Hello! My name is Louise and im so excited to have been accepted for my first sit.
Im looking forward to a video call with the pet parent tomorrow!
Im 57, have had numerous dogs and cats in my life.
As I find myself single and having taken early retirement as a teacher im filling my time with supply and looking after various cats and dogs!
I have applied for lots, but i guess its understandable that people go for who they know and / or people with lots of reviews.
Anyways, i look forward to getting to know you all a little more!
Love Lou xx
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Congratulations and good luck with your first sit! You just need that first 5 star review and youâre off! Make sure youâve got references from people whose pets/homes youâve looked after
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Welcome @LouLu ! You can learn a lot on Forum, and there are many here that can help should you have questions.
Hope you have great time!
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Welcome welcome welcome, but you are wrong about needing loads of reviews, unless you are after major places that are in high demand. It only took 3 reviews for everything to change for us, and weâre in our 50âs and 60âs too.
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Welcome! We started off with local sits to build our reviews. Have a great time 
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Welcome, I am also a retired widow. Now without pets, and I enjoy the adventure. In fact, I am going nomadic for at least 5 months after this month. I just joined the service in Jan so only have 6 reviews. But I did a local one to get my first. Since I am going nomadic, I already have 7 more sits booked going forward. Some are better than others, but I am enjoying the experience.
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Wow! Thats so exciting! Is your home packed into your car?
I fancy this lifestyle!
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Welcome @LouLu
Iâm also a new (to THS) sitter and have had just one very short local sit right out of the gate.
Next month I have a 6 day sit about an hour away and then another week long sit in March 2025 in the next state over.
Iâm starting off slow as I figure things out, and trying to be picky about sits since Iâm not doing this full-time. Iâm hoping eventually to get a sit or two in the UK or Ireland later in 2025.
Iâve found a ton of good info and experience here in the forums. Hopefully Iâll learn from reading about others mistakes and not have to experience them myself.
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There was another topic and people discussed what they carry. Some are trooping around full time with just a knapsack. I am going to go by car and I am travelling with a a pretty full load. One, I need clothes for cold winter and hot summer. In between I have a trip to Bali with my daughter. I like having certain toiletries. Just little things. Sometimes HOs are particularly with certain items in their kitchen. Would rather have my own back up rather than using one of those seasoned fry pans. I just donât like those. It will be an experience. Good luck.
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Welcome! To help you get sits: Make sure your sitter profile is strong, written to anticipate things that hosts will need to know to feel confident that youâre trustworthy, responsible, communicative.
If you want help with that, share your profile and ask for feedback in the forum, where there are many experienced sitters. This is how to add your profile to your forum bio: How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile
Solo sitters who are older women tend to get preference for many sits, from my experience.
I sit part time while telecommuting and have had sits for nearly every month since joining in February 2023. I didnât need to sit locally to get started â flew to sits across the U.S. and did a couple in the U.K. pretty early on.
Whatâs worked well:
⢠I donât make compromises on any sits â I either really want to do them and the hosts seem great or I donât pursue the sits.
⢠No matter how great the sit otherwise, the hosts are always the potential dealbreaker. If anything goes sideways, theyâre the ones youâll need to partner with to problem-solve. Sitting well is a partnershipâ donât settle for crappy partners.
⢠Screening closely for the tone of their listings helps a lot â I apply only for ones that sound friendly and welcoming. I skip any that sound like theyâre hiring paid sitters, with cold wording and a bunch of duties, like a job ad.
⢠I also skip ones that donât mention things relevant to sitters, such as where food and other amenities are in the area. Thatâs because hosts who are self-absorbed and share only what they or their pets need arenât in the mindset of being good hosts, thinking reciprocally.
⢠Hosts who think theyâre doing sitters a favor or who are self-absorbed will tend to not reply promptly, change dates or have squishy ones. If thereâs any sign of that, I skip the listing.
⢠I and many other experienced sitters withdraw our applications for sits if the hosts donât reply promptly. In my case, if a host doesnât respond within 48 hours to schedule a video chat, Iâm out. If a host doesnât reply promptly, that doesnât bode well for their communications during a sit. What if thereâs an emergency and you need to reach them?
⢠To me, better to risk missing a sit over a false negative vs. risking a bad sit by making compromises or lowering my standards.
⢠Typically, sitters who are confident communicators and who are comfortable upholding boundaries will do well. Thatâs because while many hosts are reasonable and hospitable, some are bullies and exploiters â like in life in general, there are bad eggs. Give no quarter to those people, because they routinely look for enablers and victims. They love folks who find it hard to stand up for themselves. Those sitters will tend to have much rougher times with sits.
⢠It helps to pay close attention to what others sitters have written in reviews for hosts. Look for whatâs said, as well as whatâs not said. Like if a review says nice things about the pets or location, but doesnât say the hosts are great, thatâs a red flag. If you value cleanliness, look for reviews that specifically mention that. If the host is missing a bunch of reviews, thatâs risky. (Use the app to check for missing reviews. The website doesnât show them.)
⢠When time comes for you to review hosts, please be accurate and help warn other sitters off, help them make informed choices about whether they might avoid a sit if youâve had a bad experience. Some sitters gloss over or skip elements that could save others needless grief, enabling bad hosts. Again, most hosts are fine, many hospitable. The bad eggs ruin things for everyone else and we can help weed them out by not covering up for them.
With all that in mind, my sits have been overwhelmingly great and Iâve had gracious, appreciative hosts. Iâve done 18 sits to date, with all five-star reviews. To me, travel is terrific, but self-care is always much more important.
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Welcome to the forum @LouLu
House and pet sitting will fit nicely around your supply teaching, and you should be available at all the tines when there are lots of sit available!
I work in a school and my sons are at school, so we do all our sits during school holidays or at weekends. We have done 13 sits so far this year, with 2 more confirmed over October half term and New Year. Iâm still looking at options for a Christmas sit, and who knows, we might squeeze in a weekend in November as it would otherwise be our only month without a housesit!
We love exploring new places, and housesitting has taken us to some great places we wouldnât have otherwise thought to visit.
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Awesome 
im actually really excited!
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Fellow nomads here. We started out with a pretty full load but that got old pretty fast. Now we have a carryon and a backpack each, and one other folding bag we can expand to when necessary, and we have clothes for all four seasons. I suspect youâll also find you donât need some of what you have. Enjoy!
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Welcome! Itâs a lot of fun, and for us has sort of become the much talked about âpurpose in retirement.â 
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Excited for you Lou for your first sit 
the world of petsitting fills your heart. Enjoy the wonderful journey ahead 
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Welcome @LouLu. Well done with your first sit. When I started on THS it took me 23 applications to get my first local sit. Just completed my 23rd sit. Best advice has already been posted in that you need to read between the lines on listings and not accept sub par sits (I did this a few times when I started!) and also try and get a handful of 5 star reviews if you want to apply for more popular locations to sit. Good luck.
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Welcome @LouLu! Take note of @Maggie8K âs advice! As a host and pet owner I agree with all she said! We love this community because we meet some really amazing people who love animals and love travel so we try to make our home and sits reflect that.
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Thank you so much for such an incredibly detailed reply.
Im so excited and feeling so positive that you have raised important points to calm me down!
Cheers
Lou xx
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Enjoy your first sit with THS. You will get more sits when HO see that you are reliable and have lots of experience with cats and dogs before joining.
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Welcome! Same as you but been at it for a while. Earn those references and reviews it will go well. I have shared my experience and some guides in case itâs useful.
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