House sitting on a budget

Have you given a set amount .
Per day or by the week
Spending :moneybag:

4 Likes

Yes Petermac its was spending money :flushed:

2 Likes

We tend to take a lot with us .
We try to work out different tourists costs in the area.
Other half is mustard wanting to go in for lattes etc.

1 Like

We have a monthly budget to which we like to stick. At the moment we’re in Spain, things are cheap compared to other countries, so it’s very easy to stick to it, even with loads of tapas/coffee breaks. So we’re saving for when we get a sit in more expensive countries or for transport/ Covid-tests/ …

4 Likes

We are just part-time sitters, so we use our travel budget for sits. Right now, we are only sitting within driving distance, so our transportation costs are low. We don’t eat out much and prefer to hike and bike and do outdoor outings that are low cost. Our costs are pretty comparable to what they are for staying at home. I guess when Covid subsides, we may be more tempted to spend more money on touristy things and restaurant meals.

6 Likes

Very similar to ours Southernsitter

1 Like

We’re ‘digital nomads’ and are pursuing FI/RE (financial independence, retire early) and when we first started house sitting we had no idea how much we would love it and that it would become a main part of our lifestyle. So between house sitting and travel hacking (earning miles and points for free travel) we’re able to keep our living costs very low and still do all of the experiences we want.

For example, we did a year abroad (3 continents, 23 countries, 60 cities and 18 house sits) and spent $16,000 USD all-inclusive for the both of us for a year. In North America, we’ve continued full-time house sitting and travel, and have spent $7,000 USD all-inclusive for both of us the last two years.

We’re very mindful of what we spend but also we don’t usually feel that we’re sacrificing.

7 Likes

Well done :grinning:

2 Likes

Wow! Really impressive. We are definitely spending a fair amount for Airbnb’s and hotels for our up-coming 2 month road trip in the US this summer. We have not been able to find any houses sits that have dates and locations that work for our trip. I think you have to be pretty flexible with your plans to incorporate housesitting into your travel. The chances of finding a sit in a very specific location at a specific week are slim.

3 Likes

True. We tend to book housesits first, and the rest of the trip after.

2 Likes

Yes, we sit the opportunity rather than finding the sit that matches. It takes lots of flexibility, but we’re up for the adventure :slight_smile: Certainly, this isn’t for everyone and it might now even be for us forever :wink:

We had many conversations when first planning our travel of what method we would take, a strategic city to city in logical short distance travel, or country to country. However, what we never considered because we didn’t think it would be the case was that flights between cities (we don’t own a car and rarely rent) wouldn’t be at all logically priced. Meaning, we could find flights from London to Rome (further distances) that were cheaper than London to Manchester (short distance).

So, nothing was off the table looking for sits when abroad. It all came down to cost of travel and if we wanted to go! And of course sitting isn’t the only way we save so much on our budget every year, there’s many different strategies we apply :smiley: For example purchasing Airbnb gift cards at a discount (10-20% off) through credit card ‘offers’ (Chase offers, Amex offers, etc.).

We hope you have an awesome road trip this summer! Where are some of the stops you’re most excited for?

3 Likes

Wow. You guys are travel pros. I had no idea that there were Airbnb gift cards, much less that you can get them at a discount. I will have to look into that, since we are staying at many Airbnbs. We are going to the lakes in Michigan and to Idaho, Wisconsin, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico before heading home to Atlanta. We have never been to most of the places that we are going to. We originally wanted to go to national parks, but they will be very crowded this summer, so we will go another time. We are going to do a lot of hiking and biking, so it should be wonderful.

3 Likes

I am also into points and miles accumulation/redemption with crédit cards and fidelity programs. This is mainly possible in Canada and United States I think.
But USA has it all with its AMEX and CHASE cards. Far beyong what the offers are in Canada.
I manage anyway to save pretty much in hotels with breakfasts, car rentals and plane or train tickets. I am not a full time sitter. Just here and there. Hope 2022 will provide more opportunities for us all.

6 Likes

We explain how we got a $50 Airbnb gift card and a $50 Starbucks gift card for only $75 total in one of our budget and travel hacking articles. Hopefully that will help you do the same :smiley:

That sounds like it’s going to be an amazing road trip with many different landscapes. We lived in Boise, ID for a few years and fell in love with it. Those are harder places to find house sits in, but maybe in Salt Lake or Denver area you’ll be able to find something :crossed_fingers:

Happy travels! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

ScrewTheAvener
Brillant web site lot to learn
Thank you

2 Likes

We’ve spent 7 years backpacking long haul and have done housesits in Colorado, Vietnam, Guatemala, Costa Rica and New Zealand. We picked these up once we were traveling and use them as a great break from constantly moving on.
We also picked up sits while out traveling in our motorhome in France and Portugal. These had to be carefully considered for parking of a 7m long motorhome!

1 Like