How did you discover house sitting? What was your first introduction to house sitting. How did you find out about it?
We were using sitters over 10 years ago while living on a remote island in Panama where it was a necessity if leaving because of all the off-grid systems, but had no idea it was a “thing”. We just asked around locally and usually ended up with liveaboard sailors looking for some land time while riding out hurricane season.
It was only when selling up and researching our future long term travels we casually searched “house sitting” on google. Up popped TrustedHousesitters and some other sites. What a wonderful day that was!!
I asked this question today on Facebook and had so many wonderful answers, I thought it might be an inspiring question to ask of this community. Would love to hear your stories.
I’ve put this in general as it would be lovely to hear from sitters and owners both.
I was searching for house swap websites and I accidentally came across THS. After we read about it and realized that we could ALSO spend time with animals, we were sold.
We first joined in 2015 or 2016 I think, but didn’t do our first sit until 2017. People are always asking us about it and most have never even heard of the concept. It’s really a perfect way to travel for us.
An old manager 8 years ago used THS & asked me to go check her house & pets while she was away! Instantly I thought what an amazing opportunity, I’ve waited patiently until the time is right to join!
My story looks a bit like yours. I was already into home exchanging and appreciated that alternative way of traveling and meeting people. I once was offered by an english couple I had asked to swap houses with, to instead come and petsit their two cats while they were going to Spain. Oh! nice ! I enjoyed my stay enough to then start looking for “home sitting or pet sitting” on Google. Bang ! THS appeared to be and in fact was the best thing that happened to me that day and many more to come. I dragged my daughter and a couple of friends to subscribe as well. And we lived happily forever.
I think word of mouth is a big one for house sitting… whenever we are in a new neighborhood there’s always someone interested in why we are at the house looking after the pets (if they haven’t already been told). It’s a great way to spread the word I think
I did think of you haha as I asked this as I knew you’d have seen both A lot of house swappers have converted to house sitting it seems Much better model (she says as a total house sit advocate
Good points about swappers… “Changed to” might have been a better phrase
In our world we have come across a fair number of people over the years who once were swappers, but now choose to house sit because they can do have pets and don’t have to consider their pets separately.
Oh dear, this may take many moons to explain but will keep it a short story.
In 2015 my husband accepted a remote role overseas after another expat role & it meant i’d need to do some exploring. I discovered another house sit site , started in Singapore & after a few sits discovered TH . I mix TH with ozzie/kiwihousesitters & am cool with that.
Our housesitting journey started because we moved from London to Brighton - with no knowledge of what housesitting was. Suze was looking for a new job and our landlady happened to be the CMO of TrustedHousesitters (believe she has since left). She said that there were a few jobs available at THS and that Suze should apply. Unfortunately/fortunately she didn’t get the job, but now we knew about housesitting! Throughout our time in Brighton we looked after so many dogs (Brighton really is dog heaven) through another website, so built up a lot of experience with pets. After only a year of Brighton life (we love Brighton, we just decided we needed a change of lifestyle) we remembered about Suze’s application for THS and thought why not give it a go!
I found THS by chance while reading a travel blog somewhere. Thought, hmm that sounds like something I could do.
My very first application did not go well. Meaning, after going to visit for a chat etc (4hr round trip) the lady messaged THS and told them that she didn’t that think that THS was something I should be doing.
Can you imagine how I felt when this was relayed to me in a message from THS.
Long story short: I had secured 2 sits prior to the communications with THS. Chalked it up to experience. I have been honoured to have met and cared for many wonderful animals since then and looking forward to more.
Hello,
I had seen a TV report on pet sitting and as I knew I was going to have a lot more time for myself, I thought to myself why not, good mariage between love of animals and travels. I searched petsitting on google and I saw several sites. I choosed THS, very international and another site, with more petsitting in France. I am registered on the two and I have the same number of sit on the two. I only have one regret, not having started before.
I read an article in AARP magazine on inexpensive ways for seniors to travel. I had just gone on a vacation that cost $450 for my dog to be boarded and he got a scratch in his eye from a playful interaction with another dog (a $250 vet bill). I felt it would have been addressed more quickly with individual attention. I wanted a different alternative for him.
As soon as I went on the site, wanderlust set in so I signed up both as a sitter and to have a petsit for me.
My first sit was in Anchorage, Alaska. I found a great couple to stay in my home with my dog. Getting regular updates, photos and videos of my dog made my trip even more special and I had so much fun providing the same, for the people I petsat for.
I’ve done 5 sits so far including one SWAP with a couple from Brighton, England. We have become good friends and they have a son and daughter-in-law who live in a nearby town.
In September I’ll be sitting for friends in Northern CA who I had recruited to join. A real win-win.
HI @ShulasMom welcome to our community forum and thank you for the lovely introduction into how you discovered housesitting and your adventures so far. We love that wanderlust set in and you chose to be a sitter and engage sitters for your own furry family, giving you the advantage of enjoying both sides of our win win win … I add the third for the pets:))
Brighton is of course our Company home and if you ever find yourself there again and the team ever get back to being in an office (we’re sure that will happen in some form or another) we would be happy to arrange a meet up.
Enjoy your Northern CA stay and being here on the forum we look forward to sharing in more of your TrustedHousesitters adventures.
I had been housesitting for about 20 years before I joined trusted housesitters. It started after college with a friend asking me to take care of her cats, then later another couple asked me to take care of their cats and they were clients for 10+ years. And word spread in the community where I worked. When I wanted to travel full-time I knew that there were websites where I could travel internationally so I did my research and ended up with TH. I joined late 2019 (on a good Friday deal) and started applying for sits summer of 2020–right in the middle of the pandemic. Even so, I’ve had really good experiences so far! I’m at one of my favorites now.
I’d read about housesitting, but it seemed that you needed to be a single person or a couple to do it, and we have 2 children.
We’d been looking after our friends’ dog during their holidays since before our boys were born, so they grew up with a dog. She was now getting very old and was completely deaf. Our friends let us know that she wasn’t going to live much longer, and we went round to say our goodbyes (although we didn’t tell the children that’s what it was).
I think TrustedHousesitters had popped up on Facebook. I had a look and it appeared that we might be able to sit as s family. I was browsing sits, but hadn’t paid to join.
We were away on a narrowboat holiday when we got the news that our friends’ dog had died. I’d only dreamt about her the night before. We were devastated, but I was also particularly sad that my boys had lost their opportunity to care for a pet regularly. So when we returned home I joined THS as a sitter and we did our first sit around a month later.
COVID has slowed us down, but we now have 3 sits under our belt. Hopefully more to come this year.
That’s a sad and happy story… and so lovely that the you and the kids don’t miss out on time with pets.
So many families have benefitted from house sits and I think it gives children a wonderful experience of responsibilitiy, caring and learning about all sorts of pets and animals.
Like you, many people think it’s not possible for families, but there are plenty of similar families and grandparents (and people who have no issues with and are used to having kids in their houses), who use sitters, and are even set up with kids bedrooms and safety features. We know some who have made mini profiles (within the main profile) written by their kids.
I hope you story will inspire some who find this post who’ve wondered about whether they can sit with kids. Thankyou!!
