting, I think that’s normal and just give yourself some time to see how it goes. You may come to love it and can’t imagine living any other way or you may decide it’s not for you rather early on in the game. You may find you really enjoy it for a few years but your wants and needs change and it really doesn’t work for you any longer. The key is not projecting too far into the future and just take each day as it comes.
My husband and I started traveling pretty much full time in 2011 and started housesitting in 2014. We technically had a home base until 2020 as we would go stay at my mother’s house but she passed away in May 2020. But that never really felt like our ‘home’ in that sense–even though I grew up in that house-- and we still felt ‘nomadic’ even when we were there.
While it’s important for any sitter regardless of how frequently they sit, I think it is especially important for full time sitters to really honor their preferences–many of we don’t figure out right away, and shape up over time as we begin to see what works for us and what doesn’t, what enhances our experience and what diminishes it.
Having done so many sits–almost 60 reviews here alone–my husband and I have developed a pretty solid idea of our preferences and what works for us. Over time I have come to realize certain elements of a sit can really diminish the experience, and other more desirable elements do not compensate for that.
For example, after a number of more challenging dog sits in the last year especially, we have become much more selective about which ones we apply to.
Based on past experiences, we would no longer consider a sit where the animal has separation anxiety, is a high energy dog breed and doesn’t have a yard to run freely, needs very early feeding and/or walking, lives in an environment that may be dangerous to them ( e.g cats that roam free in areas with poisonous snakes or a dog walked on a route full of aggressive street dogs) and a few other no’no’s for us personally.
At this point in our ‘career’ I know for certain that a luxury apartment in a world class city, an ocean front villa in a tropical paradise or a really exotic location that doesn’t see a lot of listings will not even come close to compensating for a really neurotic dog who needs constant attention or will wake me up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom when I have a very hard time falling back asleep after being woken up.
We also have some preferences regarding the types of locations and houses we visit. As someone who really values quiet, if someone notes their area is noisy for whatever reason. I know I will not enjoy the experience as much no matter how great the home or how interesting the location.
Now of course, there are no guarantees, like anything in life. A dog may behave very differently than he does with an owner and display some of the ‘problem’ traits I try to avoid. A dog may have a ‘problem’ behavior that the owner doesn’t see as such so doesn’t mention it when you ask. There may be some element of the location I wouldn’t like but it wasn’t something that would have even occurred to me to ask about.
But then that experience just adds to that shaping of preferences, and possible questions to ask the owner. So again, while there are no guarantees, so long as people honor those preferences and ask questions about things that are important to them, it definitely ups the chances of having more enjoyable sits substantially.
Trust your intuition when taking sits. If something feels off, or is clearly out of line with what would work for you, don’t be tempted to accept a sit anyway due to attachment to a particular location, trying to save as much money as possible, because it works for your schedule, the house or location is really interesting,etc… Trust the right opportunities will come along. House sitting full time especially gives a lot of flexibility on locations, dates and the length of the sit so you will have lots of sits to pick from compared to someone who is looking at very specific dates and time frames.
) We also try and enjoy the pets and location whilst “on duty” and save the exploring for before or after as that makes it feel less pressured and as if we are locals not just tourists. Hope some of that helps, am sure they’ll be lots of advice on here for you. Ease into it all, best of luck 
